Hotels and vacation rentals, there are choices for days in this busy city. This guide will help you figure it out.
TopChoices
NH Collection Madison Avenue– amazing central location but on a quieter street, upscale but not overly pricey, wonderful restaurant downstairs and a beautifully restored building.
Hyatt Place Long Island City– lower price than Manhattan, easy access to multiple subway lines to take you into Midtown within 10 min. Or you can ride the bus a short distance to the Hunters Point ferry.
Luxe 2 BR Apt | City View is a beautiful apartment in Long Island City with amazing reviews.
Radio City Apartments is an apartohotel with nice rooms for good value. And it very centrally located.
A few broad tips about lodgings in NYC to keep in mind
Hotel rooms are smaller than the average hotel room elsewhere in the U.S. Set your expectations accordingly. Even when rooms claim to be large, they are not.
Quiet does not mean noise- free. Trashmen and delivery trucks start early, and fire engine/ ambulance sirens are frequent. Remember this when deciding between a convenient ground floor apartment and a 5 story walk- up.
Most of the neighborhoods of New York are pretty safe. That being said, some are more safe than others. Times Square has a high per capita crime rate (mostly due to its high tourist numbers) but New York still has lower levels of violent crime than most other large North American cities. So be alert but don’t be fearful.
Very General Overview of Some of the Most Popular Neighborhoods
Manhattan
The Financial District is close to a lot of sights and all the subway lines but it is pretty quiet in the evening for nightlife or eating out.
Midtown is a great central location but it can be loud and you need to watch yourself around Times Square (pickpockets abound). But around Midtown South (between the Empire State Building and Bryant Park) it is a little quieter but still within walking distance to many major sites and easy subway access to multiple lines.
The Lower East Side and East Village are cosier neighborhoods where you can still find an authentic corner bodega but also a celebrated chef’s new fusion project. They can be a bit farther to a subway though.
Chelsea, West Village, SoHo, and TriBeCa are great central locations and very trendy neighborhoods but they can be expensive.
The Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and Harlem are where you can usually find more spacious accommodations. They are convenient for Central Park and some of the museums but will be a longer subway ride for everything else.
Outside of Manhattan
These neighborhoods usually have cheaper lodgings than you will find in Manhattan but you will be riding the train a lot more. All 3 are distinctive in their own right, especially if you like to be more local/ less touristy.
Brooklyn
Long given a rep as a hipster haven, Brooklyn is a terrific destination in its own right. The amazing Prospect Park rivals Central Park but on a smaller scale but we also love Brooklyn Bridge Park and Domino Park along the river with their terrific views of the city.
Cool restaurants and shops abound, perhaps even more than in Manhattan itself. Good subway connections into the city but check to make sure you are within walking distance of a stop.
Queens
Long Island City is one of my favorite places to stay when I visit New York. A quick subway ride into the city but with plenty of its own restaurants and shops. And there is the convenient East River ferry to get you around as well.
Also, it is easy to pop down to Brooklyn on the Green Line straight from Queens. The redeveloped waterfront at Hunters Point and Gantry Plaza State Park is terrific whether you have kids young or old, or none at all.
Hoboken, New Jersey
People sometimes forget about Hoboken but it is an easy train ride into the city as long as you stay pretty close to the river and the main station. And there are plenty of restaurants and shops along the main drag near the riverfront.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia- author Roke~commonswiki. Reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Recommended Lodgings
*This is our personal list of places that we have stayed in previously, that were recommended by friends we trust, or that we have marked as possibilities for future visits. Some of these links are affiliate links, please see Disclosures at the end of this book for a full explanation.
Hotels
Cambria Hotel & Suites. There are 2 hotels by Cambria in New York– the Cambria Chelsea and the Cambria Times Square. Both get good reviews on TripAdvisor and booking.com for location, cleanliness and new furnishings. This is a no frills, business hotel chain but the prices are good.
The Residence Inn by Marriott Downtown Manhattan/ World Trade Center is in the Financial District near the Fulton St subway station. It gets great TripAdvisor reviews and has studios with a separate kitchen and living room. Includes breakfast. The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown/World Trade Center is very similar in location and amenities.
The Kimpton Muse Hotel is on W. 46th St near Times Square. This hotel is a little more fancy than the ones above, and is slightly more expensive, but gets rave reviews for the employees, the rooms, and location. Has a daily wine reception if that floats your boat. Tip: Join the free Kimpton Karma Rewards for free Wifi.
The Knickerbocker Hotel is another slightly more expensive, luxury hotel but the location can’t be beat. Around the corner from Times Square, one block away from Bryant Park, and with multiple subway stations nearby, this hotel makes a perfect base for exploring the city. Also has a rooftop bar that looks amazing. Request a room with a view as some of the rooms look out over Times Square and some face a brick wall. Also be aware they add a ridiculous $30 “residency fee” to each night that makes the true rate higher than advertised.
The Distrikt Hotel is on W. 40th St, near 9th Ave. It is a boutique hotel with good reviews on TripAdvisor and booking.com and a decent price although their largest room has only has 2 doubles. The NYC parole office is down the street so there may be some interesting people about but there are also quite a few other hotels next door to this one so it doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Hotel Belleclaire This hotel is in a beautiful pre- war building on the Upper West Side so it has charm but also quirks. Previous guests include Mark Twain and Babe Ruth. They have family suites (2 BR- 1 Queen, 2 Full), Parlour suites (1 King, pull- out sofa), and free WiFi. Ask for a room not facing Broadway as it can be loud.
There are hundreds more hotels in New York than these mentioned above. Look on booking.com or hotels.com if these are not available Or use hotel points if you can. Err on the side of staying closer to a subway stop if you have several choices. You’ll appreciate it after a long day walking.
Airbnb and VRBO
*** Be Aware of New Regulations for Apartment Rentals***
NYC is severely cracking down on Airbnb. It is illegal to rent a class- A dwelling for less than 30 days unless the owner is present also, meaning renting someone’s extra room is okay but not their whole apartment without them there. Class A dwellings are those in a building in which 3 or more families reside, so basically all apartment buildings. The basement apartment of a brownstone or an apartment above a shop in a 2 story building should be okay though.
Many of the listings in NYC appear to be violating the law so we are not sure how stringent enforcement is. But we would ask your host for clarification that they are a legal rental before booking. We were informed about 2 weeks before a recent visit that the host had been evicted from the apartment for running an illegal Airbnb. Lesson learned and now we always ask. You should as well so there are no unwelcome surprises during your trip.
Also be sure to check in Brooklyn, Queens, and Hoboken for good prices if you don’t mind being a little farther out from Manhattan.
Chic Two Bedroom Apartment at the Historic Mansfield Residence
Luxurious Loft Suite at Mansfield, Central NYC Location near Top Attraction
