New York City in January – what a deal!
Feb 14th, 2016, 01:17 PM
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New York City in January – what a deal!
I spent 6 days in New York at the end of January. While I prefer to go in the spring or fall, winter certainly has its benefits.
Photos of this trip are at: www.pbase.com/annforcier/nyc_winter_2016
(main gallery of my NY photos is: www.pbase.com/annforcier/new_york_city )
I got a room at the Belleclaire Hotel (77th and Broadway) for $85 a night (plus tax) – the same room goes for over $200 most of the rest of the year (on booking.com). Great hotel, I highly recommend it. It includes free wi-fi – which worked pretty well – which many New York hotels charge $15-20 a day for. And while no breakfast is included, there is a branch of the bakery Mille-feuille in the lobby (the actual café is around the corner, and you are only 2 bocks from Zabars which also has a café, not to mention there are about ten others within a block or so).
I got tickets to “Beautiful” (the Carole King Musical) for $69 (a few days ahead, on line). That was also great, by the way, there are no bad seats in that theater.
Although New York is always crowded, the ‘touristy’ places were decidedly less crowded than almost any time. On a Friday morning at 10:00 there was NO line for the Met and hardly anyone there for the first few hours. By the time I left – close to 3:00, there were still only about 3 people in the ticket lines, and while some of the galleries had a healthy number of people, it was far from the amount of people at other times. The Cloisters on a Saturday morning was also delightfully empty.
The only museum that had much in the way of a crowd was the Transit Museum (in Brooklyn) on a Sunday afternoon – and that was mostly local families. But I don’t think too many tourists go there anyway. I loved it. The lower level has subway trains from almost every era, back to 1904, and you could walk through them. I really enjoyed imaging my grandfather, and my parents - all life long New Yorkers who commuted daily on the subway - on the cars from the eras they lived in, as well as my own memories from my childhood). There were also displays on turnstiles, tokens, etc. as well as on how the subway tunnels are built and all about the various disasters (Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, the various blackouts). Really cool. The Transit Museum was pretty much the only ‘new’ thing I did, I had wanted to go there for years (my daughter lived a few blocks from there for a few years till a couple years ago but we never found time to go). Anyway, if you like subways it’s really interesting.
I had intended to go to the Skyscrapper Museum in Battery Park, another place that’s been on my list for years. But when I got down there it was such a nice day I decided to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry – also very un-crowded (this was on a weekend day so the commuters weren’t there, but usually there are plenty of tourists and there were very few. I also noticed that the ferries to the SOL were half empty).
Weather in New York in January is totally unpredictable – I ended up with gorgeous weather – highs in the 40-s and even low 60s one day, with sunshine on all but one day. On the other hand, I got there three days after the “Blizzard of 2016” when the city received just a fraction of an inch less than the all time most snow in one storm – ever. And snow in NY is only pretty while it is coming down and for about five minutes after, so there were mounds of dirty snow banks, slush puddles at the intersections, and mounds of bags of garbage (which apparently the city could not pick up due to the snow). But fortunately there’s plenty to see if you just ‘look up’ – and it was a pretty decent trade off for the nice temperatures, cheap prices and low crowds.
Photos of this trip are at: www.pbase.com/annforcier/nyc_winter_2016
(main gallery of my NY photos is: www.pbase.com/annforcier/new_york_city )
I got a room at the Belleclaire Hotel (77th and Broadway) for $85 a night (plus tax) – the same room goes for over $200 most of the rest of the year (on booking.com). Great hotel, I highly recommend it. It includes free wi-fi – which worked pretty well – which many New York hotels charge $15-20 a day for. And while no breakfast is included, there is a branch of the bakery Mille-feuille in the lobby (the actual café is around the corner, and you are only 2 bocks from Zabars which also has a café, not to mention there are about ten others within a block or so).
I got tickets to “Beautiful” (the Carole King Musical) for $69 (a few days ahead, on line). That was also great, by the way, there are no bad seats in that theater.
Although New York is always crowded, the ‘touristy’ places were decidedly less crowded than almost any time. On a Friday morning at 10:00 there was NO line for the Met and hardly anyone there for the first few hours. By the time I left – close to 3:00, there were still only about 3 people in the ticket lines, and while some of the galleries had a healthy number of people, it was far from the amount of people at other times. The Cloisters on a Saturday morning was also delightfully empty.
The only museum that had much in the way of a crowd was the Transit Museum (in Brooklyn) on a Sunday afternoon – and that was mostly local families. But I don’t think too many tourists go there anyway. I loved it. The lower level has subway trains from almost every era, back to 1904, and you could walk through them. I really enjoyed imaging my grandfather, and my parents - all life long New Yorkers who commuted daily on the subway - on the cars from the eras they lived in, as well as my own memories from my childhood). There were also displays on turnstiles, tokens, etc. as well as on how the subway tunnels are built and all about the various disasters (Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, the various blackouts). Really cool. The Transit Museum was pretty much the only ‘new’ thing I did, I had wanted to go there for years (my daughter lived a few blocks from there for a few years till a couple years ago but we never found time to go). Anyway, if you like subways it’s really interesting.
I had intended to go to the Skyscrapper Museum in Battery Park, another place that’s been on my list for years. But when I got down there it was such a nice day I decided to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry – also very un-crowded (this was on a weekend day so the commuters weren’t there, but usually there are plenty of tourists and there were very few. I also noticed that the ferries to the SOL were half empty).
Weather in New York in January is totally unpredictable – I ended up with gorgeous weather – highs in the 40-s and even low 60s one day, with sunshine on all but one day. On the other hand, I got there three days after the “Blizzard of 2016” when the city received just a fraction of an inch less than the all time most snow in one storm – ever. And snow in NY is only pretty while it is coming down and for about five minutes after, so there were mounds of dirty snow banks, slush puddles at the intersections, and mounds of bags of garbage (which apparently the city could not pick up due to the snow). But fortunately there’s plenty to see if you just ‘look up’ – and it was a pretty decent trade off for the nice temperatures, cheap prices and low crowds.
Feb 15th, 2016, 04:06 AM
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Well it's 12 below where I am! Not a good week for a trip to NY which (for me at least) involves tons of walking. It's like I said, the weather is a gamble - and obviously that's why hotel prices are so low. But if you can plan a trip that can be canceled (my hotel could be canceled till the day before) it can be worth it. Obviously doesn't work for people who need to fly in but for people who are close enough to drive/train in planning a winter trip can work.
Try to stay warm!
Try to stay warm!
Feb 17th, 2016, 11:06 AM
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Sounds like fun. We've found the same visiting places like Lisbon and Rome in the winter, but they're now quite as cold 
. You were lucky with the weather this year, we were in NY in December and experience crazily warm weather too.
. You were lucky with the weather this year, we were in NY in December and experience crazily warm weather too.
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