New York

[secretgirl]

We are hoping to book a holiday to New York and I have no idea where to start.
We have never been.
Can anyone advise the best time to go, the best airport to fly i to and where we should stay?
Wed live somewhere witha pool / spa. It's a minefield and very confusing.
Thank you .

Pools are fairly unusual in New York hotels.

I went early May last year and if I went again I’d go in mid/late May or September to November.

If you want a pool and spa you'll be looking very high end and very expensive. A simple search on booking.com or hotels.com or similar site will show you what sort of price range you're looking at.

As for when to go, etc, well February wouldn't be my first recommendation for a time of year to visit. NYC in winter can be freezing cold. It isn't always and you could have mild, bright days, but it could be a blizzard or just bitterly cold. The best times to go are May-June and September-October.

The international airports are JFK (in Queens) and Newark (in New Jersey). Both have good transport networks into Manhattan.

Thanks so much both.
Yes i looked at hotels with pools and they are very very pricey!
Can you recommend any hotels at all? We will have an 8 year old with us

I very rarely stay in hotels there (we have family nearby), but tbh I would search by price, because hotels in NYC are extremely expensive, even for quite basic ones, and you'll need to find something that fits your budget. Family rooms can be had at the Yotel in Midtown, which isn't too expensive, and we've rented an apartment at Radio City Apartments before. They're a bit old and tatty (or they were when we stayed), but the location is central and you get a bit of space.

I stayed at a Hyatt Mid Town which was absolutely fine, we chose it for location. TBH we simply were never in our room apart from to sleep and to have the excellent breakfast.
I travelled with three other adults.

Sorry actually it may have been a Crowne Plaza in mid town, I’ll look it up.

We stayed in radio city apartments and thought they were fantastic!

I've been in early July and mid September. Weather-wise sept was good but July was so hot and humid.

I think it very much depends on your budget. Have a look at BA holidays, as I find them to be reasonably priced for a flight and hotel package, and then choose a hotel in your budget. Most flights go to JFK. Do you want a longer holiday to visit the surrounding area, or a shorter holiday to do the main tourist attractions? Again, that’s probably down to how much you want to spend.

Either of the airports are fine, there'll be fixed price transport into Manhattan, so that's one less thing to think about. It's hot in summer and cold in winter, so I'd suggest late spring or early autumn.

Hotels are expensive and rooms tend to be small, so bear that in mind. A hotel pool is unusual. If space is really important, you could stay in the financial district where you get much more for your money. One of my DC used to live and work in Manhattan, that's where they always stay now. The subway into mid town is very quick.

I'd read reviews for hotels, there's so much choice, pick one that scores highly for what's important to you. Maybe also look at a packaged trip, it might (or might not) be cheaper. We've most recently stayed at the Sofitel, they gave us a room with a view of the Chrysler building and the Empire State which was great, but they're having work done so I wouldn't recommend there at present.

If you want any tips on things to do, am happy to ask DC.

I’ve been a few times and May and September are the best months to visit. You can’t get cheap accommodation in New York, it’s just impossible. The Jane isn’t too bad but you have to share a bathroom.

We stayed at a suite in The casablanca
All day tea coffee and snacks and a simple breakfast. Boiled eggs. Toasted bagels, cereal fruit etc etc
Right beside Tony's an Italian family restaurant with huge sharing platters. So fun so buzzy food delish and not bad prices as you get 1 platter between 3 iykwim.we saved a serious amount with breakfast included and all day snacks plus free bottled water. Everything is so expensive in nyc. Hotel saved us a bucket load plus we had a great time

it was many years ago, but I remember staying at the Marriott hotel in time square, nice and central to explore everything.

New York is not the destination for you if you want a pool.

Hotel room are very small because space is at a premium. Only an insanely expensive hotel can afford to waste space on a pool rather than more hotel rooms.

May/June and September/October are the best months for temperature. It’s magical at Christmas but bloody freezing and very crowded. In summer it can get very hot and stuffy, but you can always head to Central Park to relax a bit away from the concrete.

Both JFK and Newark are easy to get to, so fly to whichever is cheaper (probably Newark).

I also recommend BA holidays. I booked a package for 4 nights with return Premium Economy flights for 4.4k for 4 adults in two rooms (lots of 4’s) which I thought was reasonable. Then all 4 of us were upgraded to business class flying out and when we checked into the hotel they said as we were with BA we were entitled to a breakfast voucher each day which would have cost a staggering £700! Happy days!

We went in January, hotels are cheaper, no queues. It was cold, snow still on ground, but lovely and sunny. We stayed at Riu Plaza Times Square, which had breakfast included. Right on corner of Restaurant Row which was brilliant for dinner - so much variety and choice. It was about 4 mins walk from TS

Well I've certainly given up on the pool idea 🤣.
I'm not looking for cheap as chips accommodation. Willing to spend a bit for somewhere nice. We will have an 8 year old and 19 year old so the most important thing, as we'd like a bit of space, is interconnecting rooms.
Im gonna the hunt now. It seems there are hotels around Times Square that are reasonable enough

Interconnecting rooms may work for you.

If pools with hotels are too ££ and you disregard them totally, why not an airbnb? Genuinely better value in my experience in Manhattan - and just nicer to be in an apartment block and experiencing the neighbourhood life. Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Chelsea, or Greenwich Village.

Times Square is a horrible area. I stayed there once — never again. Dirty, noisy, smelly, and everyone is either a tourist or trying to hustle the tourists. Stay somewhere else and walk round it for 10 minutes, or just see it from the top of the hop-on-hop-off bus.

On which topic, I am not normally a fan of hop-on-hop-off buses, but they are absolutely brilliant for getting around Manhattan. Sometimes you have a live guide who is really, really good too.

Had fab family holiday to NY in June and stayed in hotel in the Chelsea area - out of the main touristy part. We were near the wonderful High Line which means you can easily walk and access most main areas.

Personally I love New York in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas: the decorations are great and there’s so much going on, but only go then if you like the cold.

New York is a very walkable city as long as you don’t mind some longer distances. It’s super easy to navigate.

Try the Library Hotel or Hotel Metro.

The best thing you can do is work out what activities/places are on your essentials list and work out where is best to stay from plotting them on a map. Personally I would go for somewhere midtown.

Be very wary about Airbnb. Although I agree it would work well for your family set up it’s very heavily restricted in New York and I don’t think you’d find it easy to sort a place that’s within the rules so you’d run the very real risk of the booking being cancelled.

We went end of October into November.

if you have kids and can go over Haloween it’s amazing.

big Apple greeters for free personal walking tour - you need to register in advance and don’t hear until nearer the time

subway is easy to navigate and get around

we stayed near Penn station - really easy to get around from there. Few homeless on the street walking to hotel but tbh never felt threatening.

if you are not fussed about going in Statue of Liberty museum stay in the boat - you can get some great pics with no one on it. Then get off at Ellis island. If you get an early boat that will be really empty.

We stayed in the San Carlos hotel when we took our children 10 years who - big family rooms which we liked as they were 11 and 7 at the time.