My friend and I are traveling from Florida to NY city. We have never been and are concerned about driving in the city and would like to stop on the North East side of NY Leave our car and take public transportation into NY to our hotel. Is this a wise idea and do anyone have a suggestion as to a good place or company that might be able to help us?

Why the northeast side if you are coming from FL? Where are you going after NYC?

It would be most convenient to just drive to the hotel and leave the car in a garage for the entire time. Parking in NJ is also an option. You might be able to find some recommendations on past threads and also on TripAdvisor. This subject comes up a lot over there.

Driving is hte city makes no sense at all - so garaging the car makes the ost sense.

There is no north est side of NY - or no way of knowing what you mean by that. Andcoming from FL the north est would be the wrong side. I would just drive to thehotel and put the car in the hotel's - or a nearby - garage. But this will cost $35 to $40 per night.

If you are staying several nights you can save some money by laving the car in a major train station in NJ and taking the train in. But most of the smaller local stations require you be a local with a parking sticker to use them - and they're full by 8 am. If you go to the MetroPark Station you can probably leave the car for several days and it will still be there when you get back.

If you can explain the reason for the north east idea - people may be able to make better recos. Unless you are going on to Boston spending 2 or more hours to circle around the city makes no sense.

Also - if you tell us where your hotel is people can make recos as to how best to get there.

The MetroPark station is quite close to the Garden State Parkway in Iselin, New Jersey and is very convenient to those driving from south of New York. From there you can catch a New Jersey Transit train to New York Penn Station.

http://www.njtransit.com/rg/rg_servl...&selStation=83

going on to Vermont

I did not think to explain that we are going on to Vermont. Our place there is good roads should by passable by that time. We may have to change our route because of road conditions. We thought to get a little past NY but that might not be the best solution. Thanks for any advise

Forgot to say we are staying at the Milford Plaza.

New Haven CT is convenient.

The train station has a covered parking garage, and there are frequent commuter and amtrak trains into NYC. If the garage is full there are some fenced parking lots nearby. (Of course you have to pay for parking... some hotels in New Haven will let you park for free if you stay overnight, and let you use their shuttle to the train station. )

If you are staying at the MIlford Plaza, then another convenient choice would be to drive into Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel and park at the Port Authority Bus terminal right by the tunnel, which is two blocks from your hotel.
http://www.panynj.gov/bus-terminals/...s.html#parking

New Haven is way out of the way for both NYC and Vermont.

Driving all the way to New Haven and then taking the train into NYC would be a waste of 2 or 3 hours. And if you're going on to Vermont - New Haven is not the way to go.

Either leave the car at Metropark in NJ - or bring it into the city and leave it in a garage.

To defend my suggestion: OP does ask for a stop on the North East side of NYC (presumably for a quick start the next day). New Haven is on that side, and on the way to I-91, which is how I would get to VT.

In terms of logistics, parking at the Port Authority actually makes the most sense. If you park there, you take the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan, but you don't actually drive on NYC streets. You drive directly from the tunnel on a ramp into the garage and park. However, parking there does cost $33 per day (similar to the cost of parking at most covered garages .. uncovered garages are cheaper but not all of those allow overnight parking).

If you don't want to pay that much, then park at Metropark in Iselin (the parking garage site has clear driving directions) and take NJ Transit in. You will probably save considering the cost of tolls, parking, etc. in Manhattan. Parking in Metropark is only $9 per day, and the garage is covered.

However, if you are only staying one night, it is probably not worth it.