New York advice - staying in New Jersey?

[MyVisionsComeFromSoup]

We have a big holiday planned for next year with one part being 5 days in New York. This section is on a budget, so I was pricing hotels in New Jersey rather than New York itself, and it looks like for a similar standard, I can save $100 per night. But, how stupid an idea is it if we then need to travel across to NY each day for the tourist stuff? I've found a shuttle bus for $3 per person each way (which is cheaper than the hotel shuttle), but how long realistically would it take out of our day (hotel says 20 minutes each way, but I have experience of London traffic, so ).

Also, taxi from JFK to NJ landing at 8pm - better to book something in advance (and get a driver holding up a card with our name on it which is V exciting ) or an ordinary taxi (4 people, four cases, couple of rucksacks).

Whereabouts in NJ? I used to live in Jersey City which is literally across the water from NYC. If the hotel is anywhere near the PATH train you'd be much better off catching that into NYC - much faster than sitting on a bus through the tunnels.

hotel is in North Bergen, the Holiday Inn Express on Tonnelle Avenue

If the flights have not already been booked I would suggest you fly into Newark rather than JFK. Fare from JFK to where you are staying will certainly cost a fair bit and also take a long time to arrive there.

You may well need to hire a taxi van; standard taxis may well only take 3 passengers plus 2 suitcases at most.

looked at that, but the direct flights from London are pricey, and the two leg ones make the total journey time over 10 hours . The other parts of the holiday also include longish flights (with non-negotiable airports) so I was hoping for a quick-ish 6 hours across the Atlantic for £200 or so a head. Even adding in the taxis costs, it's still cheaper to fly to JFK.

But, I'm now looking at Brooklyn and Queens as they're on the subway and I think I can get a 7 day travelcard-type ticket. Some of the hotel reviews are pretty scary though

We flew into JFK in July. There was no problem getting a taxi. There is someone in charge of the queue and they decide who goes in which cab due to number of passengers. There were 4 of us. The price is fixed. I think it was $52.00 plus tolls and tips so came to $70.00.

"The other parts of the holiday also include longish flights (with non-negotiable airports) so I was hoping for a quick-ish 6 hours across the Atlantic for £200 or so a head".

Unfortunately the days of such air fares have long since passed and really no longer exist. Fuel costs and Air Passenger Duty amongst other factors are to blame for far higher costs these days.

For NYC its far better to fly direct anyway. It just adds hours to an already long day otherwise.

What is the ideal budget for you per night for accommodation?. Have you looked at tripadvisor, expedia etc.

Try the Courtyard Marriott at Pavonia Newport? 2 mins walk from the PATH train.

Where on earth have you found cross Atlantic for £200

Norwegian Air Gatwick-JFK, no prices beyond June so far, but currently £209 one way - sorry, should maybe have said I was only looking at one way to NY. My return flight should be around £350 though.

Max budget is £200 per night, but ideally i'd like that to include all the taxes and extra people (we'll be 3 adults 1 teen), so I was looking at headline prices of up to £160, which I don't think will get us anywhere nice.

I've also manage to get £280 a head NY-Vancouver flights which I was pretty pleased about .

another option is one night as close to the airport as i can get, then four nights in an apartment, using airbnb possibly? Never used them before but I'm guessing people wouldn't really want us trying to check in at 11 at night, so better to use an airport hotel for the first night, then move the next day. Although that does cut down the sightseeing time we have.

Avoid apartment rentals. Many are scams and tenants are not supposed to do sublettings.

Short term lettings of under 30 days are infact illegal in practically all NYC apartments in the five boroughs. You would be better off staying in a hotel instead.

re your comment:-
"Max budget is £200 per night, but ideally i'd like that to include all the taxes and extra people (we'll be 3 adults 1 teen), so I was looking at headline prices of up to £160, which I don't think will get us anywhere nice."

Indeed you will not find anything at all for that kind of money. NYC is generally expensive due to the number of people who visit there; its going to cost you more than that.

What dates? I've found a few around £160 for last week July in a not trendy part of Manhattan:
m.booking.com/searchresults.en-gb.html?aid=357029;label=yho748jc-city_aparthotels-en-us-newNyork-unspec-gb-mob-L:en-O:unk-B:unk-N:XX-S:bo-U:salo;sid=fbdb814e49cdc1331dc93f6f594bbb0f;dcid=4;checkin_monthday=25;checkin_year_month=2016-7;checkout_monthday=30;checkout_year_month=2016-7;city=20088325;class_interval=1;csflt={};dtdisc=0;group_adults=4;group_children=0;hlrd=0;hyb_red=0;inac=0;nha_red=0;no_rooms=1;order=price_auto;redirected_from_city=0;redirected_from_landmark=0;redirected_from_region=0;review_score_group=empty;rows=20;sb_price_type=total;score_min=0;search_form_id=a6147e7b220d005d;ss_all=0;ssb=empty;sshis=0;;or_radius=12;radius=0;;nflt=district=986;

Bowery

Again short term lettings are illegal in NYC. These should therefore be avoided.

These are apart hotels, not apartments (we stayed in one last year!).

Try Priceline for good value hotels. I managed to bag the Hotel next to the UN building for a brilliant deal) follow the tips on MSE before you have a go. Remember if your bid is accepted you have bought the stay even if you don't know the hotel. I paid $800 for six nights and I think it was 4 or 5 stars but really brilliant as a base.

thanks all .

Atilla - thankyou for the illegal subletting info - looks like airbnb is out . There are so many lovely NY apartments on there though.

Will have to play with the numbers to see if I can flex the budget a bit, or maybe do one night less, as flights there aren't booked yet.

titchy - one of the hotels on your link is showing as £32,032 for five nights . And it's only three stars .

can you ask stay in one room with two double beds? we are doing that at the Hampton Inn times square north for an average of £ 170 a night and it includes breakfast. the hotel ha great reviews on TripAdvisor

If your trip isn't until next year, please be aware that the situation with Air B&B is fluid - it's still being fought out. There are also other avenues - it's just that Air B&B has been in the news so much lately.

We took the water taxi from Manhatten across to Brooklyn. Takes about an hour, so you would be able to do this the opposite way round.

The subway we used with no problems at all. We went across to Citifield to watch a baseball game.

We also stayed in one room with two double beds with our teens, Westin Grand Central although breakfast wasn't included.

There is so much to see and do in NY - every spare hour will be taken up. We landed Monday afternoon and left the following Sunday. We were on the go non stop.

We are now on the second leg of our holiday relaxing after all the walking we did last week. One day we walked 13.5 miles.

Like AtAmber says the taxi queue at JFK is well organised. Into Manhatten we paid $52 plus $6 for the toll plus tip. On the way back out to the airport we paid $52 plus top - no toll. The clock is preset to $52.

We have been to NY before and I loved it. I still loved it this time maybe even more so. Funnily enough behind us on the sunbeds are two New Yorker families. They said they stay out of the city as much as they can as it is too busy.

decided not to risk AirBnB and managed to find a hotel in, well it says it's Queens, but it's a few blocks away from Long Island City, near to to several subway lines, with all the reviews saying how clean it is. So sorted for £145 a night (including taxes) which i'm about, as that means we have more budget for doing stuff.

spababe - yes, we're packing ourselves into two double beds, so it's going to be a cosy holiday .

Ok I live in Hoboken and I would strongly suggest you find somewhere else to stay. That hotel on Tonnelle is a dump.

A great budget place is right next to the holland tunnel. 15 years ago it rented rooms by the hour but there is zero of that going on now and they have recently refurbished the place. I think its a great deal and the location is fab too. In the morning you walk through the Newport Mall and take the PATH to either WTC or 33rd St (right by Macy's - Herald Square).

thehollandhotel.com/

Also look at the doubletree in Jersey City as I have seen rooms there for as little as $139 a night. If you do a last minute deal the W hotel here in Hoboken can have some great deals. DH and I go over there for date night sometimes and get a room for as little as $100 a night. Clear your cookies before you do a search and you might have some good deals come up.

The Courtyard Marriott rarely has good deals available as cheap rooms are taken up by rewards members booking the rooms for trips to NYC.