New York city, eating and sleeping
Discussion
How on earth do you turn a 4 hour drive into a 3 week road trip!? ;-)
I just stayed at the Ace hotel, lots like it, I thought it was ok, though honestly I wont head back there.
Honestly, NYC is very very expensive for generally not particularly decent rooms, find somewhere half serviceable, and in a decent location, you'll be eating out a lot anyway.
High end sushi http://www.shukonyc.com/ and have heard from foodies that http://sushinakazawa.com/ is EPIC
Steaks I don't want to start an arguement, but the usual: Delmonicos, peter lugers, and have been told about Wolfgangs but havent been
I went on a ramen adventure this last time (3 ramens in 4 days!), since its becoming a bit of a crazy there now and this was easily the best I had there http://www.ivanramen.com/
http://www.deadrabbitnyc.com/ just won worlds best bar, so take a look
Book statue of liberty NOW or it will be too late.
I would download the Lyft app to get around, theres lots of referral codes for $50 free credit ($5 off 10 rides to be clear). It seems to be better then Uber there. If surge prices are above 1.5 hail a yellow cab instead. Subway is also great, you can get a prepaid card easily enough and 4 people can use it. I think you get 10% bonus credit if you buy one.
I just stayed at the Ace hotel, lots like it, I thought it was ok, though honestly I wont head back there.
Honestly, NYC is very very expensive for generally not particularly decent rooms, find somewhere half serviceable, and in a decent location, you'll be eating out a lot anyway.
High end sushi http://www.shukonyc.com/ and have heard from foodies that http://sushinakazawa.com/ is EPIC
Steaks I don't want to start an arguement, but the usual: Delmonicos, peter lugers, and have been told about Wolfgangs but havent been
I went on a ramen adventure this last time (3 ramens in 4 days!), since its becoming a bit of a crazy there now and this was easily the best I had there http://www.ivanramen.com/
http://www.deadrabbitnyc.com/ just won worlds best bar, so take a look
Book statue of liberty NOW or it will be too late.
I would download the Lyft app to get around, theres lots of referral codes for $50 free credit ($5 off 10 rides to be clear). It seems to be better then Uber there. If surge prices are above 1.5 hail a yellow cab instead. Subway is also great, you can get a prepaid card easily enough and 4 people can use it. I think you get 10% bonus credit if you buy one.
We always stay with a friend when we go, so I can't help
On accommodation. We went to the Dead Rabbit a couple of years ago and it's pretty good. Very quiet during the day, with pretty good food (the sausage roll is incredible!) and a huge wihisk and cocktail menu. It gets busy at knocking off time, as JP Morgan are just across the road.
There's a lovely little French bistro called Le Singe Vert (the green monkey) at the bottom of 7th Ave (I think it's something like 7th & W 19th iirc.
There's a great brunch place on Union Sq (I forget the name, but it's on the corner next to the Diesel store)
If you like Italian, try Via Della Pace on E 7th st in East Village. It's only small and you'll need to book for evenings, but the food is excellent and there's a really lovely atmosphere (particularly this time of year, as they deck it out all spookily for Halloween)
We always give the high end restaurants a miss, as you can easily spend $500 / $600 + tax + tip on a pretty mediocre meal.
On accommodation. We went to the Dead Rabbit a couple of years ago and it's pretty good. Very quiet during the day, with pretty good food (the sausage roll is incredible!) and a huge wihisk and cocktail menu. It gets busy at knocking off time, as JP Morgan are just across the road.
There's a lovely little French bistro called Le Singe Vert (the green monkey) at the bottom of 7th Ave (I think it's something like 7th & W 19th iirc.
There's a great brunch place on Union Sq (I forget the name, but it's on the corner next to the Diesel store)
If you like Italian, try Via Della Pace on E 7th st in East Village. It's only small and you'll need to book for evenings, but the food is excellent and there's a really lovely atmosphere (particularly this time of year, as they deck it out all spookily for Halloween)
We always give the high end restaurants a miss, as you can easily spend $500 / $600 + tax + tip on a pretty mediocre meal.
Just back this morning from a week in New York, my first time. Fabulous place, just as you'd imagine, noisy, busy and a bit smelly.
We stayed at the Iroquois Hotel on West 44th between 5th and 6th. Just five mins from Times Square but we were lucky with a room at the back on the eigth floor. Couldn't hear a thing, a very peaceful sleep. Room was a reasonable size and booked six months ago but still easily £200+ a night, room only.
Food and drink ranges from a little bit more expensive than here to pretty steep. We had a very ordinary 2 course Italian meal for the two of us in Hell's Kitchen area, £115! Plenty of Irish bars and diners, busy but rarely queued. Most bars and hotels do a Happy Hour most days, beers and wine for $5.
It's the cost of museums that got me. Most are $25 a head or more. Empire State, Intrepid Air and Space and Rockefeller are $30 upwards (quite literally!).
As someone else said, if you want to go to the very top of the Statue of Liberty then I think the earliest tickets are already Feb 2017. You can get up to the Pedestal level though easily but you MUST buy the tickets in advance. Tickets for this are actually reasonably priced.
The journey to/from JFK is a real drag though. Took us nearly 90 mins in a cab on Friday afternoon. Fixed fare though, roughly $75 I think.
We stayed at the Iroquois Hotel on West 44th between 5th and 6th. Just five mins from Times Square but we were lucky with a room at the back on the eigth floor. Couldn't hear a thing, a very peaceful sleep. Room was a reasonable size and booked six months ago but still easily £200+ a night, room only.
Food and drink ranges from a little bit more expensive than here to pretty steep. We had a very ordinary 2 course Italian meal for the two of us in Hell's Kitchen area, £115! Plenty of Irish bars and diners, busy but rarely queued. Most bars and hotels do a Happy Hour most days, beers and wine for $5.
It's the cost of museums that got me. Most are $25 a head or more. Empire State, Intrepid Air and Space and Rockefeller are $30 upwards (quite literally!).
As someone else said, if you want to go to the very top of the Statue of Liberty then I think the earliest tickets are already Feb 2017. You can get up to the Pedestal level though easily but you MUST buy the tickets in advance. Tickets for this are actually reasonably priced.
The journey to/from JFK is a real drag though. Took us nearly 90 mins in a cab on Friday afternoon. Fixed fare though, roughly $75 I think.
mabosh said:
The journey to/from JFK is a real drag though. Took us nearly 90 mins in a cab on Friday afternoon. Fixed fare though, roughly $75 I think.
Nope.$52.80 flat fare to/from JFK & manhattan (+$4.50 peak surcharge 4-8pm weekdays) - plus tip if you feel it warrants it.
Ask them to take the bridge to avoid the tunnel toll - as a taxi rider you have the right to insist on/dictate the route.
Bugs the hell out of me tbh - at quiet times, on the meter I used to be able to get to/from JFK for about $30 but nowadays you have no choice but to go flat rate and you aren't allowed to go on the meter.
Uber and most pre-booked car services are cheaper, as is hopping on the LIRR or A/E/F trains and the airtrain which is certainly quicker at certain times.
GCH said:
mabosh said:
The journey to/from JFK is a real drag though. Took us nearly 90 mins in a cab on Friday afternoon. Fixed fare though, roughly $75 I think.
Nope.$52.80 flat fare to/from JFK & manhattan (+$4.50 peak surcharge 4-8pm weekdays) - plus tip if you feel it warrants it.
Ask them to take the bridge to avoid the tunnel toll - as a taxi rider you have the right to insist on/dictate the route.
Bugs the hell out of me tbh - at quiet times, on the meter I used to be able to get to/from JFK for about $30 but nowadays you have no choice but to go flat rate and you aren't allowed to go on the meter.
Uber and most pre-booked car services are cheaper, as is hopping on the LIRR or A/E/F trains and the airtrain which is certainly quicker at certain times.
Ended up getting the train back to JFK, already had the metro card just had to pay the $5 or so dollars to go from Jamaica, Queens to JFK. Didn't have to listen to classical music for 1 hour, a Nigerian fella non stop chatting in his headpiece and had already had the view of driving into Manhattan.
There are several cheaper hotels just over the New Jersey border with a 40 minute bus ride in. Seemed the best balance for me, and sitting down for a while before being on your feet constantly all day is worth it.
Take your passport when you go shopping. Big department stores like Sears have departments to deduct tax for travelers, definitely worth your while (even with the rubbish exchange rate).
Take your passport when you go shopping. Big department stores like Sears have departments to deduct tax for travelers, definitely worth your while (even with the rubbish exchange rate).
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