Good morning! Hubby and I are off to NYC for the Thanksgiving weekend on Wednesday, November 21. I opted for a completely different part of the city for our hotel this visit--Hampton Inn Seaport/Financial District on Pearl Street just under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan. I'm not as familiar with the subway system down in that area, so I figure we may opt for taxis quite often. Any idea how much we can expect to pay for taxi fare from that area to, say Times Square or Natural History Museum?

It is a couple minute walk to the Lexington Ave trains and the Rm, M.

You are about 5 minute walk from Chinatown and 2 minutes from Stone Street where in the past 6 months numerous restaurants opened up.

There are also a few buses right on Water Street and by City Hall.

Here is the MTA site. The nearest stations are City Hall.

Then there is Fukton Street where you can get the westside trains.

http://www.mta.info/


I live in the East Village and a cab with tip was usually $11-12, so I would imagine Times Square would be $16-18, and Natural History $24-28.

hopstop.com give point to point taxi fare estimates, and also subway routes.

You will be near Fulton street. Almost all subways lines stop along Fulton St (which runs east-west). ALso around city hall there are several subway lines (4-5-6 at Brooklyn bridge, R-N at Chambers St).

If you are travelling by cab during rush hour, the fares will run much higher. At 2am they would be much lower. I'd say the fares Aduchamp1 gave are the average.

Since that weeekend is so congested (downtown is my favorite area of the city, checkout www.DowntownNY.com) if you can figure out the subway system use it.

If you are just under the Brooklyn Bridge, walk up to City Hall. Just about all of the lines stop there or very close by.

You need to keep in mind 2 things:

Midtown is mobbed from 8 am to 7 pm, making any trip through it slow

Taxi fares are based on not only distance but also waiting time

Really- you should learn to use the subway - safe, cheap and much faster

That hotel gets great reviews. You should have a super time. Use the location to explore some of the downtown areas you may not know. You're not far from the lower east side. If you haven't gone to the Tenement Museum, you might want to book a tour there. (book in advance).

You may have a hard time finding taxis and I agree traffic will be awful. Hopstop.com will also give you bus directions if you'd prefer that (although it will be slower) and will estimate taxi fares.

Hi TBC,
Sorry, I can't help you with taxi fares but the location of your hotel interests me. If you have an evening to spare and if you can still get a reservation, try to have dinner at the River Cafe which is just under the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side. You can walk over and back. It's a lovely, romantic place -- good food, good service, and the best view of Manhattan you'll ever get.

Here's their website:
http://www.rivercafe.com/

PS. I forgot to add to ask for a table at the window, if you can get one.

Aduchamp1 is correct on the fares--look at $19 to times square and $28 with tip on AMNH. If you really don't want to do the train, car service is cheaper and a flat rate regardless of traffic.

I use Delancey Car Service, tel. 212.228.3301, It costs me $12 to get to times square and would be $18 to the upper west side, $13 to the upper east side, $9 to the west village, $6 to go anywhere west of 3rd Ave/Bowery between 14th and Canal, $8 to go to the financial district (anywhere below Canal east of Broadway), $9 west of Broadway from 14th Street South.

I am on the LES not too far from where you will be staying--if you opt for a car service add $1-2 to these prices. Though the train is easier.

Thanks folks. I have already started to print some routings from the mta web site, and we are very familiar with using the subway--just not from this area. In fact, we have rarely used a cab while in NYC until May when my father had a crushed ankle and we were forced to use taxis. It was Memorial Day Weekend, and I'm sure that made a big difference in the crowds (since so many locals desert the city for the holiday). I was surprised then how reasonable taxi fare was, but sounds more expense during the obviously busier Thanksgiving holiday and from downtown versus just across midtown.....

This calculates fares based on Google maps. You click points a to b. It's fairly accurate.

http://www.nyccabfare.com/

Be careful with hopstop ... it can be really, really INACCURATE ... just last week it royally screwed me on a trip from Manhattan to Brooklyn ...

Don't waste your money on taxis. Just get a subway map and Metrocard and use buses and subways.

And spend some time in the area of your hotel. It's always been one of my favorite parts of the city. There's so much history in lower Manhattan. And enjoy the inexpensive local restaurants.

If you are already familiar with the subway system, there shuld be no mystery about using it from a different station. You've probably aready riddent the same trains, just further uptown. Subway will be the fastest way for you to travel from your hotel to midtown. The Fulton St station has almost any train you'd want.

You can opt for a compromise solution. Take the taxi to a major station. This minimizes the walking. A "last mile" solution. On holidays, traffic is awful around the tourist spots, but minimal around residential areas.

Great idea on possibly taking a taxi part way.....I figure we will most likely use a taxi to get from Penn Station to the hotel upon arrival in the city. Then, try to use subways when we can. We are headed to the Natural History Museum in the wee hours of the morning on Thanksgiving to find a spot to watch the parade. I was thinking that around 6am on Thursday it might not be too terribly bad via taxi.....

Just to clarify. This so-called "last mile" solution isn't really that good an idea in Manhattan. It's the last mile that's often the hardest, especially if the poster is going to a heavily trafficked area. Just take the subway or just take a taxi or just take the bus. We use the "last block" solution. Go to the nearest subway stop and walk from there. That's almost always the best solution in Manhattan.

You can go to area near the museum to watch them blow up the balloons on Wednesday evening, but I would recommend going a few blocks south of the museum to watch the parade; I think it technically begins at 77th Street (the museum is at 79th); the area immediately around the museum is just a staging area. By the way, most of the streets in the area will be blocked off all night. Definitely use the subway to get to the parade on Thursday morning.

I would definitely use the subway on Thanksgiving morning. Did this myself a few years ago. At about 7 AM, we checked the entire section of Central Park West from 59th St (Columbus circle) to 72nd St. By 72nd St, the crowds were lining the sidewalks at least two deep. But just south of there, 66th to 70th, there were some curbside spots. By 7:15, all of the open spots were taken. The parade steps off at 9AM, so you'll have a bit of a wait.

For you, from Fulton Street subway station, take the C train to 72 St, but see if you can exit at the back of the train, which will be 70th St. We grabbed a spot at that corner. This location close to a subway entrance made it easy to escape the post-parade mess.

I think the street closures would make a taxi more difficult than a subway.

Seriously, just walk up to City all and you'll find almost all of the lines stop on one side or other there.

It is a very short walk.

ellenem, thx a mint for the detailed info on the parade crowd. We plan to watch it from the Columbus Circle sidewalk (outside where we're staying) and I wasn't sure what time we'd have to be out there - our first time watching the parade live - now I know (=

If one of us stays with a curbside seat/space on the sidewalk and the other goes away, is it possible for the other person to get back to the seat by walking on the street? (since it's a longish wait, I'm thinking DH might want to get a coffee, I might need to use the facilities, etc.). I'm not thinking of "hogging" a big space for lots of people to join us later, just quick trips away for either one of us. Thx for any insight anyone can provide. (=

Enjoy-la!