NY trip suggestions for the dummy?

Your budget may be pretty tight for NYC. Most big hotels will be too expensive unless you get a great deal on priceline or a similar site. We liked Radio City Apartments which are basic but affordable and walking distance to Broadway and many attractions. As for show tickets, your best bet will be the half price day of the show deal at the TKTS booth. For low cost activities try a walk thru Central Park which is beautiful this time of year. The MET is worth a day all on its own. If you plan to do a lot of attractions look into discount passes but be sure you are actually going to take advantage of all the options or it will be more expensive than just paying as you go. You can window shop in SOHO for free for an afternoon and check out other free events in the city when you are there. Good Luck.

AMTRAK only stops one place in New York City, at Penn Station which is bounded by 7th and 8th Avenues and W 31st and W 33rd Streets in Manhattan.

Agreed with travelwithteens that your budget is kind of low if one includes lodging. Wonderful as it is, NYC is a very expensive place to stay and eat.

It's also true that other posters here help out new site arrivals with questions, but if it's general "what do we do, where do we stay, where do we eat" questions they have, it's also highly encouraged here that such folks do research first (via website searches and/or via guidebooks) to set up a basis, then post again (often with a first draft itinerary) for advice. Given that NYC has an unbelievably diverse array of attractions, places to eat, and lodging, that helps us help you better.

I don't know if you can stay in your budget, but check travelocity, kayak, etc. You might find a deal. Avoid Times Square area - that's really the only "tourist central", but if it's cheap, it's convenient. Go to Chinatown and Little Italy (romantic) for affordable dinners, and there are plenty of cheap eats all over town. Go to Fairway (west side in the '70's) for a picnic lunch and head to Central Park. There are free kakaks downtown and the Staten Island ferry is free and can be a really romantic trip. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge and maybe the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Use the buses and subways. Dinner and a show will probably blow your budget, but try TKTS as above. Go for it, but know that you won't do it for $600 if you plan on eating (and forget a drink). Check nycgo.com for events and specials.

The donation at the Met Museum is suggested, so you can pay what you want.

For meals other than the nice one, carry backpacks and you can pick up all sorts of interesting foods on your walks and eat back in the room. Since you are traveling by train you can carry a knife, fork, spoon, and corkscrew.

Have the expensive meal for lunch it is much cheaper.

There are hundreds of free art galleries. And a number of places have free food samples, here are just a few:

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/own-this-city/75103/free-food-samples-in-nyc

And there is greater experience or cheaper meal than hot dogs at Grey's Papaya or pizza by the slice.

Besides Central Park Washington Square and Union Square are fun for people watching.

Don;t do Amtrak - it wil use a lot of your budget - which is VERY tight for that time in NYC. Get to Boston as cheaply as possible and then take the supercheap bus (I've seen fares as low as $10 when you buy in advance) to and from.

Your big problem will be hotels and I think your only real option is to bid on Priceline to try to get something decent for about $100 per night (you may get lucky). Look at better bidding.com to see what hotels people are getting for that price range in midtown east ot west or central park south area. You might also try travelzoo,com - but I do;t know if they have anything discounted to the $100 pricepoint (which is super low for NYC except in Jan or Feb).

A "special" diner will be difficult, since in NYC that is definitely more than $100 per person. But, the city has doens of interesting modestly price places. If you tell us what cuisines you like/dislike people can make recos at a modest price point.

For a broadway show go to broadwaybox.com now and see which shows are having discounts and get tickets immediately - a better choice of seats usually than waiting until you get here and spending time standing on the TKTS line.

Also, if you look around therre are things that are free (Staten Island Ferry, Central Park) and others that are pay what you want (several of the major museums) to help stretch your budget further.

megabus.com
boltbus.com
are the inexpensive buses that go between NYC and Boston. But if you own a car, you may want to compare the price (and consider convenience) of driving to say New Haven, Ct., parking and taking a Metro North train into Manhattan. Metro North stops at Grand Central terminal while Amtrak which is more expensive (and faster) stops at Penn station. New Haven happens to have both trains stop there. I do believe there's parking for non-residents at the New Haven train station.

Another option since NYC hotel prices are so high right now is to drive and stay outside Manhattan within a commutable distance at a hotel with free parking. This hotel & convention center in Tarrytown, NY is really beautiful and much nicer than anything you could afford in Manhattan. You can get a room there for ~ $122/night plus tax for that weekend and I think parking is free. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g48720-d93841-Reviews-Tarrytown_House_Estate_Conference_Center-Tarrytown_New_York.html

You would use the MetroNorth train from Tarrytown into NYC so you wouldn't have to drive and park in Manhattan. You should be able to get theater tickets for ~ $40/each using a discount from the left column of Broadwaybox.com I wouldn't do a special dinner and the show on the same night. Do a show one night (Fri. night or a matinee are usually cheaper and easier to get) and then do a nice dinner on the other night when you don't go to the show. This is still going to strain your budget, but it will come close.

Another option to be closer to Manhattan is the Sheraton Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken, NJ is across from midtown Manhattan with views and is ~ $135/night on quikbook.com
I think they charge for parking.

Some of the best things to do in NYC are free! Walk in Central Park. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge for views. Ride the Staten Island Ferry for free to see the Statue of Liberty. Walk on Fifth ave. and check out the shop windows. There are even some free walking tours. http://nymag.com/guides/cheap/walkingtours/

You can eat really cheaply in NYC whether pizza, deli, hot dogs or Chinatown.

Take the megabus or boltbus to the City. Very easy,safe and convenient, they both stop near Penn Station.

Most of your budget will go towards the hotel.
Check the hotels in Jersey City or Brooklyn or even some of the newer hotels in Manhattan for deals. Check out the Pod Hotel http://www.thepodhotel.com/specials.html

In terms of dinner, lower east side, soho, the village and Union Square will have nice restaurants within your budget. Check out Timeout NY and NY Mag cheap eats editions for good food at a reasonable price (under $25).
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/9142/best-cheap-eats-in-new-york-city-everything-under-10

http://nymag.com/restaurants/cheapeats/2009/

Tartine in the village is nice and romantic and it is BYOB.
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/tartine/

The French Culinary Institute's restuarant L'Ecole in Soho offers a 4 or 5 course dinner for $42.
http://www.frenchculinary.com/lecole/index.html

I Trulli offers an Apertivo hour with free antipasti with your wine or cocktail purchase (it's in the second bar). It's also romantic and budget friendly. There are wine flights for around $20.

Check Travelzoo for discounts to broadway shows
http://entertainment.travelzoo.com/new-york-entertainment/

Museums: Fridays is pay as you wish at the Moma, Met is a suggested donation,

Thank you everyone, your suggestions are all extremely helpful!

I will post here again after the trip to update as to how I wind up doing it exactly and if I was able to stay in budget or not.

Thanks again

Park Savoy hotel will help with your budget.

http://www.parksavoyhotelny.com/

For food, walk out the front door of Park Savoy, turn left and walk to end of block. Cross the street and turn left again. A few doors down is La Parisienne restaurant (910 7th Avenue) where you can get inexpensive food.

About a 20 minute walk to Times Square. 5 minutes to Central Park and subway stop.

I can't help with nice dinner but a fun one is Ellen's Stardust Diner at 51st and Broadway. Check online and make a reservation. Waitstaff are singers. It's not haute cuisine, but just great fun.

Ellen's Stardust Diner may be a very good choice. Not a romantic dinner (and I don't think they take reservations - not usually needed) but excellent location just above Times square and right near the theaters.

The wait staff are wannabee actors/singers mostly taking lessons (they pass a "hat" around sometimes to help pay for lessons) and between or waiting for jobs. They come and go and are very good.

Another idea....last time I was in the city we did a food tasting walking tour of Greenwich Village. We had a good lunch and a new perspective of the area. It was fun and I don't think too expensive. Of course, the idea came from someone on Fodors. My friend who goes to NYC every year very much enjoyed it too. Maybe something to look into.

For a superb inexpensive lunch - pick up sandwiches at a place like Pret a Manger (there is one on 42 St. just west of 5th AVe.) or any deli and picnic in Bryant Park at 42 St. between 6th and 5th Avenues. Picnic tables, green lawns, and you are surrounded by New York's skyscrapers (and locals also picknicking) - one of NY's treasures - adjoins the landmark,famed NY Public Library main building - an architectural treasure. For restaurant dining - head for the East Village - lots of good restaurants at very moderate prices - and people of your age. There is also off Broadway theater in the area - as the New YOrk Theater Workshop. Walk thru Times Square at night - the lights and displays are a world class art show - and free. But the food and restaurants in that area tend to be mediocre and high priced. Chinatown - worth the visit - but Little Italy - you've missed that scene by about 40 years - no longer worth the visit. Check out Dizzy's Coca Cola Jazz club in the Time Warner building - world class jazz artists - sit at the bar rather than a table to avoid higher charges - check their web site for artists now appearing and admission price policy - but it's a great NY experience.

I'm back!
... And as promised, I said I'd give you guys an update on how the trip went and if I was able to stay in budget or not so here it is below. First of all though, I would like to say thank you very much again for all the wonderful tips I got from everyone it was so helpful and the trip was a fun success

***AS A SIDE NOTE I PICKED A VERY INTERESTING TIME TO GO***
HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS?!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36892505/ns/us_news-security/

(Oh I'll put money details below but the original budget was $600, and I ended up spending about $670 so not bad! We were able to do a lot more than I had originally expected!)

Sooo...
We stayed at a place called Carter Hotel. No it wasn't pretty, definitely a budget hotel but a place to sleep with a private bathroom that was right on Times Sq so PERFECT With tax and all that it cost $259.10

I bought us Broadway tickets for the show Lend Me A Tenor since my girlfriend loves that guy from Monk haha. It was a really good play! I bought the tickets at a discount from broadwaybox.com with a promo code I got online and our seats were about 8 rows up from the stage. Total for that was $155.50

We also visited the Museum of Sex which was so-so but still a fun experience. She definitely enjoyed it way more than I did, I think it cost a bit much for what it was. Anyways I had printed out ahead of time coupons for that also off their website, total for that was $36

We visited the Metropolitan Museum which was an absolutely wonderful time. I had never been to a museum so big and beautiful before, neither had she... and since it was "pay what you can", we paid a total of just $10
-While we were there, we found out they had an elevator that went to the rooftop where they served drinks and you could get a view of the city. WHAT A VIEW! We got one drink each which after tip came to $18.

Another amazing view that we got was from the Top Of the Rock observatory at the Rockefeller center. It was a 360 view of the city I don't think anything else could compare too... the pictures were amazing and we went around sunset so we could to experience two completely different views of the city. A must see for sure! Again, I used coupons and the total for that was $36.

Also because she had never been to a Dave & Busters before, we hit up the one in Times Sq for her to check it out. That was a five dollar cover charge each to get it but you got some free game play automatically when you paid to get in. And I had already been to a D&B before and had a card with a remaining balance on it so we used that to play some games with each other. Total for that was just $10.

As for food:
I brought a cooler from home that I filled with food/water and booze.
-We went out for one nice dinner at Brasserie 1605 which I had bought a coupon for on restaurant.com first, and the total for both of us was sixty two dollars which was perfect because I had paid twenty online for fifty dollars worth of food. So really the total only came too $45ish after tip.

We visited one night club, and got a drink each there but didn't pay the cover charge because we went before 9pm. That totaled to a little under $20.

Oh and between cabs/gas & tolls we spent $82.
Parking once we arrived was FREE due to someone very nice on craigslist

Of course we also did some free stuff also in between everything including walking around the city and window shopping. We visited central park, Madison Sq garden... just exploring.

So there it is, hope this guide is helpful to someone else who wants to go to NYC but is on a tight budget

Brava! Glad you had fun. Ironically, we once stayed at Gershwin Hotel next to sex museum-never got there though. Hotel G. had pretty good prices also.

So, when are you going back??

Well I'm glad you had such a great time, but you should know the Carter is considered perhaps the worst hotel in NYC if not in the country. For next time, you should check reviews on tripadvisor.com How you managed the free parking I don't know but glad it worked out.

Thanks for reporting back & kudos on using coupons - that
was quite smart of you. Come back soon.

Good for you, tcunha86! You had a great time, kept to your budget and packed a lot of fun & interesting experiences into a short trip. New York is a fabulous city, isn't it?

I had my first trip there about 5 years ago (from Australia) and Metropolitan Museum of Art & Central Park, to name just two of NYC's icons, were wonderfully memorable experiences.

Hope this is just one of many happy travel experiences for you & your girlfriend.