Hiya,

We'll be taking the Amtrak in from Philly on Monday June 9 and will only be staying in the city for one night. We are looking at Hotel Mela---anyone have good/bad things to say about it?

Also, getting into NYP at 11:30 AM Monday and leaving from there at 6:30 PM Tuesday, what of this can we cover?

Times Square
Statue of Liberty
Ground Zero
Wall Street
Brooklyn Bridge (don't have to cross or anything, but would like a pic)
Museum of Natural History
Empire State building
Some sort of shopping!

Any input is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Jennifer

statue of liberty takes all day- getting the ferry, waiting on lines etc. unless it is a must i would skip it.
you can easily do ground zero, wall st, and brooklyn bridge in 2-3 hours, they are all near each other and can easily walk from one to another. at night you can walk around time square do shopping have dinner/dessert and see all the signs light up.

if you go to the museum og natural his, go around the corner to isabella's for lunch or dinner.
hope that helps a bit

The Mela is well located but has tiny tiny rooms. Don't know what price you got quoted but you might want to book it or something else cancelable and try bidding on Priceline. For a 1 night stay on a Monday, you could easily get a 4* hotel for under $200.

You might want to consider taking the nypartyshuttle.com tour at 3 pm that finishes around 8:30. You'd pass by virtually everything you mention and could then spend your time on Tues. either going back to some of those things are going to the museum. You can't realistically go TO the Statue of Liberty in this short time but you can certainly ride the free Staten Island ferry to pass it or take some other cruise that passes it.

I suppose you could get everything in in 2 days...
Brooklyn Bridge/Wall Street/Ground Zero are all in the same general area. If Brooklyn Bridge is just for photos, and a short time to pay your respects at Ground Zero, and pass by Wall Street (as far as I know you can't tour the stock exhange anymore)--you can do all that in 60-90 minutes if you wanted to.
Statue of Liberty--if you mean to take the boat to Liberty Island, tour ther, and go to Ellis Island too--that's half a day. If you just want to take photos and take a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry to get closer, add another 90 minutes to your downtown 'tour' above.

A museum like the Natural History could be an hour--or 5 hours.
Times Square--if just walking around, maybe an hour. Best viewed at night (when other things on your list are closed anyway)
Empire State Building (if you need to wait to get in, plus get upstairs, look around)--2-3 hours?
Shopping can easily be fit in any time, depending on what you;re looking for

Great, thanks to both of you! What kind of food is Isabella's/what do you love about it??? Also, how easy would transportation be if we go the Mela route? Would love rec's for other hotels as well, if anyone has some

P.S. And how small is small??? For just one night would it really matter or are the rooms closet-sized and uncomfortable?

ok, in an attempt to not have this thread die i'm asking another, more general question: for what we'd like to see is there one area of the city in particular we should look at as far as where to stay goes? we were supposed to go last fall but plans fell through---i remember someone bringing up the affinia...

again, any info is greatly appreciated!

Hotel Mela is perfectly well located for visiting NYC--very central and walkable to many popular sights and close to a number of transportation options. There is no one best location to choose.

Do you need to actually go up the Empire State Building or just see it. Many find Top of the Rock preferable for a bird's eye view which actually includes a great view of the ESB. And there are virtually no lines on which to wait.

As far as the Mela is concerned, I think they may list the size of the rooms on their website. Have a look at the travlers photos on the review page here
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._New_York.html

I think it really depends on your taste and the price. You're coming at a very expensive time. I wouldn't want to pay $300-400 for a room there, but if you got a reservation at the $229 rate, that's ok if you don't mind a small room. That date is sold out now on the Travelzoo special. Have a look at the size of some of the bathrooms.

The things you want to see are ALL over the city. I think it would help if you put them on a map.
maps.google.com is one place you could do this. You didn't make any comment about the tour idea nor have you answered whether you wanted to actually go TO the SOL or just see it. That and the Empire STate are 2 very time consuming activities. Many people prefer the view and the experience at Top of the Rock which doesn't take nearly as long to get up. If you do go to SOL, buy tickets in advance online and try to go at an off hour. If you don't want to do a 5 hr. tour, the same co. does 3 hr. tours either at night or during the day.
http://www.newyorkpartyshuttle.com/n...tour-packages/

Given that the things you want to see are downtown, midtown and the museum is uptown, you could really stay anywhere. I'd find the best deal. The Excelsior hotel is literally across the street from the Museum of Natural History and is usually well priced and comes with breakfast.

Thanks for the tips, will look into room/bathroom size...Our rate is under $300, so depending on the other hotels we're looking at, that may be the clincher...

I don't personally need to go to the SOL, but my travel partner would like to. I also would like to do the top of the Rock in lieu of the Empire State Building, but we're kind of butting heads there as well. I'd be happy with either, though I think I'd rather save the time since we're sooo short on it.

New York Party Shuttle looks good, I just don't know if I want to be cooped up for hours on a tour. We are in our late twenties and really very active, so we don't mind walking/hoping on the subway, etc.

Will definitely check out the Excelsior, sounds good

here is the link for isabella's.It has sort of "americana" food, nice size portions. would make a reservation for dinner if you can. lunch is easier to get a table. have fun

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/re...ellas/menu.php

if you are headed way down town to wall street, continue on to battery park and you can see the statue of liberty from there

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_Park

i know some may not be fans of wikipedia but this does give you some good info....

I'd say do Top of the Rock rather than Empire State -- that way, you'll actually get to SEE the Empire State. Have dinner before on 9th Ave. in the 40s/50s -- lots of great places, including Italian (Cara Mia is great and inexpensive; Cascina is pricier), American (Film Center Cafe for cheap eats or Eatery for something a little more upscale), Thai/ecletic (the very cool Vynl Diner)... the list goes on. (I work near the Olive Garden in Times Square and hate to see visitors going there.)

Have a great trip and don't worry if you don't see everything on your list. NYC isn't going anywhere; you can always come back in the fall.

jbmea626---isabella's looks great, we will definitely check it out. our hotel worries were put to rest---we realized we had enough points for the hilton in times square, so that's a relief!

i've seen the sol from battery park (also saw the BIGGEST rat ever there!) and will try to assuage my partner's want to actually go to it with the view of it instead...

and i really want to do the top of the rock, so i think that'll replace to esb, that is, if he's not too upset over not going to the sol!

SZ, thanks for the tip, but let me just say i would never dream of going to the olive garden in ny!!! we are from san francisco and really love dining out so it would be pretty sacrilege to do any chain in major metropolitan city

again all, thanks for the input!

p.s. anyone know of a great tapas place? while visiting a friend who was at nyu a few years back we went to a fantastic tapas place---best sangria i ever had problem is he doesn't remember the name of the place and the only thing i remember about it is that we had to walk down stairs to get enter, which i'm sure isn't very discerning. so i'm also sure there's no way i'm gonna come across the same exact one, but a recommendation for a good one would be nice!

thanks

Hmmm, not sure about that particular tapas place but I can highly recommend Boqueria (53 West 19th St., east of 6th Ave.). It's a little crowded but very cool and the food is excellent.

(Sorry for my earlier Olive Garden post -- it's just that I have made it my mission to steer any and all visitors away from there! Glad you guys are into great meals -- you're coming to the right place.)

Maybe the tapas place down a few stairs was:

Xunta
on Second Ave between 10th and 11th Sts
Not fancy inside--barrels and stools, long tables--great food and vibe

We also enjoy Xunta
Pronounced Shoon-ta, it is a Gallego word for borough or county. Large menu with many types of tortilla espanola. It does get very noisy

Bar Carrera-modeled after a modern San Sebastian tasca

Tia Pol-excellent quality

I think maybe it was Xunta---I remember barrels and stools...

SZ, no worries on the OG comment, I'm sure there are people who would do that, just not us!

Xunta has barrels and stools. They also have tables but you must be beg or have a large group to sit there.