Looking for a good base for five days in Manhattan next Fall. So far, The Wyman and the Abingdon Guest House look interesting. (The Wyman is on Riverside Dr while the Abingdon is W. Village). The Best Western Seaport also looks pretty good (Water Street). We're hoping to stay under $200/noc and do like to be in the midst of things.
Any thoughts on these places or any other tips would be much appreciated.

Not sure what you mean by in the midst of things. Most tourists in NYC who want the midst of things go for the Times Square area - although IMHO this is way too busy, loud and tacky. None of the hotels you have named are in the midst of things - if that's what you mean - all are more or less off the beaten track of main tourist sights.

What are you planning on doing here? Major tourist sights? A lot of theater? Special interests? Provide ino on who/how many/ages etc - and perhaps we can make suggestions. (Assuming threre are 2 of you and you use Priceline you should be able to get soemthing quite nice for that budget.)

I have to agree with nytraveler, Pam, none of these places is centrally located but they all have an interesting funky side to them. Fun choices.

I hadn't heard of the Wyman so did a quick search. The photos are devine!! It's a lovely residential area but all the way over on the west side. The Abingdon is a great village location and of the 3, I think would be closest to a subway. I personally wouldn't want to be across from the Seaport w/o a car (not recommending that though) but I read on tripadvisor that some of the rooms have terraces with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. So, gosh, that wouldn't be bad.

But it does depend on what you intend to do. The reason midtown is so popular is that it's easy to get to most places from there. It would not be difficult, with enough advance planning, to get a more typical location/hotel for slightly under $200. (Priceline, lastminutetravel.com, travelzoo etc.)But if you're looking for a bit of charm/uniqueness these places would fit the bill.

The Inn on 23 st seems to get raves and may be within your budget too. Here's a page from tripadvisor that lists a bunch of other inns on the left side.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._New_York.html

The place called "rooms to let" is near the Abingdon. I haven't stayed at any of these so can't really comment on the insides, only location and reviews.

mclaurie, I have to give you props for being such a patient poster. You answer the same NYC questions over and over and are so nice!

Thank you.

I'll agree with the previous posters. All three facilities are located in interesting areas, but they are away from the mainstream tourist sites that you probably want to visit. Thus, one disadvantage will be making the trek back to your accommodations at day's end, especially if you are planning evening activities, such as the Broadway theater.

Thanks for the info so far. We are two former East Coasters now in our mid 50's. We stayed in Midtown on our last trip but did love the village. We can readily take public transportation. I think by "in the midst" of things I meant walking distance to some great places to eat/neighborhoods that would be fun to explore. Probably this describes all of NY.
I have looked at the Inn on 23rd and that looks good as well.
We'll probably just walk around. Museums will be visited, some theatre if something catches our eye and most certainly corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, pizza and more pizza and maybe an egg cream here and there.
From NYC, we head up to the Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks.
We stayed in Midtown(W 57th) on our last trip. I was amazed at how deserted Madison Avenue was at night.
Please keep the suggestions coming.

As a followup comment, I would eliminate the Riverside Drive and Seaport locations. They are really far removed from things....and can't hold a candle to the Village or 23rd Street as far as being interesting neighborhoods with lots of things to do.

Actually, GoTravel, I thought Pam's choices were not usual ones and she even got me to discover a place I didn't know about, the Wyman.

I don't really agree with Howard about eliminating those 2. As I said, I wouldn't want to be across from the seaport, but there's a TKTS booth right there, plenty of restaurants with water views and it would be convenient for doing the downtown things like Staten Island ferry, Statue of Liberty, Tribeca, Soho etc. I think the nywatertaxi.com even has a stop nearby so you could use that to get around some. It's biggest shortcoming is it's not really a residential area as far as I know and the elevated road from the FDR is right there so it can look a bit industrial.

While the Riverside Drive location is ver far west, it's only a few blocks to restaurants etc. and it is a lovely residential area that's probably the closest choice here to the uptown museums. To get to museum mile on Fifth (ie the Met etc.) you'd just take a crosstown bus through the park. To that point, it might be worth checking some of the other upper west side hotels like the Beacon, the Milburn, the Lucerne. The first 2 are apt style hotels with kitchens but they're all in the same general area, just not so far west.

The Abingdon and Rooms to Let are not only in the village, but they're both right near the meatpacking district which is trendy and "buzzy."

Sorry, mclaurie, but I don't think those two areas can come close to equalling the other two in terms of overall charm and activity.

We have stayed in the Murray Hill area on the last couple of trips we've made -