Christmas Time Visit to NYC
 

I'm planning a weekend visit to NYC with my fiance in mid-december since I've always wanted to see Rockefeller center, the tree, the lights and the magic that seems to be there around Christmas time. I have a hotel booked right in Times Square for 2 nights, totaling about $488.00 (including tax). I am able to cancel if i need to. Would it be better to find a cheaper hotel in NJ and pay to take the train/transit to NYC? I have been doing some research and figure I might save about 100-200 by staying in nj, we would just be spending more time traveling. Would it be worth it? I like the idea of being able to go back and forth to the hotel throughout the day if needed. Also, anyone who has any suggestions or must-see places/restaurants we should visit, please feel free to share! I would like to find some nice places that are not all tourist traps, if possible. Thanks!

Stay in Manhattan - you only have a few days, make the most of them. NY at Xmas is even better at night than during the day, and you’re not going to want to go back to NJ late at night.

Nothing like NYC in Deember. stay in the City and enjoy it. BTW that is a great price for a hotel at Christmas

Top of the Rock for great view

As someone who commuted into NYC from NJ for 21+ years here's my advice - DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES stay in NJ. Your time is valuable and to paraphrase the Viking River Cruise commercial if you want to visit NYC and stay in NJ you'll be spending more time getting there then actually being there.

Most people here are going to advise staying in the city, but only you can decide what's more valuable -- your time or your money? All I can add to that it that a lot of what you'll be seeing and doing will be at night. So instead of strolling to your hotel after a night's fun, you'll be navigating public transportation. Your call.

Another possibility: You don't absolutely have to stay in Times Square. If you can find a deal off TS -- say, on 9th or someplace like that -- that would be fine, although $488 for the wknd, tax included, sounds like a good deal.

There are least expensive places to stay without going to NJ. We always stay around 72nd, 76th, and West End area. Nice area with restaurants and convenient to the park and museums. Also convenient to Time Sq via the subway. And many times we have walk back from Time Sq to 72. It is long walk but the atmosphere is terrific.

Which hotel? $244 per night inc. taxes seems very reasonable at that time of year, unless it is a dump.

Long Island City near a subway stop would be cheaper and more convenient than NJ. But I'd only do that if the rate you have now is a deal breaker (and assuming it isn't a dump :) ).

The difficulty with NJ is that many of the cheap hotels aren't easily accessible to public transit. They are on commuter bus and rail lines, which can be expensive and timed to coincide with commuting hours, not tourist hours. You have to be very careful where you stay, and hotels close to transit options that run more frequently and are cheaper (the PATH train for instance) are usually just as expensive as those in Manhattan. Be careful also about hotels near ferries. Ferries in NYC/NJ are great and comfortable; they are also expensive, at up to $10 per person per ride, and some don't run on weekends, at least not very often.

A better choice is as @janisj says, Long Island City, Queens, where you can get a nice chain hotel room for much less than Manhattan and will still be from 1 to 4 subway stops from what you want to see. Another happy side effect is that these hotels are cheaper and easier to reach from both of the NYC airports (albeit not from EWR); they are an expensive nightmare to reach from EWR.

Stay in the city. If you were there for a week, you could afford the time wasted in traveling.

244 is cheap for a NYC hotel. Where is it?

Another vote for staying in Long Island City if your budget can't do Manhattan. Lots of hotels are one stop from Manhattan and close to LaGuardia Airport.

I would always recommend that someone stay in Manhattan if they can get a room for less than $300 a night total and can afford to pay that. Otherwise, you are spending too much time traveling into Manhattan and paying for that transportation. The transportation can get quite pricey if you use cabs or uber to go to LIC or New Jersey, even the subway will cost $20 each way if you are a family of four. There is nothing that beats the convenience of going out in the morning, coming back around lunch time, resting for a little while, going back out in the afternoon, coming back and resting before dinner and then going out at night.

I also think staying in Times Square is good for tourists - it's fun! - and convenient. Everything you would want to do Christmas wise is within walking distance - all the department store windows, the tree, central park - everything else is a subway away - all the west side lines run through Times Square/Port Authority and if you need to get to an east side line (I don't know why you would need to take the 4,5,or 6, but if you do) just shuttle across to Grand Central.

If you need to save on money - I would recommend looking into staying in Secaucus or North Bergen in NJ - not LIC or Jersey City. All the usual places are in Secaucus - Marriott Courtyard, Residence Inn, etc. They can be very reasonable ~ $120 a night and most have a shuttle for a reasonable price that goes straight to Times Square.

If you know which hotel it is, we could probably give you advise on whether you are overpaying.