Need Advice-3 Days in NYC in December
 

Hello All,



My husband and I are taking my mother to NYC the week prior to Christmas, Dec. 19th-23rd. We have flown in and out of the NY airports on international flights many times but never visited the city itself. I'm not very fond of long lines, huge crowds, pushing, shoving etc. but we really want to see the Christmas decorations and a few of the iconic city attractions. My mother is 73 and gets around without any problems but I don't want to totally exhaust her. Most of the places we travel to, we use travel agencies that arrange custom , private tours. However, despite lots of searching, I can't find a tour company in NY that does such tours even though several say they do. Responses still seem to have their own generalized agendas. So we were thinking of taking one of the "general overview" tours. I hear this is a very hectic time of year and I don't really want to do the "hop on hop off" thing. I have a schedule planed. Could you please tell me if you think we have time and if this is "do-able" as well if you have any advice on transportation, the tour companies, etc. We are staying in a hotel in Times Square. Here's our schedule:



Dec. 19th:
2:00 p.m. Don't want to buy tickets for anything that evening in case there's a hitch in travel plans so thought we could stroll down 5th Ave. and look at the store window displays. Macey's is supposed to be a block away so thought we could start there. See the Rockefeller Square Christmas Tree and do the Top of the Rock Observatory.

Dec. 20th:
8:30 a.m. - Do a tour with "OnBoard NY Tour Co." (5.5 hour tour) and disembark at the optional stop at the Empire State Building and go up to the observation deck on our own. Walk back to hotel which is 0.1 mile away.
8:00 p.m. - Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Dec. 21st:
8:30 a.m. Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Tour (NYCtrip.com tour Co.)
4:30 p.m. - Circle Line Harbor Cruise (3 hours)
Dinner at nice, mid-range priced restaurant - suggestions?

Dec. 22nd:
10:30 - Museum of Natural History
That evening we would like to see the Christmas lights in some of the residential areas such as Dyker Heights. Any other suggestions for places to visit? Transportation there? Limo services? Can you walk through the area to see the lights or must you drive?

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I've heard it's very hectic, nearly impossible to get a cab, crowded, long lines and difficult to see the sites....I must admit that we do feel a little overwhelmed but we really want to see the Christmas decorations.

Just a quick word on NYC during Christmas -- it is PACKED with people. Fifth Avenue around Rock Plaza/Saks is like a rock concert. It's just that crowded.

I'd suggest you get moving EARLY in the morning to avoid the massive crowds.

Good luck!

If you want to avoid crowds - as in having to walk in the streets since the sidewalk is so crowded do NOT stay in Times Square, It's quite unpleasant at the best of time, and near the holidays it is simply madness. (Instead I would do Central Park South, midtown east or the upper west side - for very busy - but not frantic.)

The traffic will be awful those days - some will be gridlock alert days. So getting places by cab can be problematic. Subway is really a much better option.

Agree to start everything early (stores often open at 7 am to get more shoppers in. And don;t bother with Macy;s windows - not that great and blocks from anything else. You want to start at Lord & Taylor (Fifth & 38th) and walk north from there. But be prepared for the sidewalks to be elbow to elbow.

Do Top of the Rock versus Empire State - the latter will be hours waiting, while the former has advance times tickets.

And plan places to rest. For instance, after Rock Center head to St Pat's for a look and a rest.

Not sure why you're not hitting the Met - it's the premiere cultural institution in the western hemisphere.

As for restaurants, there are so many options you really need to give us a budget and what cuisines you like or dislike.

When we were there last year, we saw the Lord & Taylor and Saks windows at night when there was just about noone else there. We walked up Fifth Avenue from Lord & Taylor (38th St.) to Saks and Rockefeller Center (50th St.) and ended by watching the skaters and looking at the tree. It was really really pleasant. This was Thanksgiving Weekend -- it may be much much worse just before Christmas.

Yes, I did hear that Times Square was really chaotic but we picked there for convenience, i.e. proximity to other areas we wanted to see. I hope it works out.

As far as the crowds...I certainly mean no offense to New Yorkers but it sounds horrific. But we really want to see NY at Christmas. Some advice I got on another forum was to walk down and look at the Christmas windows after the stores closed and the streets would not be quite as bad. Is it a little less crowded after hours?

As for the restaurants, I like pretty much any type of food except Asian...Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc. My mother pretty much likes typical American fare, seafood, Tex-Mex. As far as price range, maybe $60 or $70 per person. Decent but not over the top. However, I have found through experience from much traveling that price does not always indicate quality of food so even if an entree cost less, it certainly doesn't mean that I wouldn't try a restaurant if someone else highly recommended it. Some of the best places we've found have been by word of mouth :o)

<i>Some advice I got on another forum was to walk down and look at the Christmas windows after the stores closed and the streets would not be quite as bad. Is it a little less crowded after hours?</i>

Did you not read my post?

Also, for what it's worth, 34th Street (where your hotel is) is not Times Square. Perhaps still busy and crowded (near Macys) but not TS.

Oh, it's no offense to us New Yorkers.

During the holidays, midtown is crowded with tourists -- zillions of them. We know it, we accept it. (And we love their money.)

I worked in 30 Rock for several year -- right behind the tree. During the holidays, my morning commute was 10 minutes longer, negotiating the crowds from my subway stop to 30 Rock's door (and taking photos for smiling tourists).

I forgot to mention restaurants. Make reservations EARLY, like weeks in advance.

Two great resources:

www.menupages.com
www.opentable.com

My only problem with you plan is that you are scheduling two boat rides on the same day. Youwill see the Satutue of Liberty in the morning, and then that evening you will return to it again.

Can you tell us where you are staying? It's difficult to understand based on your descriptions. Our restaurant recommendations might vary with this information.

Yes dmlove, I did read your post and you said that you saw the store windows &quot;at night when there was almost no one there&quot;. You didn't say it was after they closed, which is what I asked. &quot;At night&quot; could still be prior to closing time. A few days before Christmas, when we will be there, I'm sure there's a greater chance of it being much more crowed in and around the stores at night right up to closing time and even a bit thereafter given that Christmas has become so commercialized and there will most likely be plenty of last minute shoppers out. Didn't mean for you to think that I disregarded your post. I appreciated your answer.

As for the location of the hotel, it's the Comfort Inn Manhatten. Address is 42 W. 35th Street and no it's not directly in Times Square but as close as I want to be to it. There is actually a link on their website that lists all the restaurants in the area as well as their price guide. However, since I am not familiar with them, any suggestions would be appreciated...perhaps a good Italian or French restaurant?

I was totally surprised at the hotel rates at a Comfort Inn being over $300 per night. Where I'm from (Mississippi) a Comfort Inn is one of the &quot;economy&quot; hotel chains and the usual price is around $50 a night. Well, I suppose it's still an economy hotel because it was one of the cheapest we found in NYC during that time frame. I know you guys make more than we do to compensate for the higher prices and it all balances out...but still a little sticker shock. I did note that the rates increased dramatically during Dec. But guess that's what is known as supply and demand, LOL.

Hi

My wife and I went to NYC in December last year. Maybe you can find some useful info in my trip report with pictures and links http://gardkarlsen.com/NYC_travelogue_2007.htm . Get in touch if you have any questions :-)

Regards
gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Gard, that is awesome and so well put together. So many of my questions were answered and some that I hadn't even thought of yet. I wish I had kept such through diaries of our travels. As I read over some more, I will probably e-mail you with a question or two...I'm sure some more will come to mind. Thanks for your offer to help and thanks to everyone else who offered their great advice.

P.S. - We decided to nix the Harbor Cruise and see the bridges via another means. It would be a bit repetitive to see the Statue of Liberty twice in one day :o)

Well - you're nowhere near Times Square - and the area your hotel is in is, in fact, quite dreary.

For the crowds to be lighter to look at the windows means after the stores close - which may well be at 10 or 11 pm.

With so much else to see/do I would not spend time heading to the outer boroughs just to see lit up houses. And, if you do so, realistically you would need a car service - at fairly big $.

Agree that an evening cruise at that time of year is not the best idea - you will see lit up skyscrapers - but it can be brutally cold out on the water at night.

Don't forget to visit Macy's and their Santa Land...great windows outside and great inside!

One of my favorite Christmas movies is &quot;Miracle on 34th Street&quot; and because of it, I've always wanted to view the Macy's Santa...all my life.

I finally got the chance about 12 years ago...but had a wife and two daughters (13 &amp; 10) with me too! We did a group picture which I will always treasure.

I agree, the Comfort Inn's location is &quot;not good.&quot; Don't plan on spending any time in that area. Wake up, get on a subway, and enjoy breakfast (and the day &amp; evening) elsewhere.

Paying over $300/night for that Comfort Inn seems over the top to me too. It looks like it's ~$350/night for 3, a price I wouldn't pay for that hotel. If you haven't prepaid, I'd look at some other options. I see a few nicer hotels in better locations for around $300/night for 3 people (didn't know if you're all sharing a room or not). On quikbook.com the Empire and the Roosevelt Hotel are both $297/night plus tax for a double double.

On kayak.com there are some even better offers. The Hampton Inn Chelsea is available on Orbitz for $219/night plus tax for a room with 2 queen beds. This is a great rate in a very good area imo. The Roosevelt hotel is on hotels.com for $235/night but I'd worry about getting 2 doubles booking that way. The Courtyard Times Square South (not in TS really but near Bryant Park, a great location) is $329/night for 2 nights and $229/night for 2 nights for a double double.

As for activities, there's a tour co. that does a tour of Dyker Heights. http://www.zerve.com/BKNYpizza/private3

Since you've dropped the evening cruise, I wonder if you'd want to do a dinner cruise? It's pricey but folks say it's very memorable and sort of kills 2 birds with one stone. bateauxnewyork.com

Otherwise, I wonder about a Broadway Show. You should be able to find discount tickets to quite a few things on broadwaybox.com if you're interested. You might have to wait, though, for discounts good for those dates.

As far as &quot;proximity to areas ...&quot;, the best location is one near a subway, which in the case of NYC, is almost anywhere. The places you want to see are really all over the map. The distance from the Museum of Natural History to Battery Park (ellis island ferry) is several miles.

In any case, your hotel location may not be the most desirable or interesting neighborhood, but it is near several subway lines, is prefectly safe, and close to the Empire State Building and Macy's.

BunnyDo, you're right, I was feeling a little &quot;dissed&quot; :) But I see that I didn't say &quot;after the stores close&quot; so I apologize for my earlier reply.

Oh, no problem, dmlove. Sorry that I misunderstood what you meant.
O.K., I'm glad y'all told me about the hotel. When we booked that one the dude at the desk told us that it was &quot;centrally located&quot; and about a 10 minute walk from Rockefeller Center and half mile to Times Square? Is that even close to correct? Now, when you say the museum is two miles away, that seems like no big deal to me considering we live in big open places and my paved driveway alone is probably .25 mile long but what I'm probably NOT thinking about is that even a mile walk is not the same when you're negotiating crowds and busy traffic. But yea, I totally agree that two miles is a stretch for a walk. MFNYC pointed out that it was near several subway lines which others have told me is the best mode of transportation as the streets might be gridlocked much of the time that close to Christmas. Are these other areas pretty close to subways as well? I guess like MFNYC said, pretty much anything in NY is close?? Never really used public transportation much so please forgive my ignorance. We'd considered using a Limo service but when we heard how long it took to drive...we didn't even call.

Since y'all so kindly supplied better hotel suggestions, I do think we'll call some of them tonight and try to find another area though. We have up until 72 hours before check-in I believe to cancel. Prices sound just as good or better than what we have and probably worth being in a better location. And I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to be super cheap. Husband is a doctor and good income. Just a big difference in the prices we usually see. And if we aren't going to be there except for a few hours to sleep and freshen up, would rather spend the difference on other things like shopping as long as it's a clean, decent place and in a safe area. Glad I gave you guys the exact address so you could clue me in. THANKS!

You were given correct info about the location of the hotel you booked. It's one of those locations that is convenient for tourists but not well liked by locals b/c it's a bit commercial and not near many decent restaurants. I think the biggest issue is not whether the location is good or bad but that you'd be overpaying (imo) for that hotel in that location. There are better options for less.