Anyone been to New York recently??

[poppins 10]

Take a Duck Tour in NY, I've never been on one but I understand there quite cheap, about $20.

 

Forgot to add, bring empty suitcases to fill up with bargins, better still leave the cases home, buy those in NY too.

[blades74 10]

Rather than stay in a hotel - look into renting an apartment.

We rented one on the lower east side on St. Marls Place for a little over $1,300, that was in 2006.

Much better for us as we could come and go as we pleased plus the better half got to cook instead of having to pay eating out prices.

Before any one slates me my better half loves to cook so wasn't too difficult to ask!!!!!

We are going back next September (2009) and have already enquired about an apartment and it looks like we can have the apartment - going direct for a little over $1,200.

Now thats a good deal!!

Try New York habitat on the web, you get photos when you look at apartments so you can see if they are any good>

[Blackbeard 10]

I tend to have a look at what other people say about hotels and then make my mind up as to whether I would enjoy the experience. Take a look at Trip Advisor, it should give you some idea of what to expect.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g60763-New_York_City_New_York-Hotels.html

[pdrnsf 10]

Dont forget giraffe!

[Squiggly 10]

On the Avenue is looking a good possibility – thanks for that Shiesh (and for the Quidco tip). Though the prices are more than double the £75 a night you paid:( (you got a good deal there)

 

pdrnsf – Hotel Giraffe looks cool, but found their website a nightmare so I’m waiting for them to get back to me with prices

 

Been on TripAdvisor – thank god. I was very tempted by the Philip Starcke designed Hudson Hotel, but the reviews have put me off.

 

Blades 1974 – not thought about an apartment, but will look into it. Thanks for the email link.

 

After spending a while looking it seems it will be cheaper to book a flight and hotel deal from the likes of Expedia – unless anyone on here can prove otherwise!!!!

 

New York here I come:thumbsup:

[poppins 10]

Take a Duck Tour in NY, I've never been on one but I understand there quite cheap, about $20.

 

Forgot to mention, bring empty suitcases for the bargins, better still leave the cases home, buy them in NY too.

[Cyclone 10]

Maybe I looked in the wrong places, but I didn't find any bargains last Feb.

I've looked up some electricals thinking about pre ordering them online for US delivery (to family), but it's not worth saving $20 for the potential of the warranty hastle if they go wrong.

[FUTO 10]

Went in 2005 stopped at the Marriott Marques in mid town man hatton very nice indeed

[jellybellybean 10]

Me and my OH went for crimbo 2006 and loved it! i think we paid just under £2000 for flights and accomodation for four nights but having said that, the flights were about £1300 because of the time of year we went!

 

I cannot recommend The Modern Hotel about 5mins walk from times square and central park enough! It was only small but beautiful and service was excellent. If I was going again (i wish i was) I would certainly stay in this hotel again! It was one of the most reasonably priced when we booked that was nice.

 

Google it!

[natalie H 10]

We are staying at the Comfort Inn Manhattan...looks like a great location! Can't wait

[tweetypie 10]

when i went for a girly wkend we stayed in the marriot on lexington ave 49th st. only ten blocks from Blommingdales-perfect. we got a really good deal on expedia. and the hotel is lovely, fab location.

[Tyranna 10]

I suppose this is not 'recently', but I was in New York in November 2005, so I'll run through a few things that might pleasantly surprise you:

 

I was only there for 4 days, so I had to think carefully about which sights I wanted to see, as well as fitting in clubs, etc.

Because pretty well all of the things to see in 'New York' are on Manhattan Island, I never had to leave Manhattan during my stay; I stayed with a group in a hotel (Ameritania) just off Broadway. A lot of the hotels like ours have NO restaurant or bar, but food was easily available in early-morning delis, all night burger stands, etc.

Manhattan is astonishingly safe to walk about in during the day and night; much like london, where I used to live for about 20 years; forget all the TV crime dramas, the 'Zero Tolerance' policy has had a lasting impact; just treat as you would any large city centre. Obviously, if you have to wander off Manhattan into suburbs such as the Bronx, treat these as you would sprawling estates/ inner city like in any large city here!

One 'must see', the Statue of Liberty, is surprisingly distant from Battery Park at the end of Manhattan Island; I viewed it from Battery Park where the boats depart for the Statue, but I decided to give it a miss, because it takes a good half a day to take in the trip out and back with a couple of hours on the statue island.

I saw a great deal of other sites; one of the very best is the GUGGENHEIM Modern Art Museum, which is easy enough to see in the afternoon; in 2005, it was partly covered with scaffolding for repairs on the outside, by now this work should have been finished. Just up the road is a very fine Jewish Museum with an excellent Gift-Shop. Across the road is Central Park, again great for (safe) walks between different parts of the city.

The Empire state Building involved a queue of about 40 minutes on a weekend, and you also have the option of continuing from the main observation gallery up to the 103rd floor platform for an extra 10 dollars; again I gave the latter a miss because I was flying back the same night.

I visited in November, and contrary to my fears that temperatures would be shivering below zero, it was a very mild autumn, with temperatures up to about 10 centigrade around mid-day. The real heavy snows come early in the year, especially around February.

Taxis are an excellent, quick and cheap way to travel around at night, most medium-length trips around Manhattan were around $6when I was there. However, I also used the Subway a lot, even late at night, as the Subway runs 24 hours a day, and again, contrary to all the horror films, it is a surprisingly safe urban rail network, in my opinion safer than the Paris Metro and parts of the London Underground; I was wearing 'fancy dress' and never got any trouble at any time of night, either on the Subway, on foot or on the buses.

Finally, the thing that surprised me most was the confusing coinage; most of the coins don't have the value in numbers on; they just say 'Quarter', 'Dime', dollar, and also some of higher values are smaller and lower values are larger, so tkae care in checking change, or at least minimise the amount of 'shrapnel' you carry it around, or use it for slot machines.