New York

[chachachachangesoolala]

How much is a realistic budget for 5 days in NYC? Can include / exclude flights.
I'd like to stay somewhere basic but nice with easy access to the main must-do sights (can be by transport/ Uber). I'd like to eat well.
Hopefully I'll be sharing a room with a friend or my partner.

Pressed send too soon! I've got a pot of savings I can use but want to work out if I should carry on saving or can start planning.

I looked at Tui and it was around £1200 minimum for 4 nights. That's for flights & room only.
I looked at separate flight and booking my own hotel at it worked out about £2k so I'm trying to work out if Tui hotels are sub standard or something! The hotels I was looking at were about 3 star so not fantastic.
The plaza was £1200 a night, if you're interested I had to at least look!!
That's about a year in advance for booking, if that helps.

Its very very expensive! Ignoring flights, you need to be looking at £200 a night for a fairly basic and not central hotel, meals are expensive but portions generous so 2 meals a day are

Prices have shot up. When we first booked we had 7 nights, mid town for 2 adults and a 14 year old for about £2100. Then Covid hit. We finally got away earlier this year for £3000 for 6 nights in the financial district. That was after our 2 previously booked hotels were closed down to accommodate the homeless.

We had an amazing time but it is expensive. I think it needs quite a lot of planning.

DS was exhausted one day so we stopped early for lunch. We had 2 fish and chips and a chicken club sandwich, 2 cokes and 4 beers and it was just shy of $200 including tip. There are much cheaper places to eat of course so that’s just an example.

We used the subway and bought passes for the 6 days. That’s value for money.

BA usually do a good sale but we preferred to fly direct from Scotland. Consider flights via Dublin to clear immigration. I’d do that next time.

Consider passes for attractions and join the main planning pages on Facebook. New York for Brits and NYC the Place to be. You’ll get everything and more from both.

I want to go back.

Hi, we went in feb this year, 6 nights, 3 people, 2 rooms in Riu hotel b & b in Times Sq flew BA upgraded seats £2100. We didn’t spend much, walked nearly everywhere as it was quicker , ate in pubs in evening, a starter was enough, huge portions, and we wasn’t really on a budget, and I wasn’t being tight, having a good breakfast seemed to set us up we often didn’t really eat lunch, coffee and cake, early dinner as we were worn out

We were in NY in August and even DH who travels to the US for business a lot but hasn't been to NY for a while was gobsmacked when we saw the restaurant prices. Colleagues and friends with family also say that everything is more expensive.

I think a lunch for 3 of us was easily $100, a pancake/waffle breakfast was $75 but on the other hand that lasted for the day plus a small snack. Even coffee and a muffin was $10.

Dinner was always $150+

Museums, sightseeing, everything is a lot more expensive than in London.

I haven’t been to NYC in years but I am exploring moving there with work. The salary for the exact role I am doing in London is very nearly double - I think that tells you everything you need to know about the cost of things there vs London!

If you’ve done a trip to London recently - perhaps work out how much you spent and then times it by 2 to get your NYC budget.

I've just got back. We did 5 nights. Stayed in a 4/5 star hotel with direct flights from Manchester - paid £1500 each for flight and hotel - could definitely have got a cheaper hotel but it was a special trip so we wanted a bit of luxury. We bought a 4 day city pass each before we went which was about £300 each. We did a broadway show that we bought tickets for beforehand which cost $120 each, and we entered the lottery for another whilst there and secured tickets for another show for $40 each. We then spent approx £900 whilst there - this covered all our food, we didn't always have 3 big meals a day as portions are big but usually 2 meals a day and then snacks/drinks/coffee. It also included the cost of taxi to and from the airport, a couple of subway trips (mostly walked) and then some souvenirs to bring home. Food can definitiely be expensive, but like London, there are cheaper places away from the main tourist traps. Breakfast usually cost around $45-50 dollars for 2, drinks can be expensive - in the hotel it was $20 for a cocktail but again, there are always cheaper options.

We booked through BA as a package - I had similar concerns as booking the hotel alone through booking.com was over £3000 - which is what we paid including the flight! It was great though, just read all reviews!

Really depends when you go. We are staying in a central 3* hotel in December and it's £1200 pp for 4 nights (there is an odd number of us though pushing that price up a bit). You can go for much cheaper in Jan/Feb time. Activities are costing about £500 and I'm taking £500 spending money (just for me) I'm happy eating fast/street food, I'm not much of a foodie on holiday! I can't remember for the life of me what we spent last summer but we stayed in the financial district which was cheaper.