New York, New York

[ajax_andy 0]

Planning on going to New York next year at some point for about a week.

 

Has anyone been and how much did it cost roughly for the whole thing if so? I.e. flights, hotel and spending money.

[Ayatollah Hermione 14230]

I went on a 6th form trip and because we stayed in a dodgy hostel, we got it for canny cheap (£550, I think) with all flights and touristy things thrown in so I'm little help with that but I recommend going to the Top of the Rockerfeller Building and checking the view at night time if you do go.

Edited September 19, 2011 by Ayatollah Hermione

[ajax_andy 0]

I went on a 6th form trip and because we stayed in a dodgy hostel, we got it for canny cheap (£550, I think) with all flights and touristy things thrown in so I'm little help with that but I recommend going to the Top of the Rockerfeller Building and checking the view at night time if you do go.

 

Sounds like a good experience, I plan on doing a lot of the touristy stuff as well and some non toursity if possible, but a view like that at night time must be pretty spectacular and one not to be missed i'd imagine

[Gemmill 47074]

Aye it completely depends where you stay, where you want to eat etc. Generally speaking, it's not a cheap holiday though.

[Barney 0]

What G man sez.

 

Cracking place for a holiday, been a fair few times.

[ajax_andy 0]

Aye it completely depends where you stay, where you want to eat etc. Generally speaking, it's not a cheap holiday though.

 

Yeah that was my worry tbh as we're pretty skint, although thinking of going in October or November to allow us a bit of time to save up.

 

I'd say we'd be looking to stay somewhere fairly nice in a decent location... nothing too spectacular, but equally not a bug ridden matress on murder street.

 

Probably eat at good but not flash restaurants and do a fair few of the tourist trips

[Barney 0]

Aye it completely depends where you stay, where you want to eat etc. Generally speaking, it's not a cheap holiday though.

 

Yeah that was my worry tbh as we're pretty skint, although thinking of going in October or November to allow us a bit of time to save up.

 

I'd say we'd be looking to stay somewhere fairly nice in a decent location... nothing too spectacular, but equally not a bug ridden matress on murder street.

 

Probably eat at good but not flash restaurants and do a fair few of the tourist trips

 

http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to-do/th...n-new-york-city

 

Hotel rooms are tiny and cost a fair bit. You could stay away from Times square area and get the subway around the island.

[Kid Dynamite 7312]

Stayed in the Distrikt hotel about 3months ago. 2 blocks from times square, brand new hotel, hd cable tv in the rooms and relatively cheap. It's also worth doing a connecting flight to Paris or Amsterdam if it knocks 100quid each way off your flights

[ajax_andy 0]

Aye it completely depends where you stay, where you want to eat etc. Generally speaking, it's not a cheap holiday though.

 

Yeah that was my worry tbh as we're pretty skint, although thinking of going in October or November to allow us a bit of time to save up.

 

I'd say we'd be looking to stay somewhere fairly nice in a decent location... nothing too spectacular, but equally not a bug ridden matress on murder street.

 

Probably eat at good but not flash restaurants and do a fair few of the tourist trips

 

http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to-do/th...n-new-york-city

 

Hotel rooms are tiny and cost a fair bit. You could stay away from Times square area and get the subway around the island.

 

Thanks for the link. I'm happy not staying too central if it saves money... tbh it would be a good way of seeing parts of the city I might not have seen anyway

[ajax_andy 0]

Stayed in the Distrikt hotel about 3months ago. 2 blocks from times square, brand new hotel, hd cable tv in the rooms and relatively cheap. It's also worth doing a connecting flight to Paris or Amsterdam if it knocks 100quid each way off your flights

 

Might be a good option, cheers for the info

[Gemmill 47074]

Don't look at hotels outside Manhattan btw. I stayed on Staten Island once, lasted one night and spent a fortune on a room at the Essex House for the next few nights.

 

Staying off Manhattan is cheaper but you want to be in the city proper.

[ajax_andy 0]

Don't look at hotels outside Manhattan btw. I stayed on Staten Island once, lasted one night and spent a fortune on a room at the Essex House for the next few nights.

 

Staying off Manhattan is cheaper but you want to be in the city proper.

 

 

Ok i'll bare that in mind, I guess I dont want to be too far out of it all

[ewerk 31589]

I'm over there for New Years, staying on Time Square so I can do the ball drop thing without spending all night freezing my balls off with the proles.

[Kid Dynamite 7312]

Don't look at hotels outside Manhattan btw. I stayed on Staten Island once, lasted one night and spent a fortune on a room at the Essex House for the next few nights.

 

Staying off Manhattan is cheaper but you want to be in the city proper.

 

Agreed, I stayed in Queens a few years back. Was a right ball ache paying for taxis and trains into the city

[Dr Gloom 22518]

manhatten is the place to be and stay if you've never been before.

 

once you know the island, brooklyn is a very cool, less obvious and touristy place to hang out.

[acrossthepond 896]

Avoid the 'Island of the Damned' entirely. Never, never, never go to Staten Island. 'Tip' doesn't even begin to describe the place, and good luck getting off it if you don't have a rental car. It's no coincidence that I put this advice in the first paragraph. If you must, you can ride the S.I. Ferry as it's a canny (and free) way of seeing the water, the southern coastline of Manhattan, some of Brooklyn, and the Statue of Liberty, but as soon as you get off, turn around and get on the next one back to Manhattan.

 

Avoid Times Square unless you want to pay huge money. You can get decent hotels in even some of the trendier parts of Manhattan, like the Upper West Side, without forking over the big bucks, but not in Times Square. It's not even that great. Brooklyn, by and large, is a shithole, and the places that aren't (like Williamsburg) are so yuppie-fied you probably won't stomach them. The Bronx is pretty bad too, much as I love it. Queens has nice parts.

 

Visit Grand Central Station, South Street Seaport, Rockefeller Center, Union Square, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Columbus Circle, Museum Mile, etc. I would personally advise you stay away from any guided tours, tour buses, etc etc as you will be paying through the nose. This is a great city, one of the best in the world, and you can see most of it on your own without paying for assistance.

 

Ride the subway to get where you need to go. If you're having trouble, try mta.info. That site has a trip planner where you enter your address and the address of where you want to go, and it'll tell you what trains and buses to take and where, with maps.

[ajax_andy 0]

Avoid the 'Island of the Damned' entirely. Never, never, never go to Staten Island. 'Tip' doesn't even begin to describe the place, and good luck getting off it if you don't have a rental car. It's no coincidence that I put this advice in the first paragraph. If you must, you can ride the S.I. Ferry as it's a canny (and free) way of seeing the water, the southern coastline of Manhattan, some of Brooklyn, and the Statue of Liberty, but as soon as you get off, turn around and get on the next one back to Manhattan.

 

Avoid Times Square unless you want to pay huge money. You can get decent hotels in even some of the trendier parts of Manhattan, like the Upper West Side, without forking over the big bucks, but not in Times Square. It's not even that great. Brooklyn, by and large, is a shithole, and the places that aren't (like Williamsburg) are so yuppie-fied you probably won't stomach them. The Bronx is pretty bad too, much as I love it. Queens has nice parts.

 

Visit Grand Central Station, South Street Seaport, Rockefeller Center, Union Square, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Columbus Circle, Museum Mile, etc. I would personally advise you stay away from any guided tours, tour buses, etc etc as you will be paying through the nose. This is a great city, one of the best in the world, and you can see most of it on your own without paying for assistance.

 

Ride the subway to get where you need to go. If you're having trouble, try mta.info. That site has a trip planner where you enter your address and the address of where you want to go, and it'll tell you what trains and buses to take and where, with maps.

 

That's great advice mate, thanks very much

[sweetleftpeg 0]

I stayed in the Wellington over there a few years back, famous as the hotel where Borat stayed and got naked in the lift. It was alright, but don't have breakfast there, cheaper and better to go to a cafe/grill/bistro. Oh, and avoid starters, the portions are fucking huge.

[DEADMAN 0]

i personally wouldnt go to america at all its violent full of idiots who dont like brits and they always solve problems with guns

[Kid Dynamite 7312]

How insightful. Good job we have no violence or riots in this country eh?

[Guest alex]

i personally wouldnt go to america at all its violent full of idiots who dont like brits and they always solve problems with guns

Lots of blacks there as well.

[Meenzer 15865]

*books two weeks in Cunterhead, Alabama*

[ajax_andy 0]

I stayed in the Wellington over there a few years back, famous as the hotel where Borat stayed and got naked in the lift. It was alright, but don't have breakfast there, cheaper and better to go to a cafe/grill/bistro. Oh, and avoid starters, the portions are fucking huge.

 

Yeah I think eating breakfast out would be great as you get more of a feel for the place eating in cafe's etc than in the hotel.

 

I've heard the portions are ridiculous before... apparently you can get a massive onion deep fried in batter as a starter but it actually feeds a family of 4 lol

[Gemmill 47074]

That's Outback Steakhouse isn't it? The good old bloomin' onion. Do aussies actually eat that btw?

[WubbleUC 0]

Avoid Times Square unless you want to pay huge money. You can get decent hotels in even some of the trendier parts of Manhattan, like the Upper West Side, without forking over the big bucks, but not in Times Square. It's not even that great. Brooklyn, by and large, is a shithole, and the places that aren't (like Williamsburg) are so yuppie-fied you probably won't stomach them. The Bronx is pretty bad too, much as I love it. Queens has nice parts.

 

More paragraphs than a Lee Ryder article here, but nontheless:-

 

The above is good advice indeed. Took me a while to find one that could accomodate us as we had an awkward number of people, but there were loads of hotels that were relatively cheap and still in decent places.

 

We ended up in one on West 80th St. (Upper West Side, obviously!) that had a Subway stop 2 minutes away on Broadway, took no time at all to get anywhere from there. It wasn't mind blowing but the rooms locked, the staff were cushty, the beds were comfy, the shower worked and the area was mint.

 

The Subway is a piece of piss to use by the way, just get a card from the machine and top it up. Not that expensive either. Map is easy enough to suss out fairly quickly aswell. We used it a fair bit but also did loads of walking as you would expect. The only thing that you need to watch for is late night trains that don't stop everywhere, but for that theres always a taxi.

 

Speaking of walking, if you get the chance, get the Subway up to the top of Central Park and walk all the way through it to the bottom. Great way to sort yourself out after a late night.

 

As for tourusty stuff, we did most of the usual. Loads of people will tell you to do the Top of the Rock thing because it's cheaper, the queues are shorter and the view is better. That may be but personally I've wanted to go up the Empire State since I was a kid, so that's what I did. Queuing can be a pain but America insist on making you feel like you're less in a queue, more being entertained before the main event. Being English however, you will probably see through it and get bored quickly!

 

We didn't go to Liberty Island, we just looked at it from Battery Park. As previously mentioned you can get the Staten Island ferry for nowt and it goes past the statue anyway. It was pissing it down though so we went to the pub.

 

We basically spent all day sightseeing and all night wandering around from bar to bar in different areas each night. It was fucking superb.