Trip to New York

Casdawer

Casdawer

Casdawer

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Hello,

My GF & I are going to going to New York in June and wanted to check what the best things to do are in New York (restaurants, attractions etc).

Also, best way to travel?

Is the New York Pass a good idea?

We're going for 5 nights and will be taking about £650 each (about $1000 dollars so $2000 all together) so is this enough for 5 days?

We're staying in the New Yorker Hotel which is quite central.
 
Do not take a pile of cash with you to New York.

Reasons why taking a pile of cash is a bad idea:

a) You will get conned on the exchange rate when you buy the dollars
b) You will then have to carry $2000 around with you
c) You will be tempted to blow any spare cash you have on rubbish just because its there to avoid...
d) You will get conned again on the exchange rate when you sell the dollars back
e) You will probably end up buying a ridiculously expensive travel insurance policy in order to have sufficient insurance cover for the vast amount of un-neccesary cash you are taking


You've still got time to sort yourself out with a decent credit card. Apply for something like a Halifax Clarity, which will give you:

a) No fee's at all on purchases made in the US. Best possible exchange rate for a consumer - the Mastercard base rate.
b) No fee's at all on cash withdrawn from ATM's. Best possible exchange rate for a consumer - the Mastercard base rate.


Infact then only charge you will incur is interest from the day of withdrawl on any cash withdrawls. If you pay the card off when you return this will amount to less than 1%.

The USA is almost entirely a card economy. Almost all of your spending you will be able to do on the card, at absolutely no charge, at the best exchange rate normal people like us could ever hope to get. If you do need cash for bars etc - you can simply take it out as and when you need it from an ATM. Again, at the best exchange rate.

I cannot stress enough how silly it would be to take $2000 in cash with you.

Best way to travel? Take the Subway, you can buy a multiday pass. Just stick that Halifax Clarity card you are now going to take into the machine at the first subway station ;)
 
Plus if you want to go shopping, go to New Jersey as they have no sales tax compared to 9% in New York state
 
Got back from NY two weeks ago. Had an amazing time! I would recommend getting the City Pass - will save you so much money. Even if you only go to see two (of the six) attractions, the savings cover the cost of the pass itself.

What ever you do, make sure you go to the top of the Rockefeller at sunset - simply the best views of the city. We also managed to get tickets for a Knicks game which was amazing (not sure when the season finishes though...)

We were there for 7 nights and took £750 each and still came back with $600 so I think you will have plenty (depending on where you want to eat etc...) but then we had already paid for the City Pass.

We visited: -

Ground zero
Central park (spent half a day there)
Empire state
Rockefeller
Boat tour
Natural history museum
East village
West village

On top of that we spent a lot of time just wondering around the different parts of Manhattan. I would recommend planning each day around a specific part of Manhattan - there are so many attractions in each area.

Expect to tip but don't expect great service - I didn't receive and better service than I get in the UK.

Any questions just fire away...
 
Simon said:
Plus if you want to go shopping, go to New Jersey as they have no sales tax compared to 9% in New York state
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Get to New Jersey:

Cheaply: $2 on the PATH train to Newark from WTC station
Quickly: $5 on New Jersey Transit from Penn Station (11 minutes)
 
Use the subway as much as you can and get a day pass. When I went the subway was amazing to get around to places quickly, you get to make the most of seeing everything you want then! :)
 
2000 for 5 days wasnt enough for us when we went. closer to 4k.

best way to get around. walk. you get to see the city then and not just the tourist bits.

and you get to burn off a bit of the food you eat too :)

dont get one of the travel cards that the travel shops offer. they are like a debit card but arnt, we took one and couldnt use it in quite a few places because it didnt have our name on it.

take some cash but not 2000! i would take around 600 cash so you have 120 ish a day and use a credit card for the rest.
 
If your flying into JFK, get the air train to Jamaica $5 then the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to Penn Station $7 , its way cheaper than a taxi and the LIRR gets you to central manhattan in 20 mins.

Book 9/11 memorial tickets before you go and print them

Brother Jimmys BBQ is a cool bar/restaurant, think its on park avenue around 37th???

oh and I went for 4 days in feb and spent $3000 with the Mrs :eek:
 
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New York's pretty lame imo, Id go to Chicago but hey since you are going to NYC, if u are there on a Friday, the MOMA is free, also some museums you don't have to buy tickets, just make a 1 dollar donation instead. Hang around times square and if you're lucky you can get tickets to Letterman for free. Yeah use the subway but plan the journeys, people say walk but its actually not that interesting so you'll feel like u wasted your time doing it. Deffo go top of empire state, central park etc. Oh and have a Wendys lol.
 
utajoker said:
2000 for 5 days wasnt enough for us when we went. closer to 4k.
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Different people have different spending requirements. You spent more on 5 days in New York than I spent for two people on a 16 day tour of the East Coast including New York, Washington DC, Miami and the Florida Keys *and* the flights *and* a hire car!

£2k is more than enough for 5 days unless you have to eat at a Michelin star restaurant every day.

If you've got a credit card too just what on earth do you manage to spend 120 a DAY in cash on?!
 
£2k in 5 days, £400 a day! What the hell? Even with a broadway show or 2 in between that's quite good going! I spent 9 days in hong kong and I got change from £400.
 
And what a waste, if you had £4k to spend excluding accomodation and flights which were obviously already paid for and you couldnt think of anything better than New York then thats a shame :p Thats gotta be what, £5.5-£6k after flights and accomodation (I doubt he stayed at a hostel with £4k spending money) for 5 days in New York.

Crikey.
 
Hi

I went last May for a week and am going again this May visiting Family who work there.
Getting around is best done on the metro as its cheaper and quick , like someone else said get yourself a travelcard for the week.

Places worth a visit are the Rockafella as this is great for getting pics of the empirestate.
We also went to the 9/11 site last time, when they were still doing the work on the memorial.

Last time we were just getting our bearings so did not visit as many places as we would have liked,

The only place I did not like was Times Square , too busy and just not my cup of tea. But there is a great American type food restaurant near by that does a great new york cheesecake recommend by new Yorkers just cant think of the name of it now!

Luckily for us , accommodation was with family , so a lot cheaper
 
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beachBOYken said:
Last time we were just getting our bearings so did not visit as many places as we would have liked,
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Fascinating, NYC has to be one of the easiest cities in the world to navigate, that urban grid system at its best. You barely need a map most of the time...
 
I already have a credit card that has 0% on foreign exchange fees so I'll take that with me.

I did think taking it all in cash was a bit risky but obviously I would not have tr entire lot in my pocket!
 
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