Overwhelmed Californian's First Time to New York - Advice?
 

Hello everybody!
My fiance and I (both from LA) are planning on visiting NYC in early October. We both have NEVER been to the Northeast - NYC, Boston, etc. We're in our mid-late 20's and would probably be considered "yuppies" by most accounts.

Since I've never been to New York, I am completely at a loss regarding how I should plan this vacation. I know more about LA freeways than entire NYC boroughs, so I need some advice:

1) For first-timers, how long of a stay do you recommend? I think this will be the only chance we have to visit NYC before we have children, so I want to make sure we make it (and the long flight) worth it.

2) I have heard good things about the Radio City Apartments, but I think they are sold out when we are there. Generally, what parts of the city do you recommend staying for first-timers?

3) For October, what are the top two or three things we should know about that you think are distinctly "New York".

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Planning an NYC vacation is certainly overwhelming! There's so many things to choose from. Here's some general advice based on your questions:

1. I think I could visit for an entire year and not get bored. That being said, NYC is expensive so that might limit the amount of time you want to stay.

2. We stayed in an apt. in the lower east side, very un-touristy area. Helped us feel like "real" New Yorkers. Let me know if you're interested in a link to the apartment.

3. Besides all the normal tourist attractions, make time for wandering around Central Park and whatever neighborhood you're staying in. It's fascinating to people-watch in NYC!

Stay a week. Seven nights.

Be prepared for sticker shock. Plan paying around $300+ per night for a mid range moderate hotel like a Courtyard by Marriott.

Try to stay away from national chain hotels.

Look at:

Apple Core Hotels
http://www.applecorehotels.com/

Affinia Hotels
www.Affinia.com

Salisbury Hotel
www.NYCSalisbury.com

Milford Plaza
http://www.milfordplaza.com/

Empire Group Hotels
http://www.newyorkhotel.com/

The above are all New York owned hotels that are mid range and some are full suites.

What is your hotel budget?

Don't try and plan on two things in an evening. Either have a great meal out or take in a Broadway show but forget trying both.

Plan on one afternoon activity and one morning activity and be loose with your plans.

Ride the Staten Island Ferry at dusk for the best views of Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and Lower Manhattan/Financial District.

t

"For October, what are the top two or three things we should know about that you think are distinctly "New York"."

Can't help on the hotels as I live here. But, Manhattan is relatively compact and easy to get about so far less of an issue than whether or not Santa Monica makes sense if Downtown LA is your destination.

In terms of things to do, I think October is one of the best times to come to NYC. People are back from their summer weekends, the weather has a bit of crispness to it and the city is usually at it's peak in terms of nightlife.

I'd put on the agenda Friday Night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The roof garden will probably be closed but still a good time to go.

Avoid the Circle Line. Instead, take the Staten Island Ferry, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, and go to the Promenade in Brooklyn.

Take in an Opera at the Met. Yes, I know Opera. But, the scale of the production is something to behold. If not a fan, see if something well known - like Carmen or La Boheme is playing during your stay.

Certainly walking around Central Park on a nice Fall afternoon is one of NYC's great things.

My best advice after travelling twice to NYC. Do not rent a car.. No cheap parking (we paid $35 for 3 hours near Madison Square Gardens), gas stations few and far between in the NYC area. Hotels that offer parking is by Valet $$ and the car is sent to New Yersey most of the time. I found a website that offered free 2-4 hour tours with a volunteer to show you some sights. I had my mom on the subway which she would never have done in a million years with just us.
Here is some info on it
The name to remember is Big Apple Greeter: a non-profit organization that's offered this free service in "The Big Apple" for 12 years. Visitors are matched with volunteers who show them famous NY sights or unique neighborhoods, usually for 2 to 4 hours
You can look them up at
Big Apple Greeter
Hope this helps

sorry for some of my spelling mistakes in the previous post.

October is a greatr time to visit New York - the weather is cool enough so you need a light jacket - but not cold. Great for touring and walking. Unfortunately this is the start of high season for hotels - so look at all the discount web sites now (as you saw Radio City is already sold out). You might concisderusing Priceline - but 4* only, since some 3* are not pleasant. But - more than 3 nights can be an issue - so you might have to do 2 different hotels.

Moderate hotels like the affinia group are also selling out fast, many October dates are already gone - and they're more than $400 per night. On the Ave - a pleasant 3* hotel on the upper west side (good neighborhood) is showing internet promotional rates of about $350 per night. So you really need to soldify dates and get hotel reservations NOW - as prices will only continue to rise.

As to where to stay - tourist sights are spread out over a large area so there are several good places to stay (midtown west, but away from Times Square, Central Park South, Midtown East (but kind of businessy), Upper WEst Side (up/mid scale residential busy but not frantic) or the Village (but there are fewer hotels downtown - although it has most of the trendy clubs and restaurants).

One thing you will need to get used to is walking everywhere. For anything under a mile New Yorkers walk (and lots of us for things over a mile too). For longer distances the subway is cheap, fast and perfectly safe. So - you'll need a couple of pairs of good walking shoes.

Not sure of anything specific special in October - unless you're here for the Village Halloween parade - which is absolutely incredible. Also, the full arts schedule (opera, symphony and ballet) is on (many take the summer off). But- there are tons of activities of every type. Just look at the web site fo New York Magazine when you've picked your dates - it will list many dozens of special activities.

Also, Central Park is great this time of year (trees may start turing by the end of the month). And it's not too cold yet for any of the boat trips (free Staten Island ferry or ferry to Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Immigrations museum - which is brilliant - or oneof the Circle Line tours - either speed boat or larger tour boat.

But you have plenty of time to work all this out. Assume you need 6/7 nights minimum (are you doing just NYC or going on to Boston or DC?). Your real first task is to pick dates and then find a hotel - everything else will follow from that.

Definitely do Central Park. It is amazing when you have been around all the noise of the city, you walk into the park, and it subsides. I love bridges and Central Park has some of the best. In fact there is a website devoted to it. The last time we were there, I wanted to find the Gothic bridge. I told my husband it would be worth the walk for him for the photo alone. I knew approximately where it was so my husband and I head upper west side of Central Park to the location (I forget what street now). Once inside the park, I didn't know which way to go, right or left. So we asked several people who had been horseback riding. They did not know. Said they lived all their lives in NYC and didn't know and were embarrassed that they didn't. So we starting walking. Well, we found it. My husband was very impressed and wanted a picture of it, but with no one in the shot. It took a half hour, but we got the shot!

jas, out of curiousity, why did you rent a car for Manhattan?

You are the first person I've ever heard of that did this besides my OCD best friend.

Thank you to jubil, GoTravel, Ryan, jas67, nytraveler, msdotliz !!! Great advice.

I'm going to talk with my fiance tonight, but I think we will agree to stay 7 nights. Arrive on a Sunday, depart the next Sunday or Monday. I think that will give us plenty of time to see the city without getting burned out.

To answer a question above - no, we are not planning on visiting Boston or anywhere. Thats another trip. :-)

So now the problem becomes getting a hotel room: many places have rooms open for 3 or 4 nights, but not all 7 (for example, the Radio City Apartments). Do you think it's reasonable to expect to stay in 2 hotels, or do you think we'll be able to stay in 1 hotel?

I'll look into Affinia Hotels, Milford Plaza, etc. Any other hotel recommendations?

We dont really have a "budget" per se, but I am uncomfortable spending gobs of money. What I am looking for is value - I dont mind paying $400/night if the location is good and the hotel is high quality. But then again, I'd much rather pay $200/night for a hotel thats not as nice, but still in an acceptable location.

So in short, I'm looking for value-minded hotel recommendations....say, from $200/night to $400/night.

Thank you all again!!!!

Priceline is great for NYC hotels over the weekend. I've had less luck using it during the week...

You will have a huge problem finding anything decent for $200 at that time of year. (Lower end chain hotels at the airports - an hour from the city - are more than $200 a night then.)

If you want to look at something very basic, but reliable and clean on the upper west side you might try the Newton. In October a double room with shared bath ranges from $220 to $250 per night and a double with private bath from $250 to $300 - depending on dates.

To stay 7 nights you might consider an apartement - which can be cheaper - but you need to do a lot of checking on the details to be sure what you're getting.

Johnnyman, I haven't stayed here but Doug Stallings recommended The Pod Hotel on another thread. Make sure you book a double with private bath.

The Park South Hotel is still an excellent value for a great little boutique hotel but the rooms can be really small.

www.ParkSouthHotel.com

Don't worry about where so much as what place. Anywhere from about 96 st and south in Manhattan near a subway stop will be ok. Most tourists like to be in midtown (34-59 st.) but above and below that can also be great.

Gotta disagree with GoTravel's hotel advice. While Oct. is pricey and you might have to pay as much as $300-400/night, I would REFUSE to pay that to stay at many of the places mentioned. I would much rather use one of the national chains like Marriott or Hilton for that price. (and btw, the Applecore hotels which are BUDGET at best are national brands)

I agree the Affinia hotels are good to very nice depending on which one and are suites with kitchens so you can save a bit on breakfast/snacks etc. by eating in. The Marriott Courtyards are mostly terrific (although to upper east side one is not that conveniently located) as are many of the Hampton Inns.

Some local hotels that are quite good are the San Carlos, the Library, the Blakely, the Giraffe and the Elysee.

mclaurie, checking random October dates for the Courtyard by Marriotts and the Residence Inns, their rates range from $360-$380 per night for a standard double room.

I'd rather pay that and stay at an Affinia property or the Salisbury.

The Apple Core Hotels and Milford Plaza were more than $100 less per night and except for the Lucerne and the Belvedere the Empire Group hotels were almost $150 less per night. The Belvedere and Lucerne were still cheaper than the Courtyard and Residence.

Staying 7 nights that is anywhere from $700 to $1200.

I have stayed in a lot of these hotels.

GoT, I too would prefer staying in an Affinia hotel (or the Salisbury maybe) but I would refuse to pay $200+ for the Milford Plaza or most of the Applecore hotels. Different strokes.

Johnnyman7: The Edison Hotel is on the same level as the Milford quality wise. We have stayed there a few times and I really like it. It is an older hotel, but has been recently redone. They shot a scene from the Godfather at this hotel. Very art deco. It is just a few blocks up from the Milford as well.

We know some people that stayed at the New Yorker - about the same as the other two.

Do you like flea markets? I have two that you can go to if you are interested. They are open only on Sundays though.

IMO, late September to mid October is the best time of year here in NYC: crisp, blue-sky days with no humidity. The suggestions for Central Park and a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge take full advantage of that.

You've gotten some good hotel suggestions here. Another suggestion is the Hilton Garden Inn at 790 8th Ave (corner of 50th Street), which used to be the Days Inn. Yes it's a chain, but perfectly serviceable and in a good central location on the outskirts of Times Square and above a subway station. I would advise against staying in the middle of Times Square (i.e., the Marriott Marquis or Renaissance, or the Doubletree), as it gets to be a bit of a zoo!

If you do walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, I highly recommend a stop in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood in one direction or another. If you plan your trip a little earlier, you could catch the 11th annual DUMBO arts under the bridge festival (dumboartscenter.org/festival/2007) on the weekend of Sept 28-30. Otherwise at the very least, come for some good food (Superfine, Grimaldi's Pizza, River Cafe...), great chocolate (Jacques Torres: mrchocolate.com), and a tiny slice of Brooklyn! :D

There was a story recently in New York magazine (www.nymag.com) on moderately priced hotel in NYC. Have a look at the site...

Johnnyman7,

Don't spend a huge amount of money on food. Food in LA is just as good, if not better in every category you can name.

I was raised in LA and now live in New York, so for me the "we're not in LA anymore" things to do are:

Drink. You don't have to drive.

Go to the top of the Empire State building at twillight.

Go to the Guggenheim.

Take taxis.

Rent a bike or skates and enjoy Central Park.

Wander through Greenwich Village, but not on Friday or Saturday nights.

Take the subway and visit Wall Street, especially around lunch hour. Take the Staten Island ferry.

Eat out of pushcarts. Don't worry -- you won't get sick. You might enjoy wandering through Chinatown and Little Italy.

Visit the Met, but not the whole thing.

If you have a special interest of almost any sort, you can pursue it in New York. If you kayak, or are into television, or into cooking, or jogging, or art, or writing, or Native American history, kinky sex, there is a way to plug into it here.

Pod hotel is new and in a reasonable area. for October they showing rates of about $300 per night (including tax) for a room with double bed and bath. (They do have lower rtes but it's for bunk beds and shared bath.)

Applecore hotels (La Quinta, Red Roof etc - have availability - depending on dates from about $260 up). Check tripadvsiro.com to see latest reviews - since theese are simple and should be clean - but again - very basic).

Hi,

I just returned from New York (I'm 24) and thought I'd throw in my two cents.

SEE A SHOW. It's an amazing experience. I'm not sure if you're into theatre at all, but there's something for everyone. Avenue Q is a bit naughty (language, situations) but very relevant for 20 somethings. And hilarious. I got the tickets for 35% off at TKTS at South Street Seaport. Got in line an hour and 20 minutes before it opened and got terrific seats. Or check broadwaybox.com for discount tickets to a bunch of stuff.

Jersey Boys and Spring Awakening are wonderful too (they still have the original casts), but aren't discounted and tickets (esp. for Jersey Boys) sell out well in advance. All 3 (Ave Q, Jersey Boys, and Spring Awakening) won the Tony for Best Musical in their respective years. RENT is also great, as is Wicked.

I also loved walking/shopping in SoHo and the Village. Washington Square Park was great for people watching - all ages, socio-economic status, ethnicity, etc.

I mostly ate at deli's (sandwiches, salads) and prices were incredibly reasonable. Stayed at the Affinia Dumont and it was terrific. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Loved the MoMA. Seeing Starry Night is amazing (as are the other works, many of which I recognized, and I have a limited art background.)

Anyways, enjoy the city!

I absolutely do not mind staying in a budget hotel. My husband and I stayed at the infamous (think Borat) Wellington once and we thought it was just fine. I also used Holiday Inn Points and stayed at Holiday Inn Manhattan with my teens and it was just fine, too.They really enjoyed taking the NYC Party Shuttle tour. That will give you an overview of the famous stuff and help you get your bearings as far as the city is concerned. Do it on your second day! Go to the library and get a guide book. I have a fun one called "Irreverent Manhattan". You can find small ethnic eats everywhere. Pack a few bottles of your own wine for an evening cocktail. Drinks are really high. Use the subway when you don't walk. It's lots faster than taking cabs!

Wow, this forum seriously rocks. Thanks for all the advice guys! If you ever need any info about California (SF, LA, etc), feel free to email me: it's my screenname at hotmail dot com.

I got a laugh when "Fall06" said that one memorable thing is to take a cab. HAHA - in LA, nobody takes cabs, so it is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me.

jubil - what apartment did you stay at on the Lower East side?

All - more questions, of course!

1) I'm thinking the best way to pick a hotel is to pick the general area first. My fiance and I dont mind taking the subway/walking (we do marathons, actually), so keeping that in mind, is there a specific area of town that you recommend staying? In other words, do you know of an area that may be "outside" of tourist-central that is still in a good location - perhaps where other NYers live so we can really be immersed in the way of life? One caveat to this: we are foodies, so we want an area with great food nearby. Frommers says that Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Murray Hill, or the Upper West Side are like this. Is that true?

2) In your opinion, whats the best hotel in the Empire and Affinia hotel groups?

Thanks again everybody!

Johnnyman:

I go to NYC couple times a year and now my daughter lives in Brooklyn. They have some great restaurants there as well.

We stay in the theater district (the hotels I mentioned earlier). We get on the subway and take the N or the R down to Prince/Broadway or on down to Canal and walk back up Broadway to SoHo. and get off there. We love to wander around SoHo, Little Italy, Canal street (which is wild)and the Village. Our fav pizza place is Two Boots On Bleeker off Broadway. Hole in the wall, but great pizza. We walk almost everywhere because there is so much to see and I hate cabs.

Not the Upper West Side if you want good food.

Actually, even though it's tourist-central, staying in "midtown west" isn't a bad choice:
- Hell's Kitchen immediately to the west is a great, "real" neighborhood. It has some good food options, especially for breakfast/brunch (Amy's Bread for a quick yummy bite or two; Vnyl for brunch or lunch; Rice & Beans (Brazilian) or Pam's Real Thai for hole-in-the-wall cheap ethnic home cooking).
- Central Park is just a few blocks north: take your morning run, then grab food at the above, or Pain Quotidien (lots of locations), or the premade section of the huge Whole Foods in the lower level of the Time Warner center.
- Centrally located, and lots of subway options to take you everywhere else! (Take a cab for the experience - but not at rush hour, and not crosstown unless it's late at night!)

Another hotel suggestion would be the Hudson, which is a bit past its hipster glory of a few years ago but is still a cool hotel, located just west of the Time Warner Center on 59th and 9th Ave.

I wouldn't consider either Murray Hill or the Upper West Side particularly known for their restaurants; Chelsea is marginal...

As foodies, you'll appreciate the places I mentioned in Brooklyn: Superfine changes their menu daily according to what's fresh, plus they have a great bar - and an orange-felted pool table! Grimaldi's always tops everyone's list for best NY pizza (do a search on Fodor's or Google to see what I mean). And Jacques Torres' chocolate is one of quite a number of high-end boutique chocolateries we have now in the city. (There's also a Manhattan location.)

I personally love Two Boots - but the restaurants, not the takeout branches like the one mentioned above. Restaurants are on Ave A in Manhattan and a Park Slope, Brooklyn location. Note, however, that this is *not* typical NY pizza: the "two boots" are Louisiana and Italy, and there is a high degree of fusion between the two! (Crawfish pizza, anyone?) The pizza is thin-crust and dusted with cornmeal on the bottom; many eclectic toppings with names such as "Mr. Pink" cover the spicy sauce and cheese.

Lastly, you may want to go to the Guggenheim for the architecture, but it's not a must-see for the art inside. Go ahead and wander into the lobby to see the Frank Lloyd Wright building when you're in the neighborhood for the Met museum, but don't pay to go in unless there's a show you really want to see. Also, I have heard that the experience of going to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center is better than that of the Empire State Building. Having only done the latter, I will say that I try to dissuade my visitors from doing so since the lines are really long! (TOTR takes reservations for timed entrances.)

fall06 advised you to skimp on food during your NYC vacation. I disagree. There are plenty of great restaurants in Los Angeles and even more lousy restaurants in New York City; but most of the BEST restaurants in America happen to call Manhattan home. If your tastes go in that direction (you did call yourself a "yuppy", didn't you?) then I think you should go for at least one splurge dinner when you are in town. Gramercy Tavern is an old classic, or you could try a newer spot like Eleven Madison Park or Batali's over-the-top Del Posto (though I prefer Babbo personally). I'm ignoring the super-high-end choices like Le Bernardin and Daniel because a truly filthy-rich yuppy wouldn't have waited this long to see the big city lights. Want the best steak in the world? Try Peter Luger's. Corned beef? Try the Carnegie Deli or Katz's. Pizza? You have your choice of John's or Grimaldi's or DiFara's or Arturo's or Patsy's.

Have fun. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

The Upper West Side is not known for its very upscale restaurants,but it is an upscale neighborhood (ok, "yuppie" still fits)that has lots of food options at reasonable prices. If you want to walk around an area of town, shop, admire buildinga and then eat, it's a great neighborhood. Good food shopping too at Zabars etc

Johnnyman7,

Here's a link to my Trip Report which might help;

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34778469

Jim

look, if you live in LA, it's not like you've never tasted great food. The best restos of NYC are not better than the best restos of LA. If I were spending a week in NYC coming from LA, I wouldn't spend a lot on food. I'd eat off the best pushcarts and in the best dives.

By the way Johnnyman, if you're coming for a week, why not rent a studio? A hotel room won't be bigger and you can probably get one for 200 per night.

By the way, Le Bernadin is more moderately priced and better service and food than most places rated over it in this thread.

But it's not the fun of bing in New York -- to fight your way into some famous restaurant and pay through the nose for it. Speaking of noses, follow your nose.

Definitely go to Chinatown.

If you happen to come the weekend of October 6th and 7th, check out OpenHouseNY. It's a wonderful annual weekend event where many special places throughout the five boroughs which are normally closed to the public or usually charge a fee are open and free. The list of places participating has grown every year since it started about 5 years ago. openhouseny.org

Upper west side is mid/upscale residnetial with lots of families. There are tons of restaurants and outdoor cafes with good neighborhood food of every possible ethnicity at inexpensive to moderate prices (since many people either eat out or order in most nights).

It is not a haven for really upscale restaurants until you get down to Asiate and Per Se at the Mandarin Oriental. Nor are thre a lot of super trendy clubs - those are downtown.

Most of the food on the Upper West Side is barely a cut above diner food. It is made for take-out and families and a substitute for cooking at home without breaking the bank. It's just undistinguished food -- and it's actually not all that cheap. You can of course ferret out the delicious pizza or falafel or Thai dish, but there is a greater density of good eats elsewhere in the city.

As another poster pointed out, the area of Hell's Kitche, west of Times Square, is great for budget-conscious foodies and it's convenient to just about everyplace you might want to go in New York. It's very well served by subway lines. A rental in that area, or even a bit north or south of it, would work for me.

Gotravel,
I actually drove down from Ontario. So I had my own vehicle. We stayed in Totowa and travelled in every day. Last trip I actually stayed in Manhattan at the Interconintental and I flew into JFK.

topping for myer

Johnny,

1) <b>Seven nights</b> is a good first trip - you won't see everything but you will get to see many of the major tourists sights and at least a glance at many of the differnt neighborhoods.

2) Put me in the &quot;do not stay in Times Square area&quot; camp - I consider it more of a place for the tour bus crown that is only in town for few days. No matter where you are, you'll never be far from anything you want because of the extensive subway system and endless taxis.

Better options for late 20 somethings:

<b>Hells Kitchen</b> - a good neighborhood only a few blocks from Times Square and with great neighborhood restaurants, cafes, etc. without paying tourist trap prices.

<b>West Village</b> is another good neighborhood with an overwhelming number
of cafes, retstaurants, bars, clubs and boutiques.

<b>East Village/Soho</b> has similar amenities to West Village but has a younger aged population. Population is also more diverse.

3) Take the same effort get the most out of your evenings as your daytime sightseeing. See a Broadway show (or two), walk the Brooklyn Bridge, go to a nightclub and see some talant (BTW, many bands and such visiting from Europe don't make it past NYC), try to walk through at least a dozen neighborhoods in the course of your time here.

First of all, I wanted to thank everybody for their advice. There is some great nuggets of information in this thread that hopefully helps every NY visitor out, not just me. So thank you all for your time and effort.

An update: my fiance, through her place of employment, has booked the Club Quarters Rockefeller across from Rockefeller Center. This is a business hotel (so no frills), but the rate we can get is incredible, so we're taking advantage of that.

The only problem is that the hotel is fully booked for ONE night we are there, so I think we'll have to find another hotel just for that one night. Lame. I'm thinking either a Marriott in Midtown or in the Financial District (so I can use my Marriott points).

Will Financial District be totally dead on the weekend?

I have some specific food-related questions, so I'm going to start another thread regarding those specific questions.

Thanks again for all the input!