Don Wolf

I'll be driving in from Boston for a weekend in NYC. I've heard that it might be best to stay at a motel outside the city, park the car and take public transit in. What do you suggest?

Paul Rabe

Better idea: take the train from Boston to NYC and stay at a B&B in mid-Manhattan. Do *NOT*, under any circumstances whatsoever, try to use your car while visiting NYC. There is NO PLACE on Manhattan that you could drive to quicker and/or cheaper than taking mass transit (you will NEVER find street parking and garage parking is outrageous). So just forget your car altogether!

Donna

We went to NYC for a weekend last year and are going again next weekend. We drove (from Southern New Hampshire) and had no problem whatsoever getting to our hotel in Midtown. We did leave the car in the hotel garage all weekend. We had no problem getting out of the city Sunday afternoon either. I, personally, would recommend staying in the city. It's a thrilling place to be as opposed to "commuting". If you shop, you can find reasonably priced rooms in nice hotels if you plan far enough in advance. I would be reluctant to rely on public transportation to the outskirts if you plan to stay out late at night.

Betty MacInnes

I agree with Donna. We live about 45 minutes out of the city, and there is no service from Manhattan to our suburb in the evening. By all means stay in the City; use the busses, subway (daytimes) and taxis to get around. Get a map and do some walking to absorb the atmosphere. There are parking garages where you can leave your car overnight - over near the UN area they aren't so exensive as they are midtown. We drive into the city frequently, park in a garage and do our thing on foot or with public transportation.

Betty MacInnes

I agree with Donna. We live 45 minutes out of the City, and there is no public transportation in our suburb in the evening - its a rush hour commuter thing mostly. We drive into the city frequently, park our car (it is cheaper up near the UN than it is midtown)and walk, take a bus, subway (in the daytime)or a cab to our destination. Walking is half the fun of being in NYC - do stay there, walk around, go into the 5th Ave stores, gawk at the tall buildings, and have a ball! Hotels aren't cheap, but staying in the suburbs isn't visiting NYC. Have fun.

B. Wolfe

Check the availability of the Howard Johnson's hotel on 8th avenue and 51st street. They have a parking garage that is very reasonable to park at. some hotels charge $30 per day to park your car. HJ is around $10.00. You will be a block off broadway with plenty of restaurants nearby. The rooms are large and not very expensive. Weekends in NY city are fine with respect to traffic.

Donna

We've just returned from NYC. We drove across the Queensboro Bridge (also known as the 59th Street Bridge), having stopped in Brooklyn, around 3:30 PM last Thursday. Had no problem finding our way across town to our hotel on Central Park West. While there was a bit of traffic, we experienced no unusual delays and were astonished at how easy the trip was at this time of day. We started home on Sunday around 4PM. Except for a detour getting onto the FDR going north, which was really not much of a problem, we had no trouble leaving the city. Part of the fun of going to NYC is "living" there during your visit and wandering all over early in the morning (to discover an awesome "coffee shop" with wonderful breakfasts) or strolling around at night and discovering a terrific night spot. No matter where you wind up, you're only a reasonable taxi ride from your hotel.

kam

I agree with the poster who suggested taking the train from Boston (or a cheap airline flight? to LaGuardia) and leaving the car at home. I understand all of you who live within driving distance of an hour or so driving into NY, but why recommend that to a poor soul coming all the way from Boston? Granted there are nice places to stop along the way, but it doesn't sound like you've got that much time. We have good friends who live on Park Ave. They don't own a car and she doesn't even have a drivers license!! They just don't need a car! P.S. Live within an hour of SF and my advice to all would be the same---don't rent a car--spend the parking fees on a good bottle of wine!