samdavva

Can anyone help. I am coming to New York for 5 days with my family - I have read several web pages and want to understand if I have got it right on the points below:

7 day Metro card - I can purchase one at JFK and us the Airlink and then the subway or do I need another card to get me from the airport to the city centre and then use my metro card ?

is the New York Pass good value for money?

any help tips or advice would be appriciated.

SueNYC

You need 1 7 day MetroCard for each member of your family. You will need a separate "per ride" card for the airlink. The airlink fare is 5 dollars each and up to 4 of you can use that card so you only need one with a lot of money on it. (Load it up for both ways and stash it away until your return. There will be some extra money on it since you'll get an additional 7 percent when you put at least 10 dollars on a card. When you get home, wrap the card up and give it to the next person you know coming to NY. It is a cheap and useful gift. You can tell them that you rode the subway and so can they.

Once you leave the airlink, at Jamaica, you can use your regular card.

NY Pass - it really depends. Research all the places you want to go that you can get to within your time frame and compare cost knowing that some of the museums are pay what you want at all times and that you really don't skip that many lines. Some people spend their life in NYC trying to make their pass or their HOHO bus ticket pay without really doing anything here.

http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...ey-to-nyc.html

mclaurie

Using the term "airlink" is misleading since there's a shuttle service actually called Airlink (which is not recommended). The service that gets you from JFK to the subway connection is called the AirTrain. Don't mean to be a stickler, but using that particular word could get you sent to a bus you don't want to be on. Children under 44 inches tall ride the subway and buses for free so wouldn't need a metrocard. The other option to a 7 day metrocard is buying a pay as you go metrocard and loading whatever amount of money you want onto it. That card can be used by up to 4 people.
http://mta.info/metrocard/compare.htm

The NY Pass is generally not good value for money as you can't get to see enough of the places in the time allotted to make it pay. You also don't get timed tickets to things like the Statue of Liberty so you lose time. If you plan on going to the SOL/Ellis Island, book in advance on statuecruises.com

nytraveler

Passes are generally not a good idea. Many of the "sights" they list you won;t want and their "discounts" are based on full price when some places are really pay what you wish. Also, many of the "go to the head of the line" are illusory - as there are often2 lines to get into major sights. Or you can avoid the first line just by buying a tickets online in advance for yourself.

HoHo buses are also a very bad idea. They spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, are no good if the weather is cold or wet or too hot - and they don;t run very often - every 30 miutes versus a regular city bus every 5 minutes or so,

samdavva

Thank you for your valuable input you have all been very helpful.