Advice and recommendations for visiting New York

nigpd

nigpd

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Nigel
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My partner and me want to go to New York in early December and want to get this sorted and booked soon.

We want to fly direct, ideally from Manchester, but if there are good deals out there we'd go Manchester to Heathrow and then to New York.

We are looking for a mid price range hotel in Manhattan and close to Times Square so we can walk to the local attractions.

Our initial research shows there's masses of information and options and it's a bit daunting to say the least!

We don't know whether it's better to find a flight and hotel combined deal or whether to book flight and hotel separately and direct.

There's also loads of websites like Experia, Lastminute, hotelscombined etc etc and we don't know which ones are best to use

Do any of you experienced New York visitors have any recommendations of what to use to find the best deals and do you have any recommendations for hotels in the Times Square area of New York?

Thanks in advance for your help
 
Son and daughter in law had a week there just before xmas, they found hotels quite expensive at that time of year, they ended up in a lovely apt in the upper east side in think it was called which wasn't too far from the places you mention. have a look at a app called "air bnb" for phone or tablet. some nice places if your struggling to find a hotel. cheaper too. They ended up using air bnb to have a week in Iceland straight after New York and were delighted with the accomodation there too
 
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Just booked for the third time and we are staying at the Park Central Hotel on 57th after a recommendation. Also stayed at Marriott in Times Square (big and impersonal ) and Hotel Chandler ( small and boutique but more expensive). Booked first time through Expedia (hotel and flight), second time through booking.com and this time direct with Virgin for flight and Hotel.com.
If you are looking for the cheapest flights (instead of a main carrier or premium etc.)then Expedia might be best to book the overall package.
I wouldn't stay in Times Square again as I found it too busy but I guess some people might like that.
 
Been twice and stayed first time at the Jolly Madison which was minutes from Times Square then the second time we chose to stay up nearer to Central Park but i can't remember the name of the place. The Jolly Madison was great and a brilliant base to explore the city from. I think we looked at it again the second time and there was a bed bug problem but at that time it was a massive problem in New York and may well be cleared up.

I booked this along with a trip to Las Vegas and booked through a regular high street travel agent as it was working out cheaper than online. One tip i would give which might have been pot luck is to book the Saturday night Virgin flight from Heathrow. It was empty and we had the choice of rows of seats. The stewardess we spoke with said it's not unusual and i would definitely try that one again.

Taxi's to the City from te Airport are expensive so if you can get on the shuttle bus which was about £15-£20 return for both of us compared with about £80 one way in a cab.
 
i was there a few months ago and stayed at the Hotel Metro. Literally a 5 minute walk to Times Square, 1 block away from Empire State. Nice hotel, good service, fridge in the room to stack with your own food/drinks.

I'd say to avoid staying too close to Times Square as it was absolute chaos and everything is massively busy but that's just my personal preference (and I found Times Square to be the biggest letdown of an otherwise incredible trip!)

and as a non-hotel tip get yourself booked on one of the open top bus tours, they are hop-on hop-off and make it stupidly easy to get around the whole of Manhattan (and if you pay extra some firms offer Brooklyn). They pickup from each stop every 15 mins so it really is a no brainer.
 
oh and we went direct from Manchester to JFK all booked through trailfinders, who were very good value and extremely helpful/knowledgeable. They have an office in Manchester city centre
 
scottduffy said:
Taxi's to the City from te Airport are expensive so if you can get on the shuttle bus which was about £15-£20 return for both of us compared with about £80 one way in a cab.
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When I was there in July the cabs from JFK to Midtown were a flat fee of $50
 
mjScall said:
When I was there in July the cabs from JFK to Midtown were a flat fee of $50
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God they were a right few quid more than that when we went. We actually got a town car back to the airport on our first visit as it was only a few pounds more. The second time we were told about the shuttle bus and that was much cheaper and although shared was pretty quick.
 
Hi Nigel, we went in october, eventually booked through expedia as they seemed to give the best deals. Do you have a set date? we found that playing around with date saved us quite a bit of dosh(more for the hoilday:)) Also do try to get an early flight 6am ish as it means that you
will be starting your adventure in NY mid afternoon instead of the middle of the night ;)
Buy a guide (cheap on amazon) just to give you an insight as to some of the sights cos there is a lot of them
Taxi from JFK I believe was about $75 but that included tips ,Taxes and any tolls. They are all about the same rate even the big black 7 seater jobs.
Hotels are normally room only and food in the hotels can be expensive depending where you are staying but there are hundreds of eatery's which are really reasonable so you are spoilt for choice.
Also if you are going in december take plenty of warm clothing as it is blinking cold at that time of the year. October was lovely though
Don't forget your camera, batteries and cards:).
Make a to do list (the things that you really want to do)We went for 4 days and totally ran out of time, so we are planning another trip this year. Hope this helps.
 
Just a thought but have you considered AirBnb for looking at places to stay? I haven't used it for New York but have for various other major cities and there's some absolute gems on there that certainly get you away from the usual hotel and definitely a more personal service :)
 
Taxis from JFK to Manhattan are a flat fee $52 if you use the yellow cabs at the airport. has been about that rate for a while now.

I go for work a few times a year and tend to stay in the Candlewood suites, either in Time Square or Jersey City. It may be out of your price range I'm not sure, but they come with Kitchens so you can save on meals and if you are happy to cook in, breakfast in etc. a flat as mentioned above is probably not a bad idea either.

You could try priceline.com - basically you put in an offer for the most you want to pay for an area and star hotel. They then email all hotels, if one accepts you get that deal. The negative is you don't pick the hotel and it's non-refundable but you will be in the area you want.
 
You'll love it mate its great. We went in November 07 and March 10. March was covered in snow with people skiing in Central Park. November was cold and dry but being from Scotland it wasn't any colder than here.

That's great news about the taxis as anything you save is a bonus.

As mentioned above the hop on hop off bus was great and the wee church next to the world Trade Center/ground zero was worth a visit.

Central Park was great and a lovely way to spend a relaxing day. Makes a change from dashing from tourist attraction to tourist attraction.
 
scottduffy said:
You'll love it mate its great. We went in November 07 and March 10. March was covered in snow with people skiing in Central Park. November was cold and dry but being from Scotland it wasn't any colder than here.

That's great news about the taxis as anything you save is a bonus.

As mentioned above the hop on hop off bus was great and the wee church next to the world Trade Center/ground zero was worth a visit.

Central Park was great and a lovely way to spend a relaxing day. Makes a change from dashing from tourist attraction to tourist attraction.
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Thats a great point about Central Park, it really is stunning.

Unfortunately I'd planned the trip with my tiny English mind and hadn't even begun to imagine the scale of Central Park so then ended up rushing around it to try and see it all :(
Depending on your timescales and the weather it's def worth allocating at least a half day to wandering around it.

And watch out for dodgy street vendors near the World Trade Centre, I had a man try and charge me $18 for a hotdog (he got the hotdog back instead :) )
 
When we went the first time we felt we never saw enough of central park at all so that's why we stayed there the second time. We walked through it for 5 days heading wherever we were going. It's just a lovely place. Nice photo opportunities too. Nice lake, ice skating, plenty of people walking and logging.

Another note if you're interested is there are plenty of artists around there sketching portraits and some of them are amazing.
 
Google Between the Parks NYC (bandbnyc.com I think).

If you're happy to stay in a B&B... Less privacy but we loved our morning chats with Susan and great recommendations for less touristy sites. Really felt like we 'lived in NYC' for a week!
 
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