I finalized some of the plans for our one-day excursion to NYC from Boston in March. Tell me what you think.

We are to leave Boston at 12:30 a.m. on March 18, arriving at NY Port Authority at 4:50 a.m. (or thereabouts). My wife and I will proceed to our hotel, the Murray Hill Inn, and drop off our bag. We will stay the night there in NYC on the 18th. We return on the 19th at 7 p.m., reaching Boston at 11:30 p.m.

We want to take a bus tour of the city, but I haven't finalized that yet. I found one a while back that was $67 per person and included a trip to the Statue of Liberty and a trip to the observation deck of ESB or the Rock. The city tour, not including those stops, is 2 1/2 hours long.

I'm sorry, I am a checklist kind of traveler. I write down the things I defintely want to see and if anything else happens, that would be gravy.

I will try to find the tour outfit I found on an earlier date. Meanwhile, which would you recommend? We are the ultimate tourists, wanting the see the biggies in attractions.

Oh, and the room with a private bath cost $149.50. Not too bad for 30th street, I didn't think. It did say small room, but we aren't going to be spending much time there.

Thanks for the replies on my previous posts and for future ones on this.

One more thing. I have already bought tickets to a Boston Bruins hockey game while we will be in Boston. Do you think my wife might let me buy tickets to a NY Rangers game on March 18, or would you suggest something else, mindful of a budget that would entail about $50 per ticket.

Thanks again

The $67 tour you mentioned (City Sights NY) is not a bargain.

You could do much better with Gray Line. Online price of the "all-loops" tour, valid for 48 hours, is $35.

Then, tickets for Empire State Building $19, Ferry to Statue of Liberty $12.50.

Be advised that the "tour" commentary on the hop on/hop off buses varies with the commentator. Some are (much) better than others. We've often hopped off and back on for a better tour guide (with great success).

Keep in mind that the buses have open upper decks. Very cold in winter, even if you're dressed for it. (Windy up there, too.) If you sit on the lower deck, views are no better than from a city bus, making this a very expensive way to get from sight to sight. You could take a lot of taxis from here to there for less than hop on/hop off tickets.

Congrats on the Murray Hill Inn. Great reviews on TripAdvisor. I bet you'll be most grateful that you decided to stay there, versus elsewhere for less.

Top of the Rock has a great view. If you look on-line, you can find coupons for 20% off. If the weather is nice, I would suggest a trip to Central Park. It is an oasis in the middle of the city!

We liked going to the Top of the Rock, because it has a beautiful view of the Empire State Building. Best seen at dusk and sundown, I think.

Will you have your hotel room, and be able to rest at the hotel, arriving that early in the a.m?

>-

magnumholmes:

I followed your other thread with interest and am so pleased to see that you have booked a room at the Murray Hill Inn.

Get discount tickets to a broadway show at the TKTS booth www.tdf.org -

I do hope you will do a trip report on your time in NYC and also let us know how the Murray Hill Inn works out.

Sandy

magnum,

I'll be interested to hear about the Murray Hill Inn--it's on the same block as my office! Glad that you have part of your plan set.

Thanks for the replies. I really want to nail down the bus tour of the city. Does anybody have any suggestions? We really have to go to the State of Liberty and the ESB.

Has anybody taken any bus tours that these would be included? I know about the one I mentioned in my original post. Maybe there are others that would be better?

Thanks again

magnumholmes,

I'll second djkbooks recommendation of the Gray Line "All Loops" tour.

Here's a link to my trip report which includes more details on the Tour. It's pretty long, I'm afraid, (the report, I mean!) but if you trawl through it hopefully you'll find it helpful;

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34778469

A trip to Liberty Island might take up a lot of your valuable & limited time & I think the perceived wisdom is that it's not really worth it, unless you can actually enter the Statue itself. The problem is that if want to go inside the Statue then I believe that you either have to make a booking in advance or get there very early to get one of a limited number of daily sale tickets.

If I were you I would settle for seeing Liberty from the Staten Island ferry. The SI ferry-ride is a must-do in my opinion & you get a very good view of Liberty - plus, it's free!

Jim

You do not need to visit the Empire State Building and/or Statue of Liberty as part of a bus tour. And, there is no savings by purchasing tickets for these venues as part of a hop on/hop off bus package.

The Murray Hill Inn is a ten minute walk from the ESB. Just over three short blocks west and just over three short block north from the MHI. You can purchase tickets when you arrive or purchase them ahead of time online. The advantage of purchasing tickets online would be to avoid long ticket lines. But, these are more likely in the nice weather months.

Ferries leave Battery Park for Liberty Island every 1/2 hour or 45 minutes between 9AM and 3PM in mid-March. You can reserve online. But, this also is probably not necessary for a weekday in mid-March. From the Murray Hill Inn, you can catch bus #1 on Park Ave to Battery Park.

I would recommend waiting until a day or two before your excursion and checking the weather forecast before purchasing any advance tickets, in case the weather just will not be favorable.

You do save $15 by ordering Gray Line tickets online. But, you could wait to do this until you have arrived in Boston from your hotel there.

Unless you really want to ride the ferry over and walk around the island, which is not that pleasant in the cold and windy winter weather, there are excellent views from the (free) Staten Island ferry.

If you were visiting in nicer weather, I would recommend the hop on/hop off bus tours - as the views of the neighborhoods and tall buildings are magnificient from seats on the open air upper deck.

Appreciate all of the insight. You guys obviously know more about this stuff than I.

I probably will wait until closer to time for our trip. The only rub is, our hotel in which we are staying outside of Boston doesn't have Internet access. So if I make reservations online, it will be on March 14 or before. Still, that might give me some clue as to how the weather will be on the 18th and 19th. Perhaps we'll hit it lucky and get one of the stray 50-degree days that sometimes happen that time of year.

So, you would not recommend us walking from our hotel to Battery Park? How much of a walk would it be? Mind you, we have participated in a Volksmarch to Crazy Horse (3.1 miles each way) and walked from ChinaTown to the Coit Tower (had to be at least 2 1/2 miles) in San Francisco in November. So, we are not afraid of walking.

The only thing we would need to know, other than the distance we would have to walk and the time it would take, is the safety of such a walk.

Anything else you think I need to know before going please post it.

Thanks again

<<So, you would not recommend us walking from our hotel to Battery Park? How much of a walk would it be?>>
From your hotel to Battery Park is 4-5 miles. It is a safe walk, no matter the route you take. If you chose to walk this, you could pass through a number of interesting neighborhoods (Flatiron, Village, Noho, Soho, Tribeca, Wall Street) and see a lot of the city. If you do this walk, I'd skip your tour bus plan--the walk would give you a much more intimate feeling of the city.

For djk's suggestion of the #1 bus to Battery Park, not all #1s go all the way to South Ferry, so watch the destinations shown on the front of the bus.

To make this trip quickly from your hotel, take the #6 train (at 28th St or 33rd St) at Park Ave South. The last stop is City Hall and you could walk to Battery Park from there, getting a glimpse of the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall, Wall Street, Trinity Church, all along Broadway, the direct route to the Battery. (OR transfer across the platform at the City Hall stop to the #4 or #5 to the Bowling Green stop, which is in Battery Park.)

First, the bus tours don;t take you to the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. they drive you around the city looking at the neighborhoods and the outside of buildings.

The 2 sights you have picked are both very time-consuming since they have long lines.

The Empire State Building has 2 long lines - 1 to buy tickets and then another to get on the elevators to the top. (I reco Top of the Rock instead - since you can buy timed tickets in advance.) If you insist on ESB you can also buy tickets in advance - then you have only the second line to wait on.

The Statue of Liberty has 3 lines: #1 to buy tickets, #2 security (think airline type security) to get on the ferry, #3 on Liberty Island to get to see the Statue. (Most of the Statue is closed for structural safety reasons.) Again, you can avoid the first line by buying tickets in advance - but there is nothing you can do about the other two. Seeing the SOL will take the best part of a day - primarily due to the lines.

If you prefer you can take the (free) Staten Island ferry - which gives you a much closer view than from the tip of Manhattan - but does not go right up to Liberty island.

I second the reply above that given your very limited time in the city I'd skip the Statue of Liberty visit. Even the Staten Island Ferry ride will eat up time.

magnumholmes:

Another poster on a different thread recommended www.hopstop.com to plan walking routes, public transportation and I have found it quite helpful.

Sandy

I like Hopstop a lot for pre-planning. But, you have to double check everything. It's often incorrect.

To my recollection, Magnum is taking an overnight trip to NYC during a trip to Boston with his wife, because it may be their only chance for a visit. They specifically want to go to NYC to see the Statue of Liberty, go to the top of the Empire State Building, visit the World Trade Center Site, and generally see the city.

Yes, there are often long, long lines to purchase tickets, then for the elevators at the Empire State Building. And, there are often long, long lines at Battery Park for ferry tickets, security, etc. And, sometimes the ferries are sold out for the day by early in the day. BUT, all that is highly unlikely in mid-March. May through October, more probably.

The $67 City Sights NY tour includes going to the top of the ESB and ferry to SOL (tickets or vouchers). This gains you admission to both, but it's up to you to hop off at the nearest stop and get yourself to those sights on your own. And, the hop on/hop off is valid only for 24 hours (and the buses stop running at 6PM).

With Gray Line, you can purchase tickets for ferry to SOL and top of ESB (which would preclude waiting in ticket lines, unless you receive a voucher you have to exchange for a ticket) in addition to (optional) the all loops tour, which is valid for 48 hours and includes a night loop (though it's a loop with no hop off/hop back on at night).

Someone noted in a TripAdvisor review of the Murray Hill Inn that there's a McDonald's nearby with internet access $1/5 minutes.

Man, you guys are all over this. I am learning quite a bit.

One of the posters metioned just exactly why I don't like public transportation. All of the buses with the same number don't go to the same places.

I live in a small, rural community and never have been subjected to public transportation and don't know what I'm looking for or where to look for it. Perhaps you could enlighten me on these things.

Also, if we must take public transportation, i.e., buses and/or subways, where can I get a map of such that will be very, and I express, very easy to understand? Paris was over the top for us because everything was in French, and nobody seemd to want to help. I realize this time it will be in English, but if you don't know exactly what you're looking for, then I'm sure it would be easy to get lost.

You just have to put yourselves in my shoes on this and think of somebody who never has used public transportation in the US.

I hope you can help me because I really want to do the right thing.

Thanks again for educating me on NYC so far.

www.streetwisemaps.com has maps available of public transportation systems and they are usually very good. I used the one for SF last year and it was perfect. Will be getting the one for Chicago this year.

Really, New Yorkers are friendly. Any bus driver will answer a question before you get on the bus "Does this bus stop at x?" You will get an affirmative or a suggestion of what bus to actually take. Same for the subway. People on the platform are often very helpful and I've yelled into many a subway car "does this train stop at x?". and always get an answer or a suggestion of what train to take that does go where I need to go.

It's very hard for New Yorkers to understand wanting to visit New York without using public transport. It's a normal part of everyone's day, and used by millions of people, natives and tourists, without any problems --- you can do it!