ekscrunchy

On a pleasant summer day, it is fun to take the train to Coney Island. You can visit the very famous Nathan's across from the subway station, for hot dogs, and also visit the aquarium. then walk east along the boardwalk toward Brighton Beach, which is a heavily Russian area. Quite a few restaurants there, both on the boardswalk and in the blocks just off the boardwalk, for lunch or dinner. Then you can return to Manhattan from Brighton Beach. Ii would not do this on a scorchingly hot day, though.

nytraveler

Do NOT drive to NE via Long Island.

Long Island is the original and largest suburban area in the world. The fist 60 miles or so are wall-to-wall suburbs with strip and large malls and very heavy traffic. You don;t get to the resort town part until near the far end of the island - and beyond where you would take the ferry to CT. This would add time to your trip - unless you plan on staying several days in the Hamptons for the beach resorts.

As for staying in Jersey City not sure about apartment hotels - you need to be right on top of transit to the city - which is PATH or ferry ($10 per person each way and doesn't run at all hours - so $100 RT per day for a family of 5). Do check on the PATH - they are doing repairs and and I don;t know which services will be down when. You don't want to be in Jersey and find it's a long and expensive trek to and from the City.

nytraveler

Sorry - I would tend to put the $100 a day to the cost of a hotel and stay IN the City rather than do all that traveling to and fro.

KTtravel

I would vote for staying in Manhattan. That way, you can return to your hotel for a bit of a rest and head out again for a show, etc. if you like.

dmailer

NYtraveller - the apartment hotel I'ce currently reserved (which I can easily cancel is SkyCity at Laguna which looks to be handy for the Path and Ferries. But I'll look again at Manhattan options on the basis of your comments. I'll also check out the repairs on the PATH.

BigRuss - I didn't mean to offend by inferring that NYC is more dangerous than the UK. But there are areas in many UK cities where I would not use public transport or walk with my family late at night. I was just looking for a bit of local knowledge.

isabel

Obviously the best idea is to stay in Manhattan. Once you consider the expense and time of commuting in from Brooklyn, Queens or Jersey, sometimes the cost of the Manhattan hotels doesn't look so bad. But if you decide you can't afford the Manhattan hotels then I'd go with Queens or Brooklyn over Jersey. Just keep in mind that they are both huge areas so staying in farther out areas could take half an hour or more longer than staying closer to Manhattan. Try looking on Booking.com and use the map feature to see where the various hotels are located. Between booking.com's map and google maps you should be able to see where they are in relation to subway stops.

nytraveler

Sorry - I don't know that part of Jersey. Before making that your final choice I would get exact details on transportation to Manhattan:

Hours of operation
How often the transit runs
How to get from your location to the PATH or ferry
Cost and time of the entire process

doug_stallings

One of the main PATH lines isn't running on weekends, and there is some additional ferry service to replace it, but in general ferries are $10 per person per trip and don't include transport in Manhattan, so you still have to pay separately for that. Buses are much cheaper but are timed for commuters and not tourists. But this is why people are saying transport from NJ will add $100 per day to your costs, and if you plan to take ferries that's true.

I also don't know this part of NJ, so I can't help you much with specifics.

But I definitely agree that you should ditch the rental car on arrival in NYC and get it again only when you are leaving for Boston (or take the train ... Your choice). But it might be expensive and not save you much if you have to pay a drop off fee. I would expect you could park at a rental apartment for little to no cost. But you must ask. I've never heard of this place, but it seems to be an apartment building, not an apartment hotel.

janisj

Just like in London but even more so in manhattan, staying in an outer/inconvenient area is usually a false economy. All the extra time, money, schlepping . . .

Ditch the car, up your budget and between the car and transport savings you'll be able to find a nice hotel in the center of things.

nytraveler

Agree that this is not a hotel. Looks like an apartment house that the builder is having trouble renting - probably due to the location (seems near the Holland tunnel) - and is renting apts short-term to transients to fill them up.

Sorry - have no idea of how to get to the city from there. But do forget the limitations of PATH - and how would you get from the building to the PATH?

hikrchick

I'd like to chime in about Jersey City hotels if I may. I lived in Jersey City for just about 4 years and commuted to work in NYC for about a year (before moving).

I've recommended staying in Jersey City hotels on this forum before, specifically at the Newport station area. There are, I think, 3 hotels adjacent to the Newport PATH station -- in fact one hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott, is directly *above* the PATH station!

Along with the Courtyard, there's a Doubletree across the street, and a Westin next to it.

The Newport stop is the last in Jersey City before reaching Manhattan. So, it is about a 15-minute ride (5 stops) on the PATH to the last stop, which is 33rd Street, and you come out in Herald Square. Some of the other stops are in Greenwich Village.

Yes, it's true, one of the PATH lines is out on the weekends, but that one goes from Exchange Place directly to the World Trade Center. The one going to midtown is perfectly ok. The PATH runs every 10-15 minutes and on Friday and Saturday nights until 1 a.m. It's perfectly safe and you will be among a crowd of people coming home after a night on the town.
Yes, for sure the NY Waterways ferry is extortionate pricing. But the PATH is $2.50 each way. I think you can use a NYC Metrocard in the turnstiles. This link is for fares: http://www.panynj.gov/path/fares.html

this link is a map: http://www.panynj.gov/path/maps.html

I personally don't feel this is an outer or inconvenient area -- it can take just as long to get to Long Island City on the subway from some points of Manhattan as to get to Newport. And for sure hotel prices will be less than in Manhattan. Plus you get the added photo-op of the NYC skyline lit up at night across the Hudson River!

I hope this is helpful!

doug_stallings

It may not affect your decision, but I agree with everything that hikrchick says. (And if the PATH were running normally, it would apply to every place to stay in NJ that's close to a PATH station.) You just have to be careful about the non-hotel places that may be close to the line that is currently not running.