I was considering taking in the New York Photo Expo from Nov. 2-4 (got a great flight deal lined up if I want it) but upon trying to book a hotel have discovered that the Marathon runs on Nov. 5.

I've also read that this is the busiest weekend of the year in NYC - true?

Do the majority of marathon folks arrive Friday or Saturday (I can return Saturday if need be but won't pay $400 for a hotel Friday night)?

Thanks in advance!

Marathon weekend in NY is busy, but the busiest weekend in NY is the first weekend in December.

Most hotels are requiring a 3 night minimum on Marathon weekend.

Agree with suerich. Many runners arrive on Fri/Sat (some before) and leave on Mon/Tues.

One year I booked a fabulous deal on a flight to NYC and then "discovered" it was marathon weekend. Nice. Have you tried all the usual suspects as far as finding a room? Quikbook.com, hotelkingdom.com orbitz.com etc? If you see a decent rate on a site call the hotel directly - sometime they can match it or beat it, and sometimes the lower rate is only available on the web.

We didn't find the city "packed" because of the marathon, we had no problem with restaurants, show tickets, museums etc. Obviously there will be streets closed off for practice and on race day, but other venues weren't a problem, the runners are doing their thing and have their own scheduled events. If you can catch a glimpse of the race or even a practice, it is really something to see.

Don't give up on the hotel, and if you see anything remotely reasonable - GRAB IT - and keep searching.

When I went with my son to pick up his race packet at the Javits Center on the Friday before the race, it was packed! Packed with visitors from other countries who were running the race. So I would say Friday many people do arrive in the City before the race.

The only area I would avoid is Columbus Circle. That area is a ZOO during the Marathon.

Thousands of runners are from other parts of the country or other counries. And many come early - so from Thurs to the following Tues/Wed is VERY busy. You won;t find any hotel deals. But no - this is not the busiest - December is worse.

Thanks for the replies!
I've had to revise my dates and are officially booked for Nov. 1-3 and staying at the Affinia Eastgate Tower for two nights. The flight was only $308CDN (total) from Edmonton which I couldn't pass up even for a two night stay. At least I have two full days and an evening and will probably return next year.

Margo, you weren't in town for Marathon weekend then. No way.

It is almost as busy as the first weekend in December and it brings hundreds of thousands of people to Manhattan and many streets and main thoroughfares will be closed: First Avenue, Central Park South, Central Park West, Fifth Avenue, Central Park Transverses, 59th Street Bridge, and all the other streets in the burroughs.

Sorry GoTravel, I'm with Margo on this one. We were in NYC last year during the week prior to the Marathon as well as the week after. Yes, the city was crowded, but it's almost always crowded so we didn't see very much difference from prior visits.

Except for street closures the day of the race we never enountered any difficulty getting around either in the days prior or the days after the race. The concierge at our hotel was able to get dinner reservations at every fine restaurant we requested during our entire stay and we also dined on the spur of the moment at a few interesting resurants without reservations (with no waiting). FYI- we were staying in a hotel in the East 70's.

Sorry GoTravel, but it was indeed marathon weekend. I echo everything A_Traveller said, with the exception of the hotel issue the race posed no problem.

A good lesson to not assume there will be hotel rooms just because you can get a plane ticket. I never book a room without knowing the price of transport, and vice versa.

True Mike, but that year I bought 2 round trip plane tickets to NYC for under $200 w/tax, so even if we had to spend a little more than we usually do for a hotel in the city (which we didn't) it would not have been a financial disaster. I would book air without a hotel, but I wouldn’t do hotel with no airfare, as there just aren’t as many options for finding a decent airfare/route as there are for finding a room somewhere. And although it IS a risk, sometimes while you're waiting for the moon and stars to be perfectly aligned you can miss a deal and consequently a nice travel experience.

Funny, this is about my fifth year in Manhattan for the marathon and we now stay downtown because Midtown is so horribly packed.

I guess I have no idea what I'm talking about.