Budget for a NYC/Boston trip
 

My husband and I are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to the east coast next June. At this point I am doing some preliminary research and putting together a budget. I'd like some input to see if I am even being reasonable :)

The trip will be 11 days and our preliminary itinerary is:

Day 1: Fly to Boston
Days 2-3: In Boston
Day 4: Train to Manhattan
Days 5-7: In Manhattan
Day 8: Drive to 3rd location TBD - on the list of possibilities so far are: Adirondacks, Catskills, Cape Cod, Block Island
Days 9-10: In the TBD location.
Day 11: Fly home

Not including airfare, I am hoping to keep this trip under $3500. I know that Boston and NYC are expensive cities, so this number may or may not be reasonable.

Food and lodging are the largest portions of my budget, with $135/night average for lodging and $55/person/day for food, drinks, and snacks.

The lodging budget is what I am most concerned about - is it even possible to find reasonable accomodations in Boston and NYC for that amount without having to be way out in the suburbs? We don't need a lot of hotel amenities since we never really use them anyway - just need a clean, comfortable room in a hotel within a couple blocks of the subway. Also, a reasonable neighborhood where we can walk back to the hotel at night without being overly concerned.

What do you all think? Reasonable budget? Totally out of whack?

Do a search on the site for NYC lodging - because I could be wrong, but...
I dont think you will find anything"reasonably nice" in NYC for that budget.

Sounds like this might be a good time for Priceline for you if you haven't used it in the past. Check it out and see if you can do well with hotels in town. You're smart to try to avoid the suburbs. I hate wasting all my vacation time getting in and out of a destination city!

Not sure about hotel prices in NYC (I am fortunate to have friends/family with extra space), but in Boston prices are typically well over $200/night for a decent place, at least they have been every time I've looked for visitors.

That's what I was afraid off - lodging in these cities may kill the budget. Priceline is a good idea though. I've had good luck with it in SF, San Diego, and Sacramento. I will look into what sorts of hotels and rates people are getting.

Unfortunately, $135 for lodging will be impossible unless you do Pricline. In Boston you could probably find something on your own in the $150-$175 range but not in NYC. The $55 per person per day food limit is also going to be very low, especially for NYC.

Also, if you plan on doing the Cape or RI I would sandwich those in between Boston and NYC so you're not backtracking. It's quite a hike from NYC to the Cape and Block Island. Hope you can make it work, sounds like a great trip!

I think this budget sounds kind of low, both for Boston & NY. The $55 food budget- for example, if you have breakfast from a bagel store and a sandwich from a deli (seems unlikely to do that for 11 days), you will have $40 for dinner every night including tax & gratuity.

$135 for lodging is much too low, especially for June.

At that price your only chance for someplace reasonably nice in NYC is to go for Priceline. Be sure to bid for 4* - since some of the 3* are not very pleasant. Your other choice is a european style B&B with shared bath - which may be charming - but don;t know what you're looking for.

I would assume Boston is the same.

Can;t comment on the third destination - but if you're looking at a resort area $135 would also be for something extremely basic.

Food you have many more options - and can be as basic and casuale as you like. But, FYI in my (residential area) of NYC a basic neighborhood Italian restauarnt dinner (share salad, one pasta each, one glass wine each, coffee, tax and tip will be in the region of $65). A special restaurant will be $100 per person and up.

However, you can get bagel and coffe to go for breakfast for $1 or an egg sandwich to go for a couple of $. Sit down lunch in a coffee shop (decent sandwich and soft drink for 2 with tax and tip) will be about $25. And many ethic restaurants have lunch specials for $8.95 or so if you really want to stay within buget (so under $30 for a hot lunch for 2 and perhaps stuff from a deli for dinner).

New York Magazine has a recent cover issue on best cheap restaurants in NYC - but many of the actually cheap ones are in the outer boroughs and those in Manhattan tend to be good deals ($100 dinner for $60) rather than actually cheap. The Village Voice had an article on actually cheap places (dinner for $25 or less) about a year ago.

Thanks guys! I suspected my budget was a bit unrealistic :) Looks like we will have to decide if we want to spend more money on next year's vacation or choose another destination.

I have used Priceline with great success in Boston. I stayed at the Fairmont Copley Plaza for $80 per night in a room which went for over $300 (this was last August). I have also stayed at the Back Bay Sheraton again using priceline... this time for $70 per night.

Boston is a great city for Priceline particularly if you bid for Back Bay... be sure to know how to use your free re-bids as it will be important.

NYC is more difficult to use priceline. I have never won a bid, however, I have heard from those that have that you tend to get stuck in tiny noisy rooms that haven't been renovated.

For NYC check out www.lastminutetravel.com. You can sort by price. At least, in most cases, you will know what you are getting. I saw the Hudson Hotel (which gets mixed reviews but at least it is in a great area) for $140.

As it gets closer to the date you will be able to find great places to eat. In Boston Magazine, which is very popular in the Boston area, there is a Cheap Eats article. There are lots of wonderful restaurants that are reasonably priced.

I, for one, think it is doable and I also think it is sort of fun to figure out all the ways to make it happen. It is fun to score a really good deal on a hotel or find out about a fabulous restaurant such as a tapas joint where each of the dishes are under $5.

The only caveat for all of this is that sometimes the Priceline rooms don't come through until the very end when you will have had to book your flights already. Perhaps you could make cancellable reservations at places you can afford while you try to get a better place through Priceline.

good luck

lastminutetravel or priceline are all really good options for NYC. You may also want to consider staying outside of the city (Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken) to save loot and come in. But you if you are only there a day or two you may not want to loose the time.

Another option is to change your budget around. Instead of setting $500 aside for a broadway show, check out sites like www.freenyc.net find really great free stuff to do while there. They had free NY Philharmonic concerts in the park last week and free museum days, etc.

Else, expect about $200 for a hotel, $175 at a minimum