Stay in hotel in Manhattan or by LaGuardia?
 

Hello everyone.
Here’s my quandary:
My husband and I are flying into LaGuardia at 1:00 on a Fri afternoon. We have tickets to Spamalot at 8:00 that night (I am sooo excited!). We are hoping to have dinner before the show. We will have all day Sat to sight-see and will fly out (LaGuardia again) at 8:00 on Sun morning. Neither my husband nor I have been to NYC before.
If we get a hotel near the airport (Crown Plaza LaGuardia) it will be convenient to check in and freshen up for the show and for getting up Sun morning and getting to the airport on time. It’s also much less expensive than hotels in the city. OTOH, we would have to spend money on transportation to/from the city twice on Fri, and twice on Sat. I have absolutely no idea how expensive it is to take a cab from LaGuardia to the theatre district. I also have no idea how easy it will be to get a cab after the show when all the theatres are getting out.
If we get a hotel in the city (I don’t have one picked out yet) it would be closer to the theatre (?) and would put us closer to sight-seeing on Sat. We would only be going to/from the city twice; into on Fri and back on Sun. OTOH, it wouldn’t be convenient to the airport for Sun morning and would be considerably more expensive. I don’t know if the costs of the taxi rides cancels out that of a higher priced hotel.
Could someone help me decide which way to go here? I’ve been waffling back and forth for weeks and I really have to make reservations!
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks!

There's no doubt at all in my mind: Stay in town.

There is absolutely no reason to stay at LGA other than a 5AM flight.

You will be miserable staying in that part of Queens.

With tax, tolls, and tip, the cab far would run you close to $40 each way. For four trips, that is $160 not to mention the time you'll waste.

Look on Hotwire and get a hotel in Midtown East, Midtown West, or Times Square.

It's a no-brainer. Stay in the city. Just three reasons why:
1. It's not a real New York experience unless you stay overnight.
2. The money spent on cabs will probably more than make up the difference in hotel costs.
3. It's not easy finding a cab after the show.
Further, with your plane arriving at 1 p.m., you'll have more than enough time to take a cab to the hotel, check in, freshen up and have a leisurely dinner before the show.

Thanks everyone. You've really helped. In town it is. Now I'm off to research hotels!

Yep,just got back from NYC and I second third and fourth the vote to stay in town. When the theater gets out EVERYONE wants a cab. We wound up taking the train back to our lodging. Cab rides, with out traffic, to La Guardia from Midtown were $25.00 each way. This was EARLY in the morning.

Have fun.

Someone at another travel message board that starts with "F" as in Arthur asked this same question about LGA Crowne Plaza.

I think he found that the bus passed the hotel, and took them to the #7 subway. Yes, it's a lot nicer to stay in Manhattan but at the same time, the potential savings for hotels by staying "in the sticks" can go for a lot of meals, plays, or souvenirs. Like all of life, there's tradeoffs in travel too.

If you decide to stay with CrownePlaza LGA, do so and don't apologize to anyone about it.

While it certainly saves money (although I'm not sure how much) to stay in LGA - I wouldn't want to be in the position of being at the #7 subway station and standing on a street corner waiting for a bus at midnight (yes - it will be midnight - after you walk to the subway, wait for a train and then trek out to Queens).

Don;t know how often those buses run in the small hours - would be surprised if there were more than 2 per hour. So- realistically you're back to a cab - and now how much have you really saved?

We just did this very trip in February and saw "Spamalot" in previews...if you like a fun show, whether or not you are a fan of M-Python, you will LOVE this show which is now sold out into the Fall.

We stayed right on Times Square and the cab to and from LGA was between $30-40 max.

I would stay in the city by all means...taxis to and from the airport are easy to get, too.