Hello! I am from the D.R. My family and siblings(4 couples) are planning to spend two weeks around New York, beginning December 27, 2007. Our objective is NY city, but lodging there seems expensive. For the sake of staying together and keep our budget, we would like to identify places within one hour of New York where we could find aparthotels, cottages or similar type of accommodation to be rented for 2 weeks. Could anyone help us. Thanks.

New York is a massive metro area - with about 20 million people. An hour from the city is still the nearby suburbs - and you won;t find any cottages or aparthotels. Actually 2 hours from the city is still residential suburbs.

If you're willing to wait a week until January you will find the lowest prices of the year - and can probably find an apartment in Manhattan on Craig's List (but be careful) or via one of the more official short-term apartment rentals (check below for recos).

Also- unless you've been to NYC before you need to be prepared for the weather (warm coat, hat, gloves, scarf, waterproof booties and some warm sweaters) since we often get snow/sleet that time of year. And it's not only cold, it's often damp and windy - and you can get wind chills below zero (farenheit) at night.

Thanks to NYTRAVELLER for his helpfull message. Since we can't change our vacation dates, we will try to split our stay spending a couple of days at a NY hotel and now trying to find a convenient cottage near any medium size city.

Greetings from the Dominican Republic, one of the jewel of the Caribbean.
Domingo.

You really have to tell us how much you're prepared to spend. Finding anything in Manhattan besides a hotel with 4 rooms is going to be difficult and there are a LOT of apartment scams on the internet. You must be very very careful. People will advertise an apartment, steal photos of an apt. they don't actually own from someone else's website, take your money (by telling you to wire it into their bank account) and then disappear. Please don't get caught. Make sure you NEVER wire money. You should use a credit card. Make sure any website you look at has an address and a local landline phone number. Ask lots of questions. Many places will say in an ad, 15 minutes to Manhattan and it won't be so.

Also keep in mind places outside Manhattan may not have the best public transportation. In a lot of suburban areas people all get around in cars. So make sure the location makes sense. If you find something that interests you, you can come back here to check on neighborhood, website etc.

Tripadvisor.com is a website that has reviews of most hotels. Make sure if you're considering a hotel to check there first. Unfortunately there's no such place to look for reviews on apartments and homes. vrbo.com (vacation rental by owner) is a popular website for both Manhattan and other areas, but again, hard to find some place in Manhattan that will sleep 8 unless it's a b & b--like a small house with multiple rooms. Finding one of those with 4 rooms available over the holidays may be a challenge. You might be able to find openings for the 2nd week you're here.

I did hear about this place recently which might suit your needs if they have room. It's in midtown Manhattan with 6 bedrooms that share 3 bathrooms and a kitchen and living area.
http://suttonresidence.com/html/suttonres_location.html

There are also hostels that are less expensive. They usually have dorm rooms but many also have private bedrooms with shared bathroom. Hostelz.com is a website that lists a lot of them and also has reviews. (the more dark stars, the better).

The cheapest and most convenient hotels to Manhattan are in Long Island City in Queens. There are two hotels on very convenient subway lines there (1 or 3 stops to Manhattan, respectively). The closest is the Comfort Inn Long Island City, which is usually around $150. I can't recall what the other chain is, but it's along the N/W subway line a couple of stops away. There are others somewhat further out in both Queens and Brooklyn, and there's a Marriott Courtyard on the Upper East Side that might be fairly inexpensive.

Anytime of the year, a budget of much under $200 per night in Manhattan is unrealistic, and most rooms cannot accommodate 4 people, so keep that in mind when you figure costs. But if you can afford, say, $179 a night for a couple of nights, I think you'll be able to find something in New York.

And while I don't personally advocate it, it is possible to find a short-term apartment rental on Craigslist.

There are also well-priced B&Bs in Harlem and Brooklyn (some of which have been covered in articles in the NYTimes and Washington Post). Look online for articles on cheap NY Hotels. Except for New Year's Eve, there are sometimes deals to be had in Manhattan for this time period, so don't despair, though most of the cheapest places booked up long, long ago.

I'd just caution you that staying in Secaucus or the Meadowlands area of New Jersey may seem cheaper but isn't always with so many people when you consider the transportation costs. If you can do it, find a hotel in Queens or Brooklyn that's on a subway line, and that will give you the best option, and these do exist.

I forgot to mention that there are some hotels in NJ that are on the PATH train line in the Newport area, but these aren't always cheap. These would be fairly convenient to Manhattan and would be less than 30 minutes from 33rd Street. One is a Courtyard by Marriott that's usually under $200 a night.

I suggest you exhaust all Manhattan possibilities first, because there's nothing like staying right in NYC itself. The Embassy Suites, near Wall Street, is very good and reasonably priced, for instance. The Affinia group of hotels offer suites and apartment-style rooms, too. We had a two-bdrm/two-bath at the Affinia Gardens on the Upper East side for about $600/night last May.

Maybe for your second week, leave the city and see Long Island, etc.
>-

Problem is that New Year's Eve is during your visit.

Agree with everyone - it's much better to wake up in the city than commute, especially in the cold weather.

Have a look at www.newyorkhotel.com

We have stayed at the Travel Inn many times. It is just fine and nicely located. Their rates over New Year's are higher than your other dates, but not as outrageous as most places, and rates for your other dates are quite reasonable.

Here's what came up for a room for 4 adults on your dates:

US$195.00 (Dec 27,2007)
US$275.00 (Dec 28,2007)
US$350.00 (Dec 29,2007 - Dec 31,2007)
US$230.00 (Jan 1,2008)
US$195.00 (Jan 2,2008 - Jan 3,2008)
US$230.00 (Jan 4,2008 - Jan 5,2008)
US$195.00 (Jan 6,2008 - Jan 9,2008)

You can read tons of reviews on TripAdvisor.

I would suggest you try vrbo.com, which are apartments and houses rented directly by their owners. I have had great luck with renting vacation condos through them. I would try NYC first, then outlying suburbs. There are lots in Manhattan, after that I would try the Park Slope area of Brooklyn as it is charming and an easy trip into Manhattan. There is a really lovely townhouse in Greenwich that sleeps 12 that looks interesting, if the pictures are half as nice as what it is, that would be a great place, see http://www.vrbo.com/10735. I see a good size house in Hastings-on-Hudson, a quite nice NY suburb that might work if you did not find something in NYC itself. It is a sort of a charming village, as these things go in a huge metropolitan area like NYC.... and certainly a lovely spot on the river. See http://www.vrbo.com/89431. There is also a large ranch house in Greenwich, Connecticut that might work. Both are under an hour to NYC by train. Greenwich is a very upscale town with lots of good restaurants and shopping and is on the water.

I personally would not want to stay in Long Island City and take the LIRR in to NYC for 2 weeks.

Just to be clear, Long Island City is in Queens, and it's exactly 1 stop from Manhattan on the subway. It's at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge.

The difficulty with staying in a place like Hastings-on-Hudson is that Metro North charges almost $10 EACH WAY per person to get into the city. With that many people, you're talking over $100 per day for transportation alone, making most Manhattan hotels affordable.

The only affordable transport options are the subway or PATH. That's why it's essential to find a hotel on one of those lines. Most NJ Transit buses and trains charge over $5 per person for transportation into Manhattan even from the Meadowlands/Secaucus area. This is why many people always argue on this forum that the savings from staying out of Manhattan are not so great when you consider transportation costs. But there are a lot more chain hotels in Brooklyn and Queens now that are actually on the subway, so these are definitely options.

I agree with the suggestion to stay in Queens or Brooklyn, if you decided to stay outside Manhattan. You can buy a weekly, unlimited ride Metrocard (allowing unlimited subway rides), so you can, if you need to, return to your hotel several times each day. The subway ride to Brooklyn and Queens is quick, safe and regular, and you will not be beholden to a suburban bus or train schedule.

I stand corrected on the Long Island City commute. However, the OP asked about "villages" where he could rent a "cottage" for 2 weeks. I stand firm on my statement that I would not want to spend 2 weeks in Long Island City, which would not IMO qualify as a village and nary a cottage to be found. To be sure, villages are thin on the ground, but IMO Hastings on Hudson has a lot more to offer.

However, on the issue of railroad fares, the US$10 fare mentioned by the Fodor's editor above is completely wrong. From Hastings on Hudson, the one way Peak fare is $6.25. Shame on a Fodor's editor for stating such an inflated fare. The fare I have just quoted is the Peak fare, which is charged for traveling at rush hours, which is not when most tourist want to go anyway, i.e. early morning and dinner time. There are all kinds of discount fares available. There are 10-day tickets, there are off-peak fares. For example, the 10 trip off peak fare is $5 per trip. There are senior fares if anyone in the group is over 65. There would be many ways to get reduced train fares. Take a look at http://www.mta.info/mta/news/public/...mnr.htm#nysgct for the full CORRECT information on fares that would be payable.

I also doubt that the group will all be going in to NYC very day for 2 weeks, so even if the full price had to be paid, I don't think all 8 of them will be paying it every day. For example, I don't think they would be traveling in on New Year's Day, when very little is open in the city. In addition, if they rent a house and get a very good price, a small additional bit spent for commuting can be more than made up for in savings on the accommodations (and being able to cook breakfast and other meals at home).