New York April 2017

pepp77

pepp77

pepp77

Soldato
Joined
13 Oct 2008
Posts
5,248
Location
SE London Born and Bred
My best mate and I said many years ago that if neither of us had been by the time one of us hit 40 (me next year!) we would do a trip to New York to experience the wonders of the Big Apple.

We currently have £2k put aside for the flights and hotels and are thinking of going for 5 nights. A quick search suggests it is better (read cheaper) to go Thursday to Tuesday than Monday to Friday so that is the current plan (dates likely to be 6th to 11th April 2017).

I am now wondering when is the best time to actually book the flights and hotels?
Do I go for a package of the two or book separately?
What websites are best to use to get the best deals for this?
Which airport is best to fly into (Newark, JFK, A.N.Other)? We will be flying out of London.
Where is the best price to location to stay to do the main touristy things?
Any hotel recommendations - don't want a dump but don't need 5* :)

Anything else people feel worth mentioning also appreciated.

Also why is there no dedicated travel section on the forums?
 
Cheers, will check out sky scanner as well. Although looks like I need to leave it a while as their search doesn't go past next March yet :)
 
Probs best to book early as possible, I would have thought?

And I would just do JFK, quickish queue on the yellow cab taxi rank outside the airport and about a 30-40min drive into Manhattan.
 
Think about this again in 7-8 months time. Don't go booking trips like this a year in advance, you'll get conned by hotels and airlines taking advantage of the 'OMG MUST BOOK EARLY' crowd. New York is simple and easy to do and is best booked about 3-4 months before you want to go.
 
I'm going in 3 weeks, 390 for return flights to JFK from Heathrow and me and spanish mate are doing airbnb jobbie for 7 days, which will cost another 180 right next to central park.
 
When planning these - you are correct - staying over a Saturday night opens up the cheaper fares that most business users don't go for. Don't restrict yourself to Monday - Friday.
 
When I went I booked only a couple of months in advance using Skyscanner and paid £300 return, could have got it for £275 direct if I could have gone a day earlier.

I flew into JFK and got a taxi to Manhattan, if you use an app like Uber/Lyft/Gett they all have new user codes which get you $10/$20 off a ride (IIRC Uber gave me 5 free $10 codes). I used taxis for pretty much all of my travel when I was there and it cost me far less than it would have in London.
 
I was there 2 weekends ago for a 2 nights (Fri/Sat), staying in the Meatpacking district. Flights were good value due to fuel costs and both flights there and back (I flew back last weekend after travelling in country) were only half full. I got upgrade to Upper for the flight back for a few hundred quid too. I think we could have done both flights and the hotel for 5 nights for around 2400 (Gansevoort) if we had flown economy. However I would not stay there unless you want party town as it's bloody noisy and one of my mates nearly gave some gimp on a Harley a kicking who felt he needed to turn up at 3pm and rev his bike both nights. We allowed him 1 night, second night words were had. :D

It was cold but weather was fantastic too, blue skies both days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom