Traveling to NY as a student tourist in Xmas and New Years
 

Hi,all!

I could greatly benefit from some advice here! I am a student at UNC,Chaple Hill (NC) and it would be my last chance to see NY at its best during the Winter break.I do not have much money but both my wife and I are too keen to miss the opportunity.Manhattan hotels are exorbitant!!An absolute heart breaker :(
We would be reaching on the 24th and staying on till the 2nd of Jan.We found a couple of hotels in NJ affordable.Edison Hotel,NJ and Days Inn at Woodbridge.We would be staying for a good 9 days and would be commuting to NY as a tourist almost daily.Would it be safe to commute at odd hours?Any advice which would help us plan our trip better is greatly welcome!We plan to buy the Unlimited weekly Pass (MTA) and were in two minds about the New York Pass.
Thanks!

You could try this place: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._New_York.html although it has mixed reviews and a reported beg bug problem. The latter was not a problem when we stayed there a couple of years ago.

What have you found out about the transportation timing and costs between those NJ hotels and NYC?

The Country Inn and the Verve in Long Island City, Queens have often been recommended as cheaper alternatives to staying in Manhattan, but are only a 15 minute subway ride away.

Thanks guys! Well Michael seems they are full for those dates!Abram,I have not booked as yet but Day's Inn is offering at $55.99(with out taxes) and the hotel people say they provide a cab for $10 (+$2/tip) from the hotel to MetroPark.
So,I guess it would come to $80-90 /day with out the metro expenses! If you have something in mind please share...I have tried finding something suitable in that budget but seems next to impossible!

Commuting from NJ will add to your expenses plus not convenient to be outside of the city. Look in LI City, NY as it is on the subway line.

NJ would be a disaster at that time of year - the traffic to and fro will be horrendous - and expensive - plus you can easily run into interminable delays due to bad weahter.

First do everything you can to stay in Manhattan. The Jane hotel downtown has tiny rooms and shared baths - but is the cheapest place you will find htat is still pleasant.

If that is still too much they go for Long Island City - just be sure you - pick a hotel right by the subway. Will be only 15 minutes on the subway - which runs 24/7/365 - much better than taking an hour or 1.5 hours and lot of train fare to get back and forth from NJ.

@Happy Trvir:Do you have a specific place in mind?

@NYTraveler Thanks!Would you look at any place specifically at LI?

Sorry - for info on train fares and schedules from MetroPark to NYC Penn Station (NOT Newark Penn Station) look at the New Jersey Transit web site.

Train from MetroPark to NY Penn Station is about 45 minutes - so you would have to allow 1:15 each way (and will the hotel also pick you up at the train in the evenings?) and a 10 trip ticket is $100 - so the train for both of you for the whole trip would be about $400.

I tried finding anything in that budget in Manhattan but seems like a far cry! Jane is not available for those dates!

If your budget is really tight you might consider the Hosteling International - which is uptown near Columbia University and gets good reviews. A bed and locker in a dorm room is about $45 per night per person.

Is bidding a good idea? Priceline or other sites?

Hosteling International not avavilable!!!

Some options are at the LGA hotels.The LGA Airport hotel,Pan American Hotel etc.Would commute be as difficult as NJ?

I did give you 2 specific hotels in LIC.

We've had success using Priceline. Read betterbidding and biddingfortravel to learn how if you haven't done it before.

Forget staying at LGA.

abram has given you two specific hotels to try in Long Island City.

You may have to split your stay; 9 nights may not be easy to get. Try different combinations of your dates: 4 and 5, 2 and 7, 3 and 6, etc.

No - you do NOT want to be at the airports - do far from the city. Go to Long Island City to see what they have there - only 15 minutes to the City on the subway.

You can look at bidding but do not go lower than 2.5 stars ad make sure it is in Manhattan - airports are a long, tiresome and expensive trek.

I'm afraid you've picked the most expensive time of year to come to NYC - and honestly anything under $100 is night is realistic only in Jan or Feb - when they give rooms away. (IN NY a basic 3* hotel costs about $250 per night in medium season - and goes up from there in high season. It sounds like the only thing even close to what you want to pay is the Hosteling International.

Frankly I would be afraid to stay in a place that cheap - possibly its used primarily by prostitutes or to house families that are temporarily homeless.

And I checked some hotels in LIC - and they are almost $300 per night.

You may have to shorten your trip in order to be able to get a place to .stay

Sorry - I looked at a bunch of the discount sights and anything below $150 per night is either at one of the airports (meaning a lot of time and money trekking to and fro every day - esp difficult in the evening when buses may run only every hour) or are in industrial areas in the Bronx or wherever - that are NOT tourist hotels - but used for other purposes.

@nytraveler Thanks! I think you are right,either I shorten the trip or pump up my budget! Would I miss out a to if I plan the same trip in April? I wanted to see the the ball drop but it seems it may not be possible! Will search more before giving up!

@Tuscanlifeedit and Abram! Thanks! Did try bidding,no great options!

To see the ball drop you need to stand in Times Square in whatever weather may be 40s or may be 20 and snow/sleet) from about 3 in the afternoon until midnight. Local transit stops around 4 pm and everyone is blocked into pens with police horses (wooden kind) and can only leave -- not return. There are no facilities and any backpacks or bags are thoroughly searched by police before you can enter.

Frankly - I think it is close to hell. I did it once, when I was in college - but that was many years before 9/11 and the security was much less. But you are still standing there for 8 hours or more waiting for anything to happen.

April will be better - but still don;t expect any hotels for under $100 - and that would be shared bath.

With the Priceline "name Your Own Price" bidding, you can keep bidding until you get a star level you want in a zone you want for the price you want.

If you read the sites I mentioned, you can learn about how to do "free re-bids" so you don't have to wait 24 hours between bids.

I tried going in for $150 but seems impossible!! Will try for April then! Thanks a ton ton guys!

I like the Larchmont, also downtown with shared baths, but you're still going to be over a hundred, even in April. It is worth the hassle of not trying to drag all the way in from Edison, however.

Yes, but in high season many hotels don;t have rooms to give Priceline - and if they do - the prices won;t be very low.

And agree that in April $150 is still going to be difficult - altough migh be doable as Priceline.

I suspect one of the problems is that December 31 is included in your dates. Could your visit be a shorter visit? December 24-31 (actually departing Dec 31) would eliminate a high-priced New Year's Eve hotel. Yes, it also eliminates your dream of being in NYC for New Year's Eve, but seems as if your budget will require some compromises.

When you go in April, you will have many more options on quikbook.com, travelzoo, priceline, etc. Go back to check on Long Island City hotels at that time; they'll likely be your best option.

The best place to see the ball drop is in front of your television in your own living room with a roaring fire in the fireplace, champagne just opened and chilled in the bucket, and the Chinese food just being delivered. Now, That's a proper New Year's Eve celebration!

Dec 24-28 is not that expensive. Its the dates around. NYE that are so terrible. If you're willing to change locations, that's one idea. Bidding on Priceline is not likely to yield one hotel for the entire 9 days but you might get something in 2 different places.

The Verve hotel in Long Island City, a 15 min. ride to midtown Manhattan by subway is $169/night plus including breakfast for the entire 9 nights if you prepay. For the first 5 nights, it's only $136 plus tax if you prepay.

Seeing the ball drop is a major production. Look at the FAQ on timessquarealliance.org. There,s no easy way to do it. I would consider coming to NYC for 5 nights and then spending New Years in Boston or Washington.

The week between Christmas and New Year's is generally cheaper than April, which can be quite expensive. Don't assume you'll find something cheaper then.

Here's my only thought about staying out in the suburbs. Trains are geared to commuter hours and generally become scarce and have much longer times after 9pm. Trains rarely run more than once an hour after regular commuting hours and may take significantly longer. So there's a distinct disadvantage in staying in a NJ or Long Island suburb. Taxi service in suburbs is also very hard to come by after hours. So if you arrived even in a busy station like Valley Stream, LI at 10:30PM, you would likely not find a taxi and might have to wait 15 minutes for one to arrive.

Commuting costs have risen dramatically over the past few years, so you need to realize that if you are buying regular tickets, a single ticket between Metropark and Manhattan is going to cost you $10 per person each way, adding the equivalent $50 onto your lodging costs per day for two people. And the taxi might cost $10 each way, so that means you are not paying $56 to stay at that Econolodge but rather $116, so it may not seem such a good deal when looked at that way. And remember that you are still going to pay for the subway when you get into Manhattan. I'd probably pay the additional $30 per night to stay in Queens to be on a NYC subway line.

But before you book a Queens or Brooklyn hotel, be sure to run the location by people here who know the city. We can tell you if the hotel is convenient to the subway or not. Hotels near the NYC airports are normally NOT good places for tourists to stay.

<I'm afraid you've picked the most expensive time of year to come to NYC>
What do you know, the same refrain, and still wrong.

I agree, Christmas week is not the most expensive time to visit NYC; the weeks leading up to it are high, and New Year's Eve is the real problem. Rooms also book quite a bit in advance. If the OP can adjust his dates to avoid New Year's Eve, he may have better luck, unless everything in his price range is already booked. This is a far better strategy than to shoot for April. If only the trip could be done next December!

Well I looked at a number of hotels and those that are not already booked still have high prices - not just for NYE (which was almost universally higher) but for that whole period.

It's not like the hotel is $500 on NYE and $50 the other nights.

None of the hotels in Manhattan are showing rates like the OP is looking at in god knows where NJ - $50 something per night.

NewbE -

The problem is that you disagree with everyone - but you don;t provide any specifics for the OP to look at. Exactly what hotel are you recoing they look at that is cheap in the week between Xmas and New Years?

NYE prices are extremely high, and the weekend just prior to NYE is inflated as well (in anticipation of people traveling in for a 4 day weekend). Christmas week itself should be relatively low cost.

Can you alter your dates to arrive a bit earlier and leave before NYE weekend? Or, better yet, just stay the 24th-28th. A shorter trip will be easier on your budget.

IMO, It's much better to stay 4 days with a reasonable budget to stay in a convenient location and enjoy yourselves vs overextending your budget for 10 days and staying in a terrible or very inconvenient location.

It's really important to be able to come and go from your hotel vs having to be out on a giant "day trip" every day, especially in winter!

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Long Island City last year for three night, cost us then $ 139.00 plus taxes. You got free breakfast, and free Wi-fi. The subway is about three minutes walk away and it is one stop to Manhattan.

For the OPs dates the rooms are almost $300 per night.

But the VERVE is only $169 plus tax INCLUDING breakfast. What am I miasing here??

What about the Leo House (www.leohousenyc.org)? A friend used to stay there when he visited NYC and said it was a basic but clean guest house on W 23rd that was operated by nuns and originally catered to new immigrants to the US. It looks like a room for 2 is $125-135. It's been several years since my friend has been there, so if anyone can provide current details, it may be a good option for the OP.

Leo House, near The Highline too. Walked by it often but never knew what is was.

not familiar with the verve - how is the location.

It's in Long Island City and the location is FINE. It's nicer than the Country Inn at this point and near the subway.