When I went to NYC with my parents when I was a teenager, I enjoyed the Circle Line boat tour around Manhattan. Presumably they still have that.
Times Square ChinaTown Central Park MET Soho (if you or your wife likes to shop) You'll see tons of folks at the Ground Zero. There is also a fire station next to ground zero and people like to take photos of the firemen there. Try and stay in Manhatten if you can afford it. You wont need to rent a vehicle....cab and subway is all you need.
I can't not find the option "quote your own price" at hotels.com. Are you sure it's not priceline? Thanks for the other tips.
100% My mistake good sir. Priceline it is. USE THE PRICELINE NEGOTIATOR! Only thing with the Priceline negotiator is this: -you pick min. stars you want -you pick location -you pick price -you pick amenities and then they kick you back a price from any of their selected hotels that are willing to accept your offer, then (if I remember correctly) they charge you for that hotel. You can't "pick" an exact hotel per say, but if you do the right settings with your Stars, Location, etc you should be well set. Also if your requested price gets denied, they'll tell you approx. how much more it'll be for you to get what your trying to get.
Or if you just search under Times Square as a landmark in the hotel finder it will pull up pretty good deals. Rage, I don't know how much you want to spend. Give me a price range for a hotel and I'll give you some recommendations. I've stayed in varying price ranges in the area.
I don't think that'd be too difficult at all, I think you could even get $100-125 and find a nice place if you go through the Priceline negotiator and just identify what exact part of town your looking for (they can get very detailed if you'd like) and what star rating. Edit: I just tried finding the hotel and the website is either down or the hotel doesnt exist anymore. lol maybe I ran them outta business! It was a nice place though, had a pillow menu, internet, TV, kitchen, spa, restaurant/bar. The Benjamin - www.thebenjamin.com You can try, maybe it's just down today. But I'd definitely still give priceline the shot, and dont' be afraid to lowball, at WORST they'd reject your offer but make you a counter offer and you can figure out what ballpark is. I got a $169 a night room for $110, so like I said, don't be afraid to lowball.
I've just tried priceline just to test the water and lo and behold they accepted my price of $125 / night at New York Helmsley Address: 212 East 42nd Street New York, New York 10017 Is it any good?
You should cross check your hotel with hotels.com if you want ratings, etc. Your right off 42nd so your right square in the heart of midtown manhattan, 2 blocks west of Grand Central train station. Google Maps - New York Helmsley Hotel Seems to have good reviews on google, 4/5 stars with 716 reviews. And I assume you picked a hotel with a good star rating when you were setting up the negotiate my own price thing as well. As for flights, I usually mess with the following websites: kayak.com - good flight aggregate search engine orbitz.com If I could care less bout the actual plane, hell I take southwest. Can't beat it on price. www.southwestairlines.com If your going from Houston, I'd probably assume with proper advance purchase your lookin at $110-130 roundtrip per adult. I went from Chicago and I believe I went Delta Airlines for $166 roundtrip via Kayak. I would've taken Southwest but i believe they have a 7 day advance purchase, and if you don't book it 7 days advance to when your going, your locked outta those dates. Try to go to LaGaurdia Airport in NYC, its the closest to the city right in Queens, maybe 5-10 miles from Manhattan midtown. The taxi ride from the airport to your hotel (or any midtown hotel) should be $25-30. If you get the other airport, JFK, it's allllllll the way down in East Brooklyn, about a good 15-25 miles away from Midtown.
I hear Grand Central station and I wouldn't know if it was good or bad. I am looking at maps and learning more now. I'll look into Southwest and La Guardia. Thks
There are a couple of affordable hotels located in the garment district a/k/a Koreatown - they're directly east of Herald Square and Madison Square Garden. I like the Stanford. Take the subway everywhere. Buy a week pass and a little subway map that fits in your pocket. Don't be intimidated, although try to avoid the subway at rush hour if possible. Everyone sees Times Square, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty. But don't forget the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grand Central Station, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Carnegie Deli (my favorite). If you have time, I would also recommend wandering around Greenwich Village and/or taking a Circle Line Cruise.
Oh right, and if your goin with kids they should enjoy this: M&M World - 3 Level M&M store, full of cool M&M things and memorabilia. On 34th st. Hershey's Time Square - Same as the M&M, except with Hersheys. Right across the street from each other if I'm not mistaken. On 34th st. Nintendo World Store - Only one in the world. On 48th st. All these are about 1mi radius of where you'll be staying, you can walk on subway or taxi it. =)
NY Helmsley on 42nd is a decent deal close to everything UN Hotel is off the east river but affordable Don't spend too much time in Times Square maybe one day plus walk 5th and Madison and look at the shops SoHo, East Village, Greenich Village is where you should spend your time outside the tourist stuff Go to the top of the Rock over Empire State and have a drink a 230 5th at sunset
If hotel price is an issue, consider staying in Newport area of Jersey City NJ. There are a bunch of great hotels reasonably priced. You can commute into midtown Manhattan in 5 minutes via the PATH train. Newport area is very safe and mostly consists of people working in Manhattan. Also consider Hoboken, but I don't believe there are many hotels there.
What is a good price for airline tickets Houston to NY, round trip in August. I found most to be ~$300. Is it ok?
I found one at $251 at Kayak. I wouldn't pay more then $225-275. Especially since your planning so far in advance, just keep an eye out and keep looking, also check out the following sites: TravelZoo.com ShermansTravel.com They offer a list every week of top deals from airlines and websites (orbitz, etc). They usually have discounted offers and can save you a nice chunk of change. Also some offer last minute getaway deals a week or two prior, so you can save a bunch. Also keep an eye out on the following sites for coupons/discount codes on airlines, and websites: FatWallet.com RetailMeNot.com Good luck!
