We are planning a family trip to NYC in April (from Boston) and are thinking of driving as the train is so $$$. Any good parking tips? We wouldn't mind leaving the car on the outskirts and taking a train in if that is an option or is $50 a day valet a good option at the hotel? Thanks for your help!

If you go to iconparking.com you should be able to find a nearby lot that will be more like $35 a day or so.

Don't reco parking in the suburbs and taking a train to and fro for a family - since for only 2 nights the train fares probably won't save you that much.

If you're there on the weekends you can probably find street parking on a sidestreet on the upper east or west side (depending on where your hotel is). That won't work during the week due to alternate side street cleaning rules.

Dear GwenB,
One possibility would be for you to drive to Stamford, Connecticut and take the Metro North train to New York City. We have done this many times and have found the parking garage to be absolutely enormous so it would be important to remember where you left the car in the garage. There are so many trains from Stamford to New York City that you don't even have to plan to get a particular train. You can just drive there from Boston and get the next train that comes along.

Metro North does have service to New Haven which would be a shorter drive for you. However, we have had trouble finding a parking space at any of the garages within walking distance of the train station in New Haven one too many times, and I will not attempt to take the train from New Haven again unless the circumstances are exceptional.

You would have to weigh the cost of parking the car in New York City versus parking the car in Stamford and taking the train though Metro North is much less expensive than Amtrak.

The combined cost of parking outside of the city and the trainfare to and from your car is probably close to what it would cost to park your car in the city. So why bother putting up with the inconvenience. I'd drive to the city and get to one of those easy-to-find $35 lots!

There is a city run garage - you park & lock - located on 42nd Street, opposite 10th Ave I think. The charge there was only about $25 per day last time I used it.

Thanks for all of the tips. This will sound so goofy and novice, but are these 25 and 35 lots safe? I don't have a fancy car, but it is newer and would like to find it in the condition that I leave it in.

All of the lots are safe in terms of theft of the car.

No guarantees that you won;t get a ding or two on the car in any lot or garage - even for $50 per night (they're all parked nose to tail 3 or 4 deep and a couple of inches apart since they have to get so many in so little space).

When I was living in DC and RI, I drove to Manhattan all the time. I always park at 24-hour garages, and not those open-air lots that are unguarded at night.

We drive to NYC several times a year from New Hampshire, and always park the car in the city. Often, you can park in the same garage the hotel uses for valet for a significantly lower nightly rate, so call your hotel and ask about self-parking. Otherwise, I check Icon Parking and find the most convenient lot nearby at the best price. My husband drops off me and the bags. By the time he's parked the car and walked back to the hotel, I have room keys. Leaving, he heads for the garage while I get the bags brought downstairs and check out. By that time, he's at the entrance with the car.

It's really not worth whatever you'd save not to just drive directly to your hotel with your bags.

In my observation, the very best driving directions are usually on the hotel's website.

I live in NYC and kept a car for 2 years. The whole time, I only parked on the street (Meatpacking district and Hell's Kitchen) and didn't have so much as a ding. Car was an oldish toyota. garages are safe. going with the cheapest you can find. generally, away from midtown, prices get better (upper west-, east-side, downtown, etc). if you are there during a weekend, using the car and parking on the street is not so bad.

What do you drive? That depends heavily on whether you have to garage the car or you can leave it on the streets.

Also make sure that this is a regular passenger car, not a pickup or commercial vehicle. You cannot leave pickups or cvs on the streets in most of nyc at night.

Take I95 over the Whitestone Bridge. Stay on the right. You are now on the Whitestone Expressway going South. Get off at 20th Ave (about 1 mile off the bridge). Go West on 20th ave past the big box stores. Make a left onto College Point Boulevard. You are now going South. Make a right on 23rd ave, 25th rd and find a spot. That is a very safe neighborhood to leave the car.

When parking you have to be 15 feet from a fire hydrant. Scan the block for signs that may say 'no parking tue 830-1000'. That is called alternate side parking. Some areas in NYC do not have that. This neighborhood has very little of it. Do not park at a meter. Just find a curb and park.

Once you park have $2.00 / per person ready to take the q65 bus on College Point Blvd to Main Street. See the Chinatown there. Take the 7 subway to wherever you want to go.

From 25th rd and CPB the Q65 to the 7 express takes less than one hour to Grand Central.

Each of you should buy a metrocard. If you do that the bus will cost $2.00 and the subway will be free because metrocards get free transfers between bus and subway.

You will save a ton of money with this. There are plenty expensive / somewhat expensive cars on the streets of College Point.