Manhattan Advice
 

Long :)


I am booking travel for my boss and his 13 year old son. They are traveling in to NY for Cooperstown/little league and are stopping in NYC for one night on the way to Cooperstown and for a weekend after Cooperstown. Because of teammates - plans there is not wiggle room on the in and out of NYC to get to Cooperstown.

They will be arriving into JFK as they need a non-stop flight early in the am from LAX.
The current plan is to arrive into JFK @ 2:30 and pick up bags and head to hotel by JFK.

From there the plan is to take public transportation (cab? Subway? Bus?) to Yankee Stadium. They would like to meet up with the son’s teammate who are staying in Time Square area if it is feasible?

See the Yankee Red Sox game and then get back to the hotel by JFK.

They are picking up the car in the morning and will be driving to Cooperstown on Friday - Friday. Driving back to NYC on a Friday, dropping off the car at JFK and heading into Manhattan (Public transportation? Cab I assume) and checking into a hotel in the Time Square/theater area - I believe the Renaissance Time Square - got what seems to be a decent deal (3 nights including tax and fees for $1,000.00 for double bed room)

They are staying the weekend (fly out of JFK on Monday @ 11:30 am)

On their list is:

Empire state building
911 memorial
Taking Staten Island Ferry to see Statue of Liberty
Central Park (maybe bike rental?)

Looking for advice on:

Transportation from JFK to Yankee Stadium - They know that it is gong to be a busy/hustling afternoon to get to the stadium.

Any recommendations on what order/flow to see their desired sites and transportation recommendations (exact subway instructions are super helpful!!)

Anything else :)

Too many moving parts.

With no traffic and good conditions it is a five hour drive to Cooperstown from NYC, partially because Cooperstown is in the middle of nowhere.

I would pay whatever drop off fee necessary to leave the car in Manhattan, rather than return it to JFK and then get back into Manhattan.

Car transportation back and forth from JFK is PITA. They must take the Van Wyck which is tied up all hours.

And staying at a hotel at JFK is to isolate oneself.

I do not know where to start to unravel this trip.

I think it easy to unravel. The probelem is staying near JFK, and linking car rental to JFK on both ends. A quick look at a map will tell you why - JFK is on the far side of NYC from anywhere else he is going.


I would change the itineary to this

Arrival day.
Arrive JFK 2:30
Cab to hotel in Manhattan
Subway To/From Yankee Stadium

Day 2. Pick up rental car near hotel, drive to Cooperstown. There are rental car locations all over Manhattan, so just choose one nearby.

...

Back to NYC - drop off car in Manhattan
Departure - cab or car service from hotel to JFK.

Agree with J62. Hotels near JFK are not convenient to anything except the airport. It will take an hour to get into the city - and they may need to do it by taking a shuttle to JFK and going into the city from there - taking even longer. Plus these hotels are mostly not very pleasant. And starting from JFK to Cooperstown can easily add an hour to the trip in either direction.

They really need to stay in Manhattan - makes everything much easier. for ease of getting out of Manhattan in a car look for a car rental office (there are dozens of them) near the west side highway - avoids a lot of city driving and gets them out of town faster.

As for the sightseeing:

I would do Top of the Rock versus ESB - you can easily reserve a short time in advance, avoiding the huge ESB lines and IMHO the views are better

The Staten Island Ferry gives only a distant view of the SoL - it does not go to Liberty Island, only the official National Parks Ferry does that. However, the view is not bad as long as you are not expecting to land and the views of Manhattan from the ferry on the way back are fantastic. The RT across the harbor takes less than 1.5 hours if you hop on the first ferry coming back (they run every 20 minutes or so during the day, less often late at night and in the early hours).

For Central Park be aware that bikes are allowed only on the one circular road. The vast majority of the paths are for pedestrians only. So bike good for exercise and a general view but if they want to see specific sights, such a Strawberry Fields and?, they may want to walk. Check out the web site of the Central Park Conservancy for details.

They are staying near JFK the first night only.... because they arrive @ 2:30 pm and then need to drive to Cooperstown the following morning. This way they don't need to pick up a car in Manhattan and drive in Manhattan...(his choice).

When they arrive back from Cooperstown they are dropping the car at JFK and heading into Manhattan for the weekend and staying at the Renaissance in Time Square.

J62 - I had suggested that...

One solution for the in-between parts is a private guide with car.

It is silly to drop car at JFK and then go back to city. Try to convince him to drop car in Manhattan rather than spend hours extra doing this.

Is the renaissance offering a room with one double bed or a double/double room with two beds?

Renaissance -
High Floor Double Room, Guest room, 2 Double, High floor ...

Jub - I am going to speak with him again today to try to get him to stay in Manhattan on that Thursday and pick up the car in the city. He spoke with someone who convinced him not to do this.

You can quote us here on Fodors to your boss

"Staying at JFK the 1st night is a stupid idea. Period. Driving from JFK to Cooperstown is harder than driving from Manhattan.

Getting to the Stadium from JFK is much much harder than from Manhattan."

ha! I spoke him this morning and he said "great, change it around " :)

We'll be sharing in the bonus, I assume

Ok, does this mean he smartened up about staying near JFK? If he really is allergic to driving in Manhattan, then he could drop the car at LGA when he comes back. But staying at JFK and taking the train to Yankee Stadium is just daft. Hard to get two points in the city further from each other on public transport.