My mother and I are taking a trip to Spain so we are staying the night in NYC. We will be flying into LaGuardia at 11:00 pm on May 4th and flying out of JFK at 6:30 pm on the 5th. We would like to take a sightseeing tour during the day. I have never been to NYC. Should we stay near LaGuardia or JFK? Please recommend a good sightseeing tour. I appreciate all responses.

Neither. If you want to see Manhattan, stay there.

You can spend the night in Manhattan, get up early, see the sites, then head to the airport by 3:30PM.

Neither. If you would like to see NYC the next day, stay in midtown Manhattan, east side. It is a quick taxi ride from LaGuardia to that side of Manhattan, when you wake up the next morning you can get a tour or sightsee on your own, your hotel can keep your luggage for you even after you have to check out then return to your hotel just in time to get a taxi to JFK. Otherwise if you stay at LaGuardia you have traffic in the morning into Manhattan and you have nowhere to keep your luggage because you are going out of JFK. Unlike other airports neither LGA or JFK has a hotel right in the airport or walking across a bridge. You will have to take a shuttle or taxi anyway (although not too far). I like www.quikbook.com for city hotels. (Select city New York and neighborhood "midtown east".) Your hotel could help you arrange a day or half day tour or you could do your own. On the east side alone you could do some combination of Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center, St. Patricks Cathedral a bit of 5th avenue shopping and Metropolitan Museum or Modern Art Museum. Try www.frommer.com for do it yourself walking tours of NYC.

That should be www.frommers.com. (www.fodors.com has walking tours of interesting NYC neighborhoods under "destinations" but not of those "major" tourist sites. Sorry Fodors!)

Agree that you need to stay in the City. Besides the issue of traveling into the City in the morning rush if you stay at either airport (which will take forever) you will have no place to leave your luggage if you stay near one of the airports. (Or you will have to cab from the City to the hotel when you want to leave - then get another cab - or if you're lucky a shuttle to the other airport - way too complicated.)

If you go from LGA to the City at 11 pm at night it will take 15 minutes - 20 at most - and could easily be 1 to 1.5 hours in the AM. Staying in the city you can get a much earlier stat, see more and not have to chase around for yhour luggage.

I would check Priceline (4* hotels only - 3* can be dicey) probably midtown east or central park south for a good deal.

Why shouldn't we stay near JFK? The hotels are so pricy in Midtown Manhattan. Thanks again for the advice.

Because the commute from JFK to Manhattan can take as long as two hours in the morning.

What are you going to do with your luggage after you check out of your hotel before you go to Manhattan?

At 11PM, it is a shorter ride from LGA to Midtown than LGA to JFK.

Do you need more reasons?

I'll pile on -- if you want to see Manhattan on May 5th, spend the night of May 4th in Manhattan, preferably on the east side of midtown.

It does not make any sense at all to stay out near JFK -- you'll spend most of your Friday in traffic if you do.

A popular tour:

http://www.coachusa.com/newyorksightseeing/

By all means take the previous opinions to heart and stay in midtown. You can then walk around and see some of the sights..you will not really need a tour and can save that money and put it toward your hotel in Manhattan.

The hotels near JFK (besides being not very pleasant) are convenient only to the airport - not for getting into the City. It will take forever to get there in the morning. Then you will have to take a cab back to the hotel to pick up your luggage - then their shuttle or ? to go on to the airport fo ryour flight.

You will end up spending all of Friday trekking back and forth - and have very little time in the City.

I am one to often tell people they don't HAVE to stay in Manhattan to enjoy NYC, but in your case, I agree with the writers above.

Get INTO Manhattan when you arrive (and traffic is minimal) and enjoy the day sightseeing, instead of fighting traffic. While you might save some money on an airport hotel, what is your vacation time worth?? More than the hotel price difference. Enjoy!

I totally agree about staying in Manhattan for logistics. Your luggage will be with you in Manhattan, the hotels at JKF are mostly awful, the ones near LGA are somewhat better but you will waste time getting to Manhattan and then having to stop back there to pick up luggage.

Sooo, how to find a cheap but good hotel for 1 night? PRICELINE. But there's no guarantee of success on PL so it's a good idea to book something you could live with that's cancellable. I've done some checking and rates are high for that night in NYC. You could book the Red Roof Inn, well reviewed on tripadvisor and near Penn Station if you wanted to take the train to JFK. It's available for ~$190 plus tax. I think that's a bit much for that hotel, but it's clean and convenient. The other option I see is the Radio City Apartments, another well regarded hotel and right near Rockefeller Center. They have a studio apt. with 2 twin beds for $150 plus tax or a one bedroom apt. with 2 double beds for $195 plus tax. Radiocityapartments.com This is cancellable.

Then start bidding on Priceline for a room. I would only bid 4* hotels in midtown east or midtown west. If you've never used Priceline, go here http://p070.ezboard.com/fpricelinean...abiddinghotels
and read the Hotel FAQ You might also want them to help you with a bid. Betterbidding.com is another website that also help on Priceline bids.

As far as what to see in NYC and how? I don't agree at all about the hop on/off bus. If you want a tour, use the morning (*:30-2pm) tour of NY Party Shuttle. http://www.newyorkpartyshuttle.com/n...tour-packages/

If you have a list of specific places you want to see, if you post it we can try to help you work a self guided tour. YOu could also consider hiring a private guide if you like.

Good Luck!