AIRPORT TO NYC?
 

Hey,

Just curious to know the best/easiest/quickest/cheapest way to travel from the airport to our hotel in NYC - we are first timers and arrive at 9:30pm so dont want to be wasting our time trying to be arranging something once we arrive!

Cheers,

Angie & Lee

There are three major airports serving NYC - JFK, LaGuardia and Newark. Which one are you arriving at?

Get in line for a taxi and stop thinking about it.

Thankyou for your response. I had just heard that it can be a hassle and quite expensive to travel via taxi in and around NYC - living in Sydney and working at the airport I know this can be a hassle even at the domestic terminal.

I am sure we are flying into JFK - we are traveling with VAustralia to LAX then with Delta to the east coast.

I was just curious on this topic and thought people may have suggestions or ideas.

Cheers

Best is a matter of personal preference.

Easiest, quickest, and cheapest aren't the same thing.

Cheapest is public transportation; if you search these boards, you'll find that instructions have been given many times.

Easist is a cab; there's a set price from JFK to Manhattan, plus tolls and tip. The cab line usually moves relatively quickly.

Thankyou very much for your response. Very helpful!

A cab from JFK is $45 plus tolls and tip so figure a total of $60. At that time of night do a cab, public transportation will take much longer at that time of night.

If you go to the JFK Airport website (www.panynj.gov/airports/jfk) and click on Ground Transportation all your options are fully explained.

As pointed out: easiest/quickest/cheapest are not the same thing.

It was important for us to know that you are arriving at JFK. Each of the three airports have different transport options, some much easier and cheaper than others. There is no blanket answer. Also depending on where your hotel is in NYC (midtown Manhattan? Queens? downtown Manhattan? Brooklyn?) certain modes of transport would definitely be better than others.

The one truth for all airports: Avoid shared shuttle services, since you will waste a frustrating amount of time driving all over the city dropping the various riders at their hotels. It can take as long as public transport options, and if there are two or more of you, the cost may be about the same as a taxi.

As other's have said, JFK to Manhattan should cost $60 total by taxi, door to door. JFK also has good connections by subway/train that would cost less than $10 but take twice as long as a taxi and involve dragging luggage on and off two or three trains and climbing stairs-- but the connections are straightforward.

Newark is across state lines so the taxi costs more, and it also has reasonable public transport, albeit more costly than JFK. Laguardia is cheapest by taxi and the public transport options are cheapest but involves a slow-moving city bus.

A taxi (ONLY an official yellow cab) or a car service like Dial7.com which charges about the same as a taxi are your best options at that time of night.

just to clarify ellenem's statement, that would be less than $10 per person from Jfk taking airtrain and the subway. at that time of night coming into jfk, i would take a taxi, just easier and it drops you off right at your hotel.

Just so you know, Delta flies form LAX to all 3 major NYC airports - although the only non-stops are to JFK. Assuming you have a non-stop the info on JFK above applies.

there is no way I would do public transit at that time of night - you don;t want to be hauling suitcases around the subway and up and down stairs at 11 pm - or at least I wouldn;t. And at that time the trains are much less frequent - versus the every 5 minutes or so durng the day.

At 1am this morning there were lots of people headed from JFK to Manhattan by train, so if your preference is to use public transportation you certainly won't be alone at 10pm.

But I agree with the others - a taxi to your hotel door will be the easiest and definitely the fastest.

To address your criteria: the easiest and quickest way is by taxi. The cheapest way is by public transportation, but after a long trip like your taking, that's not something I'd advise.

A good in between option is the airport bus, which goes to Grand Central, Penn Station and Port Authority. Depending on where your hotel is, you might be able to walk from the bus to your hotel. The bus fare is $15 pp O/W or $27 RT. The last departure is 11 p.m.
http://www.nyairportservice.com/page.php?id=48

Oops. "like you're taking".

If you are coming into JFK or LGA take a taxi.

But if you come into a situation like ours, just after a storm that really congested traffic with few taxis at the airport (that was last night at midnight), taking public transportation might work. After looking at alternatives, we got to the Howard A train station by 1 a.m., and were at West 4th St. in an hour and ten minutes. The plane landed at midnight, waited 15 minutes to get a gate, and we reached our destination in Brooklyn by 2:30 a.m. Not ideal, but better than not knowing when we would get a cab; the line was looong.

I appreciate all the comments from everyone. Ill easily make my way into the city now!

Thankyou!!

Yes, but the storm that caused all the problem is the sort of thing that happens in NCY once every 40 or 50 years. (There was a microburst over Queens and winds in excess of 100 miles ann hour knocked down a huge number of trees and power lines. the chance of the same thing happening when you are landing is essentially nil.)

<<<(There was a microburst over Queens and winds in excess of 100 miles ann hour knocked down a huge number of trees and power lines>>>

I read there were two tornados - one in Brooklyn and one in Queens, and one death caused by a toppled tree landing on a car. Yikes.

Angie, we're the type that take the train from the airport to the city (anywhere) if it's available. But if I arrived at 10 p.m. or later, and/or if I were carrying a heavy or unwieldy suitcase, I'd take a taxi. I just took the L to Midway in Chicago with a carryon size but heavy suitcase, and it was kind of a pain (but cheap!)