New York City Break, best options?

Robzere31 · 23 Jun 2014 at 14:50

Starting to look into a 3 or 4 night city break to New York next year for the wifes birthday. (Surprise weekend away & all that)
As her birthday is 1st September, I'm looking at flying out around 29th or 30th August. (Pain for 2015 as it's going to be a bank holiday weekend!)

What I'd like to ask is those of you who have done this trip before, would it be better for me to sort out the hotel & flights seperatly myself I.E cheaper, or save myself the hassle & stress & just book a package deal?

Looking around it seems to be coming in at around £1500 - £1700 for hotel & flights, (Which is a lot for a couple of days away IMO) prices shoot right up to around £2000+if I start looking for flights from Birmingham & non-stop !! but it's somewhere she has always wanted to go.

Also, is there any hotels you can recommend, ideally near the Central Park area.

Any help or info would be apprecieated by me & my wallet !

Beerbaron · 23 Jun 2014 at 14:57

That sounds quite expensive. 2 years ago we did 5 nights for £780 at the Waldorf Astoria. I know prices would have gone up a little as well. I would suggest 5 nights if you can as there is a lot to see and do.

Robzere31 · 23 Jun 2014 at 14:59

Did that includes flights etc? Who was that with?

Beerbaron · 23 Jun 2014 at 15:03

Yes. I think it was Expedia. Last time i looked it was nearly £1000. I suppose it depends what hotel you stay at.

Spursingham · 23 Jun 2014 at 16:10

Try take a look at https://www.airbnb.co.uk

You can get a decent place in the middle of it all for half the price of a hotel.

I remember seeing a place that overlooked CP for £60/night.

antijoke · 23 Jun 2014 at 16:15

Spursingham said:
Try take a look at https://www.airbnb.co.uk

You can get a decent place in the middle of it all for half the price of a hotel.

I remember seeing a place that overlooked CP for £60/night.

Lol I did a search on that site, featured neighbourhood ' Hells Kitchen'.

Me Gusta.

utajoker · 23 Jun 2014 at 17:06

not near central park but everywhere is walkable, we have stayed in the W times square twice.

Literally on times square.

i recommend the place. not cheap but a really nice hotel.

No-One · 23 Jun 2014 at 17:44

We went for a week last month. Booked flights and hotel through British Airways back last year and stayed at the Midtown Hilton on 6th Avenue, about 1/4 mile from central park. Flew from Heathrow T5 to JFK. We paid an upgrade to stay in the executive level which has recently had all the rooms refurbished. 40th floor, 55" tv, wifi, fridge, inclusive breakfast etc. Got a nice free upgrade to business class on the outbound flight too (very unexpected for a party of 4). We all want to go again now.

Here's some pics of the hotel

Main Lobby

The Twin room

The View

No idea what the prices will be like as we went at a totally different time of year. Wherever you stay I've heard lot of people say to request a room up high otherwise traffic noise can be an issue at lower levels during the night (New Yorkers love using their horns). Be prepared for LOTS of walking!

JBuk · 23 Jun 2014 at 17:44

Me and my other half went in February and stayed at the hilton garden inn times square

We got it at a reasonable price and the location is pretty good , we booked the flights separate and flew with American Airlines on a code share but booked with BA

King85 · 23 Jun 2014 at 17:53

I throw in a recommendation for the wolcott hotel which is situated right next to the Empire State Building, it cost us 700 for about 10 nights iirc but that was 3 years ago now.

[TW]Fox · 23 Jun 2014 at 17:59

I genuinely do not see the point in these citybreaks to New York. Plenty seem to do them but that doesn't help me understand why. You have a 7-8 hour flight each side, effectively your first day is a writeoff becuase it takes that to get there. So really if you go for 3 nights you only really get 2 proper ones and whats the point in spending a 4 figure sum on a 2-3 night citybreak?

The biggest fixed cost is the flights.

You could easily spend a week or more in NYC and the surrounding area for hardly any extra money - 2-3 nights in NYC and 5-7 nights in New England or something would come in at not much more money but be far, far more worth the effort.

Spending 2 days travelling there and back to stay for 2-3 nights just stikes me as pointless really, but people seem to do it, so...

New York is great but make it part of a longer trip or its not worth it. IMHO.

Lima · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:20

[TW]Fox;26500947 said:
I genuinely do not see the point in these citybreaks to New York. Plenty seem to do them but that doesn't help me understand why. You have a 7-8 hour flight each side, effectively your first day is a writeoff becuase it takes that to get there. So really if you go for 3 nights you only really get 2 proper ones and whats the point in spending a 4 figure sum on a 2-3 night citybreak?

The biggest fixed cost is the flights.

You could easily spend a week or more in NYC and the surrounding area for hardly any extra money - 2-3 nights in NYC and 5-7 nights in New England or something would come in at not much more money but be far, far more worth the effort.

Spending 2 days travelling there and back to stay for 2-3 nights just stikes me as pointless really, but people seem to do it, so...

New York is great but make it part of a longer trip or its not worth it. IMHO.

Absolutely this^^^

The first time I did NY, I did 5 nights New York, 3 nights Boston. Second time I did NY, I went for 6 nights. Such an amazing city with so much to do and take in. The thought of spending all that money on a flight and going through all that effort for a 2-3 night holiday which will leave you feeling like you never got to see all of what you could have is ridiculous in my opinion. Go for a week OP!!

11 nights total I've been in NY and still so many things I missed and intend to do on my third visit.

Raymond Lin · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:25

Beerbaron said:
That sounds quite expensive. 2 years ago we did 5 nights for £780 at the Waldorf Astoria. I know prices would have gone up a little as well. I would suggest 5 nights if you can as there is a lot to see and do.

I did 6 nights at TYRP and it was £1200, that was 18 months ago.

First night is a write off, ish, I landed at 4pm, at hotel around 6pm, went out to time square which is round the corner, then a meal and I was dead by that point and early night at 12. Still went to Time Square so it wasn't a total waste.

[TW]Fox · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:32

Raymond Lin said:
I did 6 nights at TYRP and it was £1200, that was 18 months ago.

Amazing, that is more than I spent on accommodation in 16 nights touring the Pacfic Northwest including Vancouver and Seattle and I hardly stayed in crap hotels :eek:

Semple · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:33

[TW]Fox;26500947 said:
I genuinely do not see the point in these citybreaks to New York. Plenty seem to do them but that doesn't help me understand why. You have a 7-8 hour flight each side, effectively your first day is a writeoff becuase it takes that to get there. So really if you go for 3 nights you only really get 2 proper ones and whats the point in spending a 4 figure sum on a 2-3 night citybreak?

The biggest fixed cost is the flights.

You could easily spend a week or more in NYC and the surrounding area for hardly any extra money - 2-3 nights in NYC and 5-7 nights in New England or something would come in at not much more money but be far, far more worth the effort.

Spending 2 days travelling there and back to stay for 2-3 nights just stikes me as pointless really, but people seem to do it, so...

New York is great but make it part of a longer trip or its not worth it. IMHO.

Agree with this too. We did 6 nights the first time in the summer, and ran out of time. Went back in the winter a couple of years later for 9 nights, and again that still flew by. Wouldn't recommend going in the winter though. Don't get me wrong NY has some very lovely things to see in the build-up to christmas. But it's very cold and very very busy.

Also you'll be looking at £200+ a night for an average hotel, we stayed in Yotel both times.

Another suggestion would be to plan what you want to see, and find out how to get there/how to get tickets etc. That way you're not wasting time figuring out where to go.

Also take a look on the many threads on this forum for restaurant suggestions, some of them have very good reviews from other forum members.

MrMoonX · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:35

Any less than 5 nights in NYC isn't worth it, it's a 7-8hr flight so you lose a lot of time in the city

[TW]Fox · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:39

Semple said:
Also you'll be looking at £200+ a night for an average hotel, we stayed in Yotel both times.

There are ways around that - I stayed at the Hilton in Newark, which sounds awful as it's miles away. But it's actually right above Newark Penn Station, and the train takes about 13 minutes to get to New York Penn Station which is right in central Manhattan. You don't even need to go outside. Many of the £200 a night 'central' hotels are more than a 13 minute walk from central Manhattan!

It was £90 a night...

daz · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:43

[TW]Fox;26500947 said:
You have a 7-8 hour flight each side, effectively your first day is a writeoff becuase it takes that to get there.

No way, get some sleep on the plane and you've got a full day to enjoy yourself. If you need to, have a nap in the afternoon but it's definitely not a write off by any means.

So really if you go for 3 nights you only really get 2 proper ones and whats the point in spending a 4 figure sum on a 2-3 night citybreak?

The biggest fixed cost is the flights.

You could easily spend a week or more in NYC and the surrounding area for hardly any extra money - 2-3 nights in NYC and 5-7 nights in New England or something would come in at not much more money but be far, far more worth the effort.

Spending 2 days travelling there and back to stay for 2-3 nights just stikes me as pointless really, but people seem to do it, so...

New York is great but make it part of a longer trip or its not worth it. IMHO.

I agree for the most part, but for some people the cost is not the limiting factor - it's the amount of time they can take off.

Davey_Pitch · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:50

I personally wouldn't do New York for less than 5 days. Like Fox says, your first day is kinda a write off because of the travel time and jet lag, so you'd want at least 5 days just to see a decent chunk of the city. Central Park alone could easily take up half of your day if you just wander around it (it's huge!). We're going for our 4th time next Easter and we wouldn't go for less than a week now.

We stay in Times Square when we go. It's more expensive than other areas but we love the area so we're happy to pay it. So much to see and do in the area, and close to subway stations for pretty much every line in Manhatten.

[TW]Fox · 23 Jun 2014 at 18:51

daz said:
No way, get some sleep on the plane and you've got a full day to enjoy yourself.

'Getting some sleep on a plane' is easy for some but more difficult for others, especially in the middle of the day. You don't see many people asleep on daytime TATL's.

But even if you could, how do you get a full day? Most flights from the UK to New York end up arriving about 4-8pm in New York unless you leave particularly early. I can't think of a single flight that gives you 'a full day to play with' by the time you've got your bags and checked into the hotel. Even BA's 09:55 gets you into JFK in the early afternoon, so it's late afternoon by time you are good to hit the city. Thats not 'a fully day to play with'.

I've never caught a transatlantic flight to North America and wanted to do anything other than check in, watch a bit of TV and get an 'early' night ready for a full day the next day. I can't imagine many people are ready for a full day as soon as they step off the plane!