Spending money for a week in New York?

[Feofjwonxoaks]

Well 6 days. My partner and I, no children. We'd like to book onto some tours etc. As well. Would need some sort of subway pass.
Want to try new places to eat but i don't think we'll be eating in restaurants for every meal, probably some quick takeaway stuff too.
Wondering if £300 each (obviously converted) would be enough?

I think you are being very optimistic. Have you seen the exchange rate? I would at least double that

£300 is absolutely nowhere near enough. We spent probably £1400 between us in 4 days.

I would go £150 each, per day

Agree with pp I would take a lot more than that

Oh 😬😬😬

USA is very expensive now! Literally everything is expensive. Son gone out to travel and he keep moaning how expensive it all is and he is staying in hostels and cooking for himself a lot . £300 won't be enough IMO!

300 including tours? No I don’t think that’s achievable sorry. I would probably double that to be honest and that’s with assuming you’re not buying souvenirs at all. Food, drinks, travel (taxi, sub etc) and tours will be your main expenses. Empire State alone is 50ish dollars for one person.

I think I took about 800 for just me for one week! We did an activity each day like a museum or shopping, plus 3 meals out a day & cocktails in the evening. We also went to a show one evening. Don't forgot you need to tip everywhere too!

It is really expensive. We absolutely burned through money. A lunch out can easily be a hundred dollars by the time you have added in tips

£300 each isn’t going to touch the sides!

Minimum of £100 per person per day - with the current exchange rate that’s only just over $100 per day per person

And remember, there’s sales tax and service charges on most advertised prices and tipping is expected

New York is VERY expensive. We went a few weeks ago and for one meal out had 1 x omelette, 1 x beer, 1 x waffle and 1 x Coke and it was £60! No where special either, just a cafe type place.

Groceries were also ridiculous, about £200 for a week whereas here it’s about £70… £4 for a loaf of bread, £6 for a box of cereal, £3 for a cucumber (in Walmart).

It’s more expensive than London, I’d say you should at least double your spending money.

Meals out are really expensive. Don't forget that by the time you've added sales tax and heavy tipping (not optional) your bill will be 25-30% more than menu prices. Tickets for the attractions we visited seemed to be around $30-40 per head.

Sorry I just realized you said 6 days I thought you said 4!! I would budget 800-1k each to be comfortable

At least double that each if you’re eating 3 meals plus coffees/drinks a day! It’s like London prices but worse, plus dreadful exchange rate!
subway passes you can buy for a week I think but be careful with them as they’re flimsy bits of paper.

tours can be pricy, but I’d recommend doing Empire State Building at night, Chrysler in the day (don’t do both at day time/night time), 100% reccomend getting the ferry to see the statue of liberty - BUT - get the earliest one you can, and DONT get off at the statue, better views of it from the boat, carry on to Ellis island the next stop, you’ll have the island to yourself (as 95% get off at liberty) and you can have the tour/island to yourself, get great views and unobstructed photos of Manhattan and the statue!

i think they were the only tours we did. I’ve seen big busses going round the city centre etc. we just did loads of research and walked as much as we could.

we walked across Brooklyn bridge went to an amazing pizzeria then got the subway back one day, that was great. We loved the high line too, and that’s free!

enjoy x

We spent nearly £300 just on a hop on, hop off bus tour! The US is extortionate at the moment.
Don't forget that museums aren't free like in the UK. It all soon adds up and then food on top (plus tips), I think you could easily spend this much in a day..

My DD & I have just cancelled our Las Vegas trip for early next year due to the rise in costs from previous visits far too expensive we have got an AI package elsewhere for 2 weeks for less than half the price,the exchange rate is dreadful by the way £300 will last just one day

Take extra for tips. The tipping culture there is insane. I was literally followed out of the loo in a restaurant because I hadn’t put anything in the loo attendant’s dish.

I would budget for the equivalent of £150 a day each at least.

I took £800 for 4 days when I visited and that was 6 years ago. I imagine it's a lot more expensive now and exchange rates are shit. Meals out every day plus tips will add up. I only did a bit of shopping, nothing to expensive either (couple of hoodies and a pair of trainers) the rest went on food, activities etc

But if money is tight if you plan carefully it doesn’t need to be too expensive. Like the Staten Island ferry is free and takes you past the Statue of Liberty which I found was enough and then we had food on Staten Island which was cheaper than Manhattan. I have been to the Statue of Liberty before and really don’t think you miss much not actually going on to the island but I appreciate some people will disagree. Then food in China town and places away from the main tourist areas are more reasonable and portions are huge. I also don’t understand why people go to more than one of the skyscrapers either. I’d been to the Empire State Building before and I didn’t think it was great but one world tower is really interesting. And alcohol is super expensive.

£300 is optimistic though. Definitely get the subway pass. New York City Travel Tips on Facebook is a really good group with loads of information. I’m jealous I so want to go again!

My daughter went with her husband for a week a few years ago and they spent about 1k each. She said it was far more expensive then she'd thought it would be.

We had a slightly awkward exchange with a waitress who quite assertively challenged us for (what she thought) was not leaving a tip. We'd settled the bill by card and were sorting through our wallets for a decent cash tip, which we always do in the UK to safeguard against management not paying them to staff, and then had to explain what we were doing. So either don't do that, or explain in advance!

I would take about £1k each for 6 days. We took £500 each for 2 days but we did do some shopping also.

The dollar versus the kind is at its lowest for a long time. We went in April having previously visited before. It was very expensive , food and drink ( not necessarily alcohol) particularly. £300 a day between you is far more realistic especially if you want to visit some sights and eat out . In the current climate I don’t believe it’s possible to do New York a budget.

• versus the pound