Given when you're coming baseball is really the only sports option. (Basketball and hockey don;t start until later in the year and run through the winter.)

New York has 2 teams - both good - Yankees and Mets. Typically a game lasts 3 hours or so - but you have to allow for travel to and from the stadium in the outer boroughs - plus get to park eaarly to see batting practice etc. Weekend games are often either in the afternoon - 1pm - or late afternoon - 4pm. During the week most games are at night - often 7pm.

Only one team is in town at a time (unless they're playing each other - usually 7/8 times per year) and tickets can be scarce and VERY expensive - depending on opponent.

If you decide you want to do this let us know when you're coming and someone can guide you through the ticket buying process (many times seats are sold out if you wait to buy them).

I agree that with budget in mind, your biggest hurdle is finding a place to stay.

If you're planning to stay for a week, you might want to check for sublets/apartments rentals on www.craigslist.org

A cheap option in Times Square is the Carter Hotel. Personally wouldn't recommend it to anyone (my cousin and her kids stayed there a few years ago for a visit to the city, and when I met them at the hotel(I live here) I was pretty appalled at the room conditions.) I think they paid about $100 USD a night.

Try to fly into JFK or Newark. From both airports, you can get into manhattan by using puclic transportation.

Make sure to by a weekly MetroCard for the subways- it will save you alot of money.

For dinner out, best cheap eats would be Chinatown or the indian restaurants on E. 6th street. Lots of little funky places in the East Village and Lower East Side that won't break a budget.

Can't help you much with the sports info, as I am not a sports fan. But consider going to see a Brooklyn Cyclones game. They are a minor league team, but have a real following here. I tried to look up ticket prices, but they weren't listed for this season yet. I would imagine it would be cheaper than a Mets or Yankees game.

http://www.brooklyncyclones.com/

Added bonus- you can visit Coney Island and/or Brighton Beach. Tottono's Pizzerai is nearby and is reputed to be a great pizza restaurant.

Also in the summer, there are lots of free outdoor concerts here in the city.

If you are coming August, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival runs from Aug 3-27.

Central Park Summerstage ran last year until Aug 17th. This summer's schedule hasn't been announced yet. Almost all the concerts are free (they do about 3 ticketed events each season). Even if a concert has an admission price, you can always bring a picnic and just sit outside the seating area and enjoy the music anyway.

Shakespeare in the Park- the 2nd show hasn't been announced yet, but it runs from August 7-Sep 9th. Free, yes free theater in the park. Depending on the production, people are known to start lining up the night before to get tickets. I go by the Delacorte Theater several mornings a week on my way to work, and last summer the lines were city blocks long (at 630am) to get tickets to see Meryl Streep in Mother Courage. When the actors aren't such huge stars, it's a much better and easier chance at getting a ticket.

As an alternative to Broadway, consider off-broadway and off-off broadway. Check out Time Out NY for listings.

The NYC Fringe festival will be from Aug 10-27th this year. cheaper than Bway. The Fringe has grown over the past decade. Not everything presented is great (or even good), but Urinetown which ran on Bway a few years ago came out of the Fringe.

The MOMA is free on Friday nights.

If you want to see NYC from the harbor, ride the Staten Island Ferry for free. Combine it with a visit to Wall Street and the WTC.

If you are on a budget, summer is one of the best times to be in the city (as long as you can handle the occasional really bad heat wave) because of how much free entertainment is going on in the city.

Thanks lp_nyc.

Those are some great tips. I am thinking about moving our NY trip into late August for slightly cheaper hotel rates and also so that we get through Canada by the beginning of October (when the trains stop running in the rockies).

When I say that we are budget travellers I will still pay for something I want to do - I just don't see the point in spending loads if I don't have to.

I'm a traveller not a holiday maker. When I get home I'll sit on a beach and have a holiday and splurge on luxury. In the rest of the world I travel.

wilees- my pleasure. Don't hesitate to post any other questions you might have. I'm usually on the European boards, but will check in on this thread.

And I agree about your spending theory. There is a time for squeezing the budget, and there is a time to spend. When my husband and I vacation in europe, there are things we do to cut corners and other things we do to stretch out money.

I think moving your time to August is a great idea. Yes, the weather can get unbearably hot and sticky, but there is so much fun and really great stuff to take advantage of that will leave you for splurging when you want or need.

And if the heat is really bad, I won't say Coney Island isn't the nicest beach you can go to (Fire Island/ Long Beach/ Jones are 'prettier"), but it is very swimmable and lots of fun local scenery to take in. I love Coney Island for the kitsch factor. Lots of fun. I highly encourage visitors with enough time on their hands to visit this place. If you want to 'up' your hip kitsch factor- at Astroland you should ride the Cyclone ( a rickety old rollercoaster) and the Wonderwheel (a big ferris wheel that gives you a great view and a few thrills).