Going to be in the city 8/3 to 8/6. On my list: Statue of Liberty, MOMA, WTC site, Broadway show, NBC tour. Would welcome recommendations on best location to stay (@$150/nt) to access these sites and public transportation; restaurant ideas(any price, cuisine); itinerary changes, etc. Thanks in advance!

Is this for 2 in a room? $150 is a tight room budget in Manhattan. You should look into priceline (check out biddingfortravel.com for info).

No one location is near everything. Most hotel locations are near public transportation.

Saerch here for NYC restaurants. Check menupages.com, for user comments and menus. When you say any price, what is your limit on the high end. Would it include wine or cocktails?

Yes, it is for 2. I am looking at placing a bid, was just looking for recommendations on which areas to bid for. Dinner for two with a bottle of wine, would want to spend $200 max.

That's a pretty healthy budget for dinner, and there are so many restaurants to choose. If you can lay out those sites and actitivies in an itinerary, we can try to suggest restaurant recommendations that are close. I know you said any cuisine, but can you be more specific?

YOu should definitely look through this site as well as menupages.com

Look at midtown (NBC studios, Moma, shows) or downtown (WTC,Statue of Liberty). Don't know that you're going to find anything in the $150/nt price range though. Travelzoo.com always lists close in deals, but have never used them.

Check out Hotwire to see if they have anything in this price range. For Priceline bid 4* only since some of the 3* are not very pleasant.

I would bid midtown east, midtown west, central park south, upper west side (if they have anything). I hesitate to reco downtown areas since I don;t know what they have been coming up with.

Also - you might try some of the larger chain hotel sites - since they sometimes have special deals - esp for weekend nights.

That's MAX, not what I hope to spend every night. Fave foods include Italian, Thai, NYC pizza, good Chinese. We'll probably do WTC and NBC tour on Thursday, museum on Friday, and SOL on Saturday.

As suggested above, travelzoo.com has the Mansfield available now for Thurs-Sun $159 thru Aug. 20, w/free breakfast included. Not sure what cost on Mon. and Tues. would be though. Must book by this Friday.

They have great deals on that site.

I tried that special and only a double double was available for $199 for my dates (also a suite for more $)

Bid any of the midtown zones including upper midtown. Any of them are good. I think upper midtown and midtown east are slightly nicer areas than midtown west (I'm not a big fan of the times sq area) and midtown south (convenient to public transportation but not the most interesting area).

For good pizza at a restaurants, John's pizzeria (both in midtown and on Bleecker St) is great. For pizza by the slice, Joes on Carmine St (naer Bleecker & 6th Av). Some very good Italian well within your budget are Novita (E. 22nd), Lavagna (E. 6th St), and I Coppi (E. 9th St). For a splurge dinner, and still within your budget, Cite has a wine tasting Prix Fixe menu for $69 which includes unlimited wine (5 different kinds), and 3 courses.

Thanks for all the suggestions!