Going to New York - skint!

[eirrah]

Going to New York at the end of the year for 1 week. Planning on doing a broadway show, statue of liberty, empire state and twin towers. Planning at the moment to take £1000 which is roughly around $1300. Is this enough or will i struggle to enjoy myself?! I want to treat myself and go shopping too and we won't be eating out in fancy restaurants every night.

Has anyone been recently and what did you spend?

Thank you :D

Hopefully the exchange rate will improve further by then but you should not struggle with the amount of money you are planning to take. Presumably you are taking a credit card as well.

What sort of Broadway show would you like to see; would look into this and read reviews. You can use TKTS which are in Times Square or you could buy in advance of your visit (recommended if there is a particular show you want to see).

I would not bother with the Statue of Liberty in terms of getting onto the island, too many long lines for a start. You can see it for free by taking a trip on the Staten Island ferry.

Consider purchasing online a New York City Pass in advance as this will save you money entering the Empire State Building, Freedom Tower and 9/11 Museum.

We are going to NYC in December too. Ive been told that you don't actually need to spend that much money there unless you want to - ie you can have a sit down dinner every night or you can get pizza slices etc. There's so much walking and exploring that can be done for free.
I have bought Broadway tickets in advance for my husbands birthday in November which we will then use in NYC. I bought these from Broadway.com
A friend of mine went in Feb and she took around the £1k mark and said it was enough. We will probably take more as we will do our Christmas shopping there too if the exchange rate improves.

We tend to spend a fair bit in NY but there are things you can do on the cheap - the High Line, Central Park, and Statton Island Ferry are all free and definitely worth doing. Wandering round Greenwich Village is also lovely, as is just hanging out at Grand Central (the audio tour is brilliant and fairly cheap IIRC) or the library. I'm jealous. We've been three times and I still love it!

To eat on the cheap, there are loads of pizza joints selling huge slices for a couple of dollars. Dallas BBQ is also great for a relatively inexpensive but MASSIVE meal.

It's plenty. Is that just for you? Loads of free stuff and easy to eat well at delis, street food and pizza places cheaply.

That is plenty!
I do recommend the Statue of Liberty. It's a national park so is cheap to get tickets. You can get them online before you go and then you get a shorter queue on arrival. You can get tickets in advance to go up to the crown. Tickets for Statue of Liberty include return ferry and Ellis island. It's one of the cheapest things to do in NYC and a great introduction to th city. Seeing it from the ferry isn't the same as going inside the statue.

Assuming you've got hotels covered that is plenty! We spent about that for 4 of us for 3 nights and we didn't stint.

We didn't do the Broadway show as the ones we wanted to see (DD was 11) would have cost over £120 a ticket, way more than the West End.

My top tip. Don't ask for the house wine! They mean a different thing there I think. In my jet lagged state I ordered house wine (meaning the cheapie) with our Italian meal. It ended up costing about £100 as it was the best wine in the house. To add insult to injury it only tasted OK to me.

Given the reputation for restaurants serving enormous amounts of food, it seems like one way to save would be to order one meal between 2 - don't spend money on food that you don't want to eat.

You could also ask to take leftover food away with you, but that might not be practical or ideal if you don't want to be eating in or don't have any storage and heating facilities.

NY is brilliant to do on a budget. All the best bits are free... Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Staten Island Ferry, The High Line etc.

Try and get tickets for Top of the Rock at dusk so you see NYC in daylight and darkness - a truly unforgettable experience.

Use the Metro - it's quick and cheap. I used it late at night on my own and didn't feel unsafe.

Some of my favourite places to eat are cheap too, including Vanessa's Dumplings near Union Square. You can get 4 dumplings for less than $2!! I got hooked on Bubble Tea there too. Pizza Suprema near Madison Square Gardens was $3/slice and delicious. Can't forget Shake Shack either!! Pick up an award winning cookie and coffee at Levain and wonder through Central Park or pre-order a Cronut from Dominique Ansel (worth the $$$!!).

Save your money for shopping. I love Sephora. If you tell a little white lie and sign up for a loyalty card and say it's your birthday that month you will get a gift (I got Marc Jacobs eyeliner and lipstick - yes really). I also dragged my poor DH round Nordstrom Rack - good for cheap designer handbags and sunglasses. Chelsea Market has some gorgeous stuff and not too expensive either. I also loved looking around places like Kate Spade but I'm way too cheap to get anything that fancy.

I'm going for the third time this Autumn, tagging a couple of days on to the end of a US conference and intend to do it cheaply. I'm so excited thinking about it.