New York for my 50th?

[Girlsbrigadewashorrible]

I have always wanted to go to New York and we are thinking of celebrating my 50th there next Easter. We are restricted to school holidays but apart from that could potentially stay for at least a week, or more depending on accommodation costs. Can anyone suggest an optimum amount of days to spend there? We will have our teenage dcs with us too. I have found some cheapish flights and would like be travel on a Thursday so that we will be there to experience the weekend vibe as well. But we will be on a budget so obviously the longer we stay the more we will be spending on hotels. All NY advice greatly appreciated!

I've been twice, five days each time and still don't feels like I've spent enough time there! So I'd say go for as along as you can afford.

Thanks CW, we have decided to go for 5 days too; somehow a whole week sightseeing with 3 teens seemed a bit too long. Also, each day there is going to cost £££. I saw a good price for direct flights yesterday and booked the seats! Have provisionally booked a hotel but would love to hear anyone's recommendations, and any other NY feedback.

I hope that five days means five full days - not three full days, with one spent arriving and one spent departing.

I'm a big believer in guidebooks (and there are certainly many available for NYC!), but I assume you also know about the website Trip Advisor?

This is from the tourism office:
www.nycgo.com/articles/new-york-city-for-teens-teen-itinerary

Yes it's five full days, we fly home in the evening of the last day. We did consider staying longer but with three teens in tow it was going to get very expensive. We are budgeting on around £500 a day for two hotel rooms, meals and sightseeing expenses. Hope that's going to be enough for five of us. We have booked the Millenium hotel off Times Square with a free cancellations option so happy to hear recommendations.

DH and I spent 5 days there for our 40ths (without dc though). We stayed in a really cheap hotel off 32nd which was clean and quiet, just what we needed as we didn't spend much time there. Up and out by 9am for breakfast and probably didn't return until late at night!
Would recommend The Big Apple Greeter service, we had a lovely man who showed us how to use the subway and showed us lots of hidden gems around the city.
Lots of things are cheap or even free. The Staten Island ferry takes you past the Statue of Liberty, we went to a pizzaria under the bridge in Brooklyn then a lovely walk back over the bridge to Manhattan. It's worth spending money on Broadway tickets or a trip to Radio City and best of all your DC will love Ellen's Stardust Diner with singing waiters.
Would love to go back...have fun!

Thanks Frisky. I will research the Greeter service as it sounds good. Did you tip him btw? We will do a lot on foot where possible to and hopefully will come home with spare change. We definately want to go a show when we're there too. Did you book tickets in advance?

Frisky, can you remember the hotel name? Thanks

We stayed in Hotel Giraffe and it was amazing - we booked ahead and got a reasonable rate. It's luxurious but simple, complimentary breakfast so you don't have to go out for breakfast EVERY day, and complimentary cheese and wine between 5-7pm.

Looking forward to going again one day :)

Girlsbrigadewashorrible,

The hotel you booked is the one on W45th Street?. Its a nice location there, cannot go far wrong with that.

The view from the observation deck of the Rockefeller Center (called Top of the Rock) is great on a clear day.

A visit to the Intrepid museum and aircraft carrier is well worth doing too particularly if your children like aircraft and the like. The space shuttle is there too.

Yes Attila that's the hotel. Seemed expensive especially as we need two rooms but the location appealed to us. Don't think we will eat breakfast in the hotel, more likely we will go to a variety of places each morning. One thing I did wonder is are there any food shops where we can stock up on water and snacks? (Like we have Tesco metro Sainsburys local stores all over London nowadays).

We had a double room in The Warwick (opposite MOMA) so consider that to keep costs down? Would recommend the hotel and it's location.

I reckon £500 /day will cover your costs. Remember to take student cards for discounts.

Leave lots of time for your trip back to JFK - it took us nearly 2 hours at 3pm on a weekday and taxi driver told us that wasn't unusual.

There are loads of Duane Read grocery stores for drinks and snacks.

Fly into Newark, New Jersey if you can. Much easier to deal with than Kennedy.

Also stores like CVS and Walgreens (these are also pharmacies) sell foodstuffs and drinks as well.

Would second the recommendation with flying into Newark rather than JFK.

I second Ellen's Stardust Diner. Super. Beside it you can get a sightseeing tour bus of places in movies and tv series- well worth doing.
Duane Reeds and Walgreens great for drinks/ snacks.
Breakfast in hotels can be expensive sogo to local cafe/ deli places

Have already booked the flights into JFK. Was a good price for direct flights though. Will factor in plenty of time to get back to the airport!

We sure trains to get from and to JFK, it made it more exciting and was about 1 hour in total I think. You should be fine, and if you sit on the right hand side of the plan you might even get to see the skyline as you fly in can you tell I'm a bit envious?!

The airtrain however does not go directly into Manhattan; a change of train is required. Its not ideal if you have lots of luggage to carry.

Do allow plenty of time for the return journey back to JFK from Manhattan itself.

Personally, I've never seen the point of buying water, but you won't need any special shops for water or snacks. You can probably find them in one form or another every block or two, in pharmacies and newsstands.

I'd suggest you avoid Ellen's Stardust Diner, if you're at all interested in food. There are all kinds of good inexpensive restaurants in the west 40s, especially if you walk farther west. Just mostly avoid restaurants right at Times Square, because they're dreadful tourist traps.