zzzot2

My wife wants to take a long weekend trip to NYC in October -- we live in a small Fl town. Want to stay in east side of Central Park area. Need some info as to which airport to fly into and best time to arrive to avoid traffic, congestion. Best to take cab, subway or what? Any help and suggestions will be appreciated.

gc

1. Fly into LaGuardia
2. There is no best time
3. Cab for $25.

More questions?

MFNYC

Don't arrive during the morning (6:30-9:30) or evening (4:30-6:30) rush hours, the morning being worse since most people will be traveling into the city with you. LaGuardia is slightly easier/closer than jfk and Newark, but if the fares vary considerably, I'd go with whichever has the best fare. The cab fare varies depending on the traffic. $25 is low end, it could be as much as $40. Public transportation by rail would avoid traffic, but may be crowded with lots of people during the rush hours. There are shuttle buses and mass transit, may someone else can help you with that. Taxi is definitely the easiest.

nytraveler

Agree that LaGuardia is closest to the upper east side - it sound like that's where youplan on staying - but if you get a much better fare to one of the other airports go for it. Even by cab the difference is not that great: $25 or so from LGA, $55 from JFK and perhaps $70 from EWR.

I don;t recommend public transport to the upper east side - its really not very convenient - and the shuttle services for a couple of people don;t save very much - if anything.

As far as traffic and congestion - its will be worst from 6am to 9am - but there is always some traffic (even at 3 in the morning) - especially in comparison to a small town.

Lee4

I've flown into both Newark and LaGuardia and used both a shuttle van (Newark) and a cab (LGA). I preferred LGA and the cab and thought it was a bit easier and faster. I would go with whichever airport is cheaper for you and then consider taking a cab to your hotel. The shuttle van works well but you often have to wait while others are dropped off before you, so it can take a while. If this is your first trip to NYC, I don't think you'll want to deal with the subway to get to your hotel.

One other thought--when you're leaving NYC, consider hiring a car service to return to the airport. We did this in June and were so happy with our service. The car was nice, clean, and comfortable and the driver was very nice. We made our arrangements a day or so before our departure and found it all very easy. We used a credit card to pay (except for tip) and were happy knowing that our car was scheduled, as opposed to waiting on or hoping to catch a cab to get back to the airport. We used Carmel--I can't remember their number but you can easily find their number in a NYC phone book and often can find discount coupons around town.

vacationdreamer

LGA is not only a cheaper cab ride to the Upper East Side, but is much faster, especially during the day. I pay more to fly in/out of LGA for that reason - JFK takes at least 45 minutes and Newark can take an hour or more depending on the traffic for the tunnels.

Unless you're tight on cash, public transportation to the upper east side from the airports is not worth it.

djkbooks

I arrived at LGA and took a taxi to Midtown on a Friday afternoon a few weeks ago. Zoomed right into the city. Fare was $26.10 plus $3 for Triborough Bridge. Curiously, the fare was exactly the same on the return. And, the driver took a slight detour to avoid some minor congestion.

mclaurie

Any of the airports should be fine. LGA is the easiest but if flying into JFK or EWR is a lot cheaper, do it. As others have said, avoid arriving or leaving during rush hour if you can. Also, there are theater matinees on Wed. & Sat. that can make traffic a bit worse in the morning coming into the city. I would not worry too much about these issues though. What you should check is any special events that could affect your trip (like Colombus Day when there's a parade that closes traffic on the east side). Go to nycvisit.com and check the events calendar. It will also show you things you might like to attend. Have fun.

zzzot2

Thanks for the help and response.