My friend and I are coming to NYC in June, spending 4/5 days sightseeing, drink cosmopolitans, go to a show/concert and shop until we drop! However, as the it's such a huge place, we'd like advice on where to stay. We're both girls in our mid-30's. Heard the Hudson Hotel is fab but we need to watch the pennies.... the Millennium UN Plaza and Ramada New Yorker have been suggested... these good choices?

Many thanks.
Tracy (England)

tracy, the Hudson has a reputation of having teeny tiny rooms.

My suggestion would be a centrally located chain hotel if price is an issue.

Check out Affina.com and also look at prices (PlacesToStay.com is a great website) for the Sheraton, Doubletree, Marriott, Hilton, etc.

Can you bid on priceline from the UK? If so check out BiddingForTravel.com.

Hello tracy
2 friends and I just returned from a first time visit to NYC last week. We had the same thing on our agenda, the shopping, site seeing, cosmopolitans etc.
We stayed in the Super 8 near Times Square and found this to be great accommodations for our needs. Nothing fancy, but nice clean rooms easily big enough for 2 people (we crammed 3 into ours).

They also offer a free breakfast every morning until 10:00 am which saved us money.

Have a fabulous time in NYC, we did! Bring comfortable shoes, the feet suffer more than anything else!

Skip Priceline and stay at Super 8. Great location, good price, and it is clean. Have stayed there twice and would do it again. Good Luck!!

Tracy~

The Marriot Marquis was an awesome hotel to stay at in my opinion. It is absolutely gorgeous, and the rooms have fabulous views of Times Square. Not to mention, if you're in the mood for a Broadway production, you can buy tickets right across the street. As for shopping, if you are looking for designer brands and cheap prices, go to canal street. They have imitation designer EVERYTHING, and it will be helpful to the pennies. Have Fun!

I actually have a question for you now. I am flying to England at the end of May, what places do you suggest?

Many thanks for your suggestions which I will now investigate. So many options eh?

luvcheer2004 - which airport are you flying to in England? Are you looking for a relaxation/scenic break or you want to live the highlife? Let me know.

Regards
Tracy

Tracy,
If you haven't already booked I'd vote for the Fitzpatrick Manhattan Hotel at Lexington and 57th. Great hotel and very friendly staff in a nice location - just a few minutes walk from Bloomingdales!
Peter (Ireland)

I was also going to suggest the Fitzpatrick. They have two locations -- one at 57th street and one on 44th (I believe) near Grand Central. They are lovely, smaller hotels with warm service and nice rooms. We put our out of town guests up at the one near Grand Central for our wedding in 2001 and were very pleased.

Maybe you should give us some info on what you're looking for. The suggestions you've gotten so far run the gamut from the no-frills to much nicer. What is your price range? Any particular geographical area you prefer? Any amenities or other interests (i.e., trendy or basic, etc).

Hi, I stayed at the Warwick. Loved it. Decent sized rooms, not terribly expensive...location, location, location! Just don't eat breakfast in their restaraunt, expensive and terrible service.

I would look into some of the suggestions here. The Millennium UN Plaza is a bit out of the way, also a few long blocks to the nearest subway. it's a nice hotel, but not that convenient. Also check hotel rates on travelhero.com (I've found some very good NYC rates there) and on the hotel's website (in many cases, dealing with the hotels directly and looking into their special rates is better using booking sites). Priceline is aalso a great suggestion. If you do priceline, Midtown East, West and South are all good locations. ALso Central Park West.

Hi, the options and choices are endless... a work colleague suggests we should stay in the Broadway area - fairly central? We are ideally looking for a modern/trendy, nice, clean "safe" hotel, centrally located and not too expensive (twin room under $180) - is this possible?

Can you also suggest the "must have" places to visit/things to see. We quite fancy going to a baseball match.

Thanks in advance.
Tracy

Tracy~

A little bit of relaxation and high-life. Maybe more scenic in the day, and high-life during the night. Where do you suggest going?

For a baseball game, don't know when the Yankees will be in town. If you want to see them you need to try for tickets ASAP (most of the decent seats are sold as season tickets). Of you could try the Mets - should have no trouble getting seats for them - if they're in the city then.

luvcheer

hope I haven't missed you before you leave for Europe?

I would suggest somewhere like Chester, York, Leeds, Newcastle or even Manchester. Here you will have the option of scenic views with the option of lively nightlife later. You could always use public transport (local trains, buses etc) to see the sights.

Let me know how you get on. If you decide to visit the Lake District, you won't have much of a hectic nightlife.... but its entirely up to you?

Good luck, Tracy

To everyone else

Many thanks for your ideas. Now for the hard bit.... putting them into place.

Watch this space.....

Regards
Tracy

Not trendy but well located (near theaters) and good price is the Comfort Inn on west 46th st.-- part of the applecorehotels.com chain. I agree the Fitzpatrick's a good option (I prefer the location on 57th vs the one near Grand Central).

There are some trendy hotels in the theater area like the Paramount-but again rooms are tiny but maybe you don't care.