Personally, I'd stay in the Times Square area. That place is always active.
Personally, I'd stay in the Times Square area. That place is always active.
Are you hot? Come stay at my place.
If cost is an issue, look at hotels along wall street. They're quite a bit cheaper on weekends than their midtown counterparts. When my wife and I went in May, the Andaz Wall Street was ~$230/night (though it jumped up to $500+/nt for Monday through Thursday nights) compared to almost $400/night for the Andaz 5th Avenue. We tried each one (points stays, cost didn't matter) and while the Andaz on 5th is the nicer property and gave us a bigger upgrade, Andaz Wall Street was more than nice enough for the cost savings and had far superior customer service in our experience.
Sure it added 15-20 minutes to the subway ride to get places, but it was nice and quiet because wall street is empty on weekends. If you leave in the morning and don't come back until night, it's a great way to save some money.
no way you're finding anything reasonable in manhattan over thanksgiving weekend.
Yeah... I wouldn't do that. Jamaica is kind of far from "the city". By LIRR, it's 20 minutes to Penn Station and costs $7.25/person off-peak one-way. The subway also runs, but even the Queens Blvd express lines (like the E) can take 25-35 minutes to get to midtown.I stayed in a......I don't know now, Days Inn or Best Western, something like that, in Jamaica. It's outside of the dense inner city, but it was a reasonable walk from two subway stations, so I had fairly easy access to the rest of the city. I have no intention of ever driving in NYC.
I think it was $150/night for a standard 1 or 2 person room.
Learn quickly how to swipe and go. I hate getting stuck behind groups that buy a single MetroCard to share and then can't figure out how to swipe it. (You don't have to wait for the screen to clear or anything like that; also try to avoid subway entrances with a single turnstile if you are a problematic swiper).NYC subway: The trains don't stop for very long. Best guess is 15 seconds. It's fast, and if there's an employee there, they do not like to give tourists instructions. Train gets there, get on train, don't wait. When I was acclimating, I had a door close right in front of me. Not quick enough.
1) Watch for the empty subway car during busier times. It's empty for a reason.- I only remember one subway car that really stank of urine.
- Over a week stay there, I only recall two instances of mentally-ill homeless people wandering through the cars yelling random thoughts or stories of how they ended up like that.
It's $2.75/ride + $1 surcharge for buying a new MetroCard, regardless of distance traveled. You also get a free transfer to/from the bus within an hour (or something like that) of the first swipe. The bus system is fine too, but it's a little harder to figure out where things go. If you're going around Manhattan or staying in the neighborhoods of Queens/Brooklyn that are closer to the city, the bus is forgettable (though, there are a few crosstown buses in Manhattan that could be useful).I think it was a flat $3.50/ride fare. Not good if you're going a short distance, but really nice if you're going all the way across town. The only other subway I've used is San Francisco's. I think was $11 for the distance I had to go, and the overall coverage of the city isn't too good. That leaves you reliant on their crowded bus system.
I didn't try a NYC bus - I didn't really need to, given the extensive subway coverage.
From my experience, the local trains are just as fast as the "express". In most cases, it's fine to just hop on whatever comes first.If you're traveling across town, look for the Express subway lines. They skip numerous Local stops, so as the name states, they provide a quicker trip over longer distances.
There might have been better places closer in the city, yes. I'll have a better look around next time I'm out that way, probably next spring. I was originally there for the cherry blossoms, but it was a very cold winter (polar vortex, all that stuff), so the damn things were really late.Yeah... I wouldn't do that. Jamaica is kind of far from "the city". By LIRR, it's 20 minutes to Penn Station and costs $7.25/person off-peak one-way. The subway also runs, but even the Queens Blvd express lines (like the E) can take 25-35 minutes to get to midtown.
I never really went anywhere during peak rush hours, but I did certainly get the idea that people heading through there would not tolerate delays.Learn quickly how to swipe and go. I hate getting stuck behind groups that buy a single MetroCard to share and then can't figure out how to swipe it. (You don't have to wait for the screen to clear or anything like that; also try to avoid subway entrances with a single turnstile if you are a problematic swiper).
Yeah, I noticed. The express was only different for me since I was so far out east: E vs F lines.Note that for many trains in Manhattan, many local trains on the same line make the same stops (eg: in Manhattan, the R and the N stop at the same places above Canal St; the C & E stop at the same places from WTC through 51st St, etc...)
That was also the first subway car I got on after arriving in NYC. I figured that's just what I was in for, but a guy with his two kids got on, and after a short time said, "At the next stop we're getting on another car. This one stinks."1) Watch for the empty subway car during busier times. It's empty for a reason.
2) Don't give money to people on the train.
Ok, so even cheaper than I remembered. They certainly seem to be incentivizing people to stay off the crowded roads. San Francisco's buses were crowded enough that you could die and not be able to fall over for an hour or so, and the subway was expensive, at least compared to NYC.It's $2.75/ride + $1 surcharge for buying a new MetroCard, regardless of distance traveled. You also get a free transfer to/from the bus within an hour (or something like that) of the first swipe. The bus system is fine too, but it's a little harder to figure out where things go. If you're going around Manhattan or staying in the neighborhoods of Queens/Brooklyn that are closer to the city, the bus is forgettable (though, there are a few crosstown buses in Manhattan that could be useful).
From my experience, the local trains are just as fast as the "express". In most cases, it's fine to just hop on whatever comes first.
San Francisco's buses were crowded enough that you could die and not be able to fall over for an hour or so, and the subway was expensive, at least compared to NYC.
And I almost got to see a fight while I was on one, something about bumping into another person. Kind of tough when you're all jammed in, and wondering what the weight capacity of a bus actually is.You probably rode BART which is kind of a hybrid between commuter rail and subway and thus more expensive. A standard Muni fare is $2.25 bus or light rail. Muni busses are their own special brand of hell. Always packed, filthy, and slow.
If cost is an issue, look at hotels along wall street. They're quite a bit cheaper on weekends than their midtown counterparts. When my wife and I went in May, the Andaz Wall Street was ~$230/night (though it jumped up to $500+/nt for Monday through Thursday nights) compared to almost $400/night for the Andaz 5th Avenue. We tried each one (points stays, cost didn't matter) and while the Andaz on 5th is the nicer property and gave us a bigger upgrade, Andaz Wall Street was more than nice enough for the cost savings and had far superior customer service in our experience.
Sure it added 15-20 minutes to the subway ride to get places, but it was nice and quiet because wall street is empty on weekends. If you leave in the morning and don't come back until night, it's a great way to save some money.
Are you hot? Come stay at my place.
Looking to stay 4 nights next month as well. Found tickets and hotel for like $2200, Central Park area. I have a feeling I am going to get swindled on taxi's and prices to sight see.
My wife is extremely hot (imo) can we stay?!?