bdpatton

We are from the Midwest and traveling into NYC from Boston. We aren't excited about driving into NYC and would like to stay in a hotel long the subway line. We need some suggestions on an area to stay that would be easy to get to. We would then just leave our car at the hotel and use the subway system. We will have our two teenagers along with us.

bigbomoho

you should consider a train--most hotels in NYC charge alot for daily parking, like 50 and over/day.We met friends from Boston in NYC last year, and they spent less than $50 each way,and its a pleasnat ride--they arrived at Grand Cantrl ,which is a great spot

lindy27

I would stay in Manhattan if you could and somehow leave your car outside Manhattan or take the train into NYC. We enjoyed staying in the Upper West Side if you like a more local feel. We also stayed southwest of Times Square which was nice if you want to me in a more central, touristy area. Never felt unsafe in either location.

To my knowledge the NYC subway only goes to the Bronx (wouldn't stay there), Queens, and Brooklyn. You might be able to stay in New Jersey and take their system, the PATH, into NYC.

ellenem

Most people I know complain about Boston drivers/driving being much worse than those in NYC. If your only concern is the actual driving rather than the expense, just drive your car into Manhattan, park it in a garage, and forget about it until it's time to leave.

Based on "We will have our two teenagers along with us", you will have to pay for 4 adults to get into Manhattan. On the subway, it would be least costly, but there aren't really any recommended spots for you to stay in the Bronx, which would be along your route from Boston. In the suburbs north and east of the city beyond the reach of the subway lines, you'd MetroNorth trains which will cost at least $50 or more per day for 4 adults and waste about 45 minutes each way commuting. If you were willing to travel to Queens, there are a few good hotels in Long Island City with quick, easy access to the subway to Manhattan, though little in the surrounding neighborhoods of interest.

Really truly, if driving in NYC is your only concern, just plan to park immediately upon arrival in Manhattan.

azzure

We drove to Weehawken, NJ, left the car there and took the ferry into midtown Manhattan. You might want to consider that option. A crosstown bus meets you on the Manhattan side, and loops around past a lot of hotels. It's easy to get to Weehawken.

bigbomoho

think Azzures ot a good idea. As an alternative,and being from the Bronx, the pelham bay area is still ok, as is Buhre Ave and Middletown rd, all stops on the Pelham Bay Line. You could park in those areas and the car would be fine.If thats what you want to do, send me a message and ill point out more specically what street to look for parking--people drive down from Westchester all the time and park at these stops to commute to NYC. Its about a 25 minute ride on the subway to get to Manhattan.

travelbuff

Or.... there are some B&B's way uptown (Manhattan) that would mean coming over a bridge into Manhattan and driving right to the hotel. There are 2 that I can think of that might work on W 153rd and 147th both are a block away from the A train in a safe area of the city. This area is residential so lots of stores nearby.

Hope this helps.

nytraveler

Um NYC has numerous subway lines that all converge in various places in Manhattan. You can stay near any of them and have the hotel garage your car for about $40 per night.

If you tell us what time of year you are coming and what your hotel budget is people will make recos for you. Staying outside the city and traveling in each day doesn;t make any sense - since it will waste several hours per day and cost a lot in 4 train fares.

ggreen

Hmm, either I don't understand the OP or I don't understand the responses-! (nytraveler's response is the same as what I was thinking.)

So, bdpatton, a few clarification questions:

1. Is it a definite that you will be driving from Boston to NYC? (Are you driving from the Midwest to the Northeast for your trip?)
- If the answer is no and you really are that averse to driving in NYC, I highly recommend taking Amtrak or a bus from Massachusetts. (Note that it's true that hotel parking will run you about $40/day.)
- If the answer is yes, my recommendation would be to park the car in long-term parking at a Metro North commuter station somewhere between New Haven and NYC. Take one trip into NYC for the beginning of your time there, and one trip back to collect the car when you're done. (New Haven is about 2 hours from midtown Manhattan; Stamford, CT and New Rochelle, NY are each about 45 min - 1 hour away. Doing this once each way isn't terrible; doing it every day is not fun!)

2. What do you mean by "[a]long the subway line"? There are numerous lines within the NYC Transit subway system, none of which reach outside of the 5 boroughs. (Even if you end up staying in the Bronx or Queens, you'll still be driving into NYC - it's not like the traffic restrains itself to Manhattan.) In addition, there are the commuter rail lines - but again my recommendation is not to stay outside of the city in that manner. The daily cost will be fairly high - all the lines have just raised their rates - plus you'll likely be going in/out of the city with all the commuters at Peak times, and the distance+time it takes makes it awkward to really see the sites. (My sister tried staying in New Rochelle for a visit to NYC and I can speak to these issues firsthand.)

3. What is your aversion to driving in NYC? I don't ask facetiously: In my (extensive) experience, it's true that driving is at least as bad in metro Boston as it is in NYC. (Or maybe you're not excited about driving there either but understandably didn't mention it here. Your inclusion of it just makes the OP a little confusing...)

FWIW, you can see maps, schedules, etc. of the three transit systems run by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) here: http://mta.info. This will give you information on Metro North (Connecticut and southern NY state); Long Island Rail Road; and the subway (NY Transit). In New Jersey, look for information on NJ Transit trains and buses here: www.njtransit.com. The PATH is a type of subway between "metro" NJ and points in Manhattan: www.panynj.gov/path.

ggreen

Oh, and Amtrak info can be found at amtrak.com - the route from Boston to NYC is part of the busy Northeast Corridor. Fares vary depending on type of train (Acela business express or Regional), popularity of route, time of day, and how far in advance you purchase the tickets. (You'd have to get all of these things together to get a ticket for less than $50/each one way.)

nytraveler

If you give us a better idea of you plans (how many days will you be in NYC?), if you really need to bring the car to NYC (to come from Boston you could just take the train or bus unless you are going to be donig a further driving trip from NYC) or if you want to stop and see things by car between Boston and NYC (in which case you could drop you car at one of the cities on the way into NYC and take the train for the last couple of stops).

Also - driving in NYC isn;t difficult just to get TO a hotel - it's driving around in the city that makes no sense. Nor does it make sense to pay for daily car rental plus $40 per night garage costs unless you're only staying a couple nights and will need the car again after NYC).

Have you looked into flying into Boston and out of NYC - that might solve your problem?

BigRuss

This post needs some backup research -- have you looked at a NYC subway map? The City's subways are not like DART in Dallas or MARTA in Atlanta, there are more than 20 lines that are part of the Subway system, nearly a dozen that are the Long Island Rail Road and sets from NJ Transit, PATH, and Metro-North. Go to the links ggreen gave you.

If you are flying to Boston (as it seems from the post) and you are going to NYC from there, then take a train or even a flight and you'll save the money on exorbitant hotel parking fees.

mclaurie

Agree with the confusion on your post. Unless you're driving from the midwest, there's no reason you have to drive from Boston to NYC. In addition to Amtrak train there's also boltbus.com and megabus.com and even http://www.limoliner.com/ from the Boston Hilton to the NYC Hilton. If you are driving from home or have some other reason to prefer driving from Boston, you can either park your car as suggested just outside Manhattan at say the Weehawken, NJ ferry terminal, Port Imperial for $10/night or just drive into Manhattan, find a garage near your hotel by using bestparking.com and forget about the car until you're ready to leave.

You make it sound like there's only 1 subway line in NYC when in fact there are dozens. Most any hotel you'd pick are near a subway. If budget is a problem and you can't find a hotel in Manhattan in your budget, Long Island City has some good budget options and is a short subway ride away. The Country Inn & Suites, the Verve and the Holiday Inn Manhattan View are some of the better Long Island City options. Each has a few parking space but they don't guarantee free parking to their guests. If you have to park in a lot there, there are plenty of options.

MareW

When we go to NYC from the greater Boston area, rather than taking Amtrak, we sometimes park in Stamford, CT and take the Metro North train from there. I believe parking is $10 per day in the garage at the station. We take our luggage with us and stay at a hotel in NYC.

bdpatton

Okay, I appreciate everyone's help. These are the plans. I am from a very small town in MN and we normal try to avoid driving in the large cities. NYC seems intimidating. Our plans are to drive from MN all the way up to Maine then hit all the New England States and drive down from Boston. We have studied the various subway and train maps. We thought it would be easiest to stay out of Manhattan and use the public transportation but it sounds like our best bet would be to drive straight to a hotel in Manhattan - park the car and work from there. Our budget (we hoped) was $150 hotel for a family of 4. But from all the of post it seems like the consensus is staying in Manhattan is the best way to go for the money. We would be making the trip in June or July.

emd3

bdpatton, I have not read all the posts above. But I will tell you that two weeks ago, on Dec 21, 4 days before Christmas, I drove from Boston to NYC and into Manhattan. After 25 yrs of visiting Manhattan (I live in the Washington D.C. area) several times each year, I have NEVER driven in Manhattan and I was NOT looking foward to having to do so.

That was compounded by the fact that I had driven to Boston from my home the night before and I ran into a bad snowstorm right before I got to Boston. The next day I left Boston in the early a.m. with snow on the ground and drive to NYC, totally dreading the thought of having to navigate my way first to Columbia University for a meeting and then at 5 p.m. through NYC to a hotel close to Penn Station.

Well, I survived and it was no bad at all. I was meeting my family, 20 yr old son and 17 yr old daughter and my husband, all of whom were taking the train from different points into NYC.

I had booked what turned out to be a wonderful option for a hotel regarding driving from Boston to NYC. It was the New Yorker Hotel, on 8th Ave close to Penn Station. My navigation system took me over the GW bridge and then right onto Rt 9A into the city (as I sadi I had to stop at Columbia Univ first). From there I did my short meeting at Columbia and then drove straight down 9th Ave with only two turns to get to the New Yorker hotel.

The parking at that hotel was I think as reasonable as any in NYC. They parked the car in an indoor garage a block away. I had moved my son completely out of Boston University while I was in Boston the night before and had ALL of his belongings packed to the gills in the car. I parked the car with the New Yorker hotel valet and nothing was touched in that car for 3 days.

The New Yorker hotel was reasonably priced, conveneitn to the subway both up to Ties Square and the theaters we went to, and also downtown to Soho and Tribeca and the West Village. And when I went to drive home early Christmas morning (just before the blizzard started), I took two turns just outside the hotel and easily got on the hwy to D.C.

It wasn't bad at all. I'd do it again, even if it was at a different time than just before Christmas. The NEw Yorker hotel was a great choice for location and parking and service all the way around. Adn there are two restaurants, one a 24 hr diner taht delivers to the rooms FREE OF ANY CHARGES FOR DELIVERY OR SERVICE (just tip them) and the other a good solid dinner place where we ate 2 out of 3 nights.

HAVE FUN!

emd3

bdpatton: p.s. Sorry for all the typos above. But I wanted to add that my teens LOVED that 24 hr room service with no additional charges, and the Tic Toc diner attached to the hotel has very good "normal" food (breakfast lots of options, lunch salads and sandwiches, and good entrees for a family on the run).

I always scrutinize the idea of room service as it usually doubles the bill when you add in the service charge and deliver charge plus the outrageous mark-ups. But Tic Toc Diner t the New Yorker Hotel was not like that and my teens loved ordering from there when they wanted and not having all those extra charges (and yes, I did tip the delivery person).

We had a small suite with a queen bed in the bedroom for my husband and I and a sofa bed in the living area for my son, and there was enough room in that living area to have an extra roll away bed brought in for daughter. And two TVS, one in their living area and one for us in bedroom. Adn fridge and wet bar area in living areea.

It was a great set-up all around.

emd3

Actually it was Broadway that I drove from Columbia University down towards Penn Station and then took a few turns to get to 8th Ave and the New Yorker Hotel on 8th Ave close to Penn Station. Sorry for the confusion, it was the 1st time i had ever driven there. And I survived...

ggreen

bdpatton, thanks for the clarification. If that's the case, you *definitely* don't want to be driving in Boston - even less than NYC!!! Believe me, NYC with its grid is a lot better than Boston with its former colonial cow paths - only a small part of Manhattan is not on the grid. (And I won't even tell you what the commonly known pejorative is for Boston drivers-!)

emd3's recommendation of the New Yorker hotel is definitely spot-on for ease of getting there and back. (With one important correction: do NOT actually go over the GW Bridge to get from Boston to Manhattan!!) Signage on the West Side Highway is well marked with specified left-turn lanes and signals to get you from that artery to the hotel. Then you'll be basically right in the heart of things, a few blocks from Times Square or the Empire State Building.

Another option is the Skyline Hotel, a little farther away from the center of things, but still in midtown Manhattan, walking distance to Times Square and its subway hub. The advantage here is that it's even closer to the West Side Highway and has been a decent budget option for many years.

Or you could stay in Queens (of which Long Island City is part). Again, you could find lodging that's not to difficult on/off a highway or major artery - just make sure it's only a block or two from a subway station (as you originally requested!).

And I will repeat the recommendation that, especially given cost considerations, you can park the car outside of NYC (such as in Stamford as MareW suggests), take the commuter train in once and stay in the city, then head out on the commuter train at the end, pick up the car and get back across the Hudson with a minimum of fuss.

ggreen

Oh, and my BF and I not infrequently end up at the Tick Tock diner when we're in the Penn Station area, as it's a decent if basic diner and there's not a lot else right there. But I hope you find some nicer dining options in this city with a zillion food choices!