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Is it worth staying outside Manhattan when visiting New York?
Hi all,
I will be visiting New York on my own for 12 nights in february and I have a bit of a dilemma in wondering whether its worth staying in Manhattan or not. I'm currently looking at hotel called the Quality Inn in Woodside Queens, which will cost me £600. It has a booking.com rating of 7.3 and looks relatively decent.
http://www.booking.com/hotel/us/quality-inn-woodside.en.html
Its located near a subway station on the Flushing line and takes 20 minutes to get into times square.
However I'm wondering its worth paying extra to stay in Manhattan, I have found a hotels around £900-£1000 for the same number of nights in around 30th & 32nd street, with strong reviews from booking.com and tripadvisor.
I've never been to New York so I don't know whether or not its safe to take subways at midnight on the flushing line into Queens neighbourhood at that time. Given that its a bit of pain in the arse as well constantly being 20 mins+ away from my hotel for 12 nights, and that its going to be freezing that time of the year, would it be worth it to get accomodation and paying the £300-£400 extra to stay in Manhattan?
I will pay extra if it improves the quality of my time there significantly.
I will be visiting New York on my own for 12 nights in february and I have a bit of a dilemma in wondering whether its worth staying in Manhattan or not. I'm currently looking at hotel called the Quality Inn in Woodside Queens, which will cost me £600. It has a booking.com rating of 7.3 and looks relatively decent.
http://www.booking.com/hotel/us/quality-inn-woodside.en.html
Its located near a subway station on the Flushing line and takes 20 minutes to get into times square.
However I'm wondering its worth paying extra to stay in Manhattan, I have found a hotels around £900-£1000 for the same number of nights in around 30th & 32nd street, with strong reviews from booking.com and tripadvisor.
I've never been to New York so I don't know whether or not its safe to take subways at midnight on the flushing line into Queens neighbourhood at that time. Given that its a bit of pain in the arse as well constantly being 20 mins+ away from my hotel for 12 nights, and that its going to be freezing that time of the year, would it be worth it to get accomodation and paying the £300-£400 extra to stay in Manhattan?
I will pay extra if it improves the quality of my time there significantly.
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Stayed in the Holiday Inn Manhattan View in Queens in May, was excellent and is available for around $118 per night in February next year. Short walk to a couple of different subway lines and from then about 10 mins to Times Square.
There's may well be a good reason why the brand has to put "Quality" in the brand name...
Also £50 per night... Seems a bit on the low side - what would you expect in London for £50 a night...
Hope you're packing your thermals... will likely be cold
Rather than 12 nights in New York, why don't you do a few nights somewhere else, such as either Boston, Washington DC or Philadelphia, all quite easily accessible by train from New York.
If you do that, stay in Arlington (Washington)...
Couple of stops or pleasant walk into Central Washington.
I have thought about it but there's so much to see in New York I figure (or rather hoped) that I couldn't get bored. Also I would like a slow pace holiday at times. So although I do agree 12 nights seems a little excessive for a single city, New York I think I could make the exception for. I was in 9 days in Sydney and that felt a bit rushed!
If I go to another major city in the US I'd like to stay there at least 5 days and don't think I have the time honestly and would end up rushing it.
What about a flight to Buffalo to see Niagra Falls for a few nights?
Why would you want to get a flight somewhere for a couple of nights when you can get an easily accessible train? I've been to New York and even at a 'slow pace' 12 nights is far too long. I would definitely recommend Boston, great place and history.
Hmm how about a suggestion of 7/8 nights in New York and 5 nights in Boston then? Like I say I would need 5 days minimum for another city, how far on the train is Boston from NY?
If it suits your budget and you're not the type of person who needs to go back to the hotel every few hours go for it
9 Days in Sydney was rushed, what did you do? The city itself I find is quite boring, once you have seen the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Botanical Gardens and had wander round the Rocks & Darling Harbour, all of which can be done in a day.
Personally I preferred the areas outside Boston than Boston itself, but that could have been the area I stayed in. The historic North End, great eateries but IMHO not very nice people in that area.
About 3hrs 30 - 4hrs
Washington DC between 3-4hrs
Philadelphia about 1hr 30mins
Well I was in Adelaide, Kangeroo Island, Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Ballarat, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Canberra, in the space of 3 weeks so I was a bit knackered by the time I got to Sydney.
Over the 8/9 days included a day trip to Blue mountains, a drip to Taranga zoo, and various other trips. Tbh when I was Australia I found myself getting up at 8am every morning following some strict 'to do' itinerary and it got a bit much and didn't have too many days where I could just relax and chill sometimes. Thats why I would rather too long as oppose to too short so I can just go at a slow pace. Bit sad I know eh.
Interesting suggestions regarding the train times guys. I'll give it a think see whats possible, thanks!
I have thought about Florida full stop (never even been to America) but I would only have 10-12 days max, I would like 7/8 nights for Miami (including the keys and everglades) and then where else? I could go to Orlando but I would look like a bit of a saddo going to those theme parks/rides on my own I feel.
Manhattan is the safest borough with regards to crime. Saying that though, the outer boroughs are relatively crime free also... NYC has the least crime of any major US city.
I think if you can afford it, its worth paying the extra to be in Manhattan. Subway trains are more frequent so less waiting around on the platform, less risk of station/track disruption, no hassle with taxi drivers refusing to take you to Queens and you'll generally only be 1/2 hour away from your hotel incase you need to drop shopping off. Apart from Flushing Meadows Queens doesnt really have much of interest to most tourists.
Yes, but you may get overwhelmed or exhausted.
What made you decide to head there in Feb, if you don't mind me asking? It's meant to be really nice around May time.
New England is gorgeous in the fall... plant foliage is an amazing red/orange/firey colour.that fills the countryside.
But Feb is real cold so you might be best to do mostly indoor stuff... plenty of museums, art galleries, shops, theatre, tours etc in NYC to more than outlast 12 days
Yes, when I finally get to visit NYC I'd like to go either late May or late September / early October. I'd love to see the autumnal colours.
In my opinion summer is the best time to visit... sure its expensive and packed with tourists... but the weather can be glorious (as long as the humidity stays low) and there are loads of events happening to take advantage of that. Outdoor movie screenings and free broadway music performances in Bryant Pk, swimming and chilling on the beach at Coney Island, free classical concerts in Central Park, free kayaking on the Hudson, Shakespeare and other plays being performed outside, food festivals in Brooklyn etc etc.... The city really puts on a load of events and activities in the summer - many of which are free!
When you say summer, do you mean to include May in that? I'd really not want to visit when it's too humid. I can't stand how much I sweat in humid conditions, it kind of spoils it for me!
Mays not bad.. usually its warm and comfortable although it can still get hot and humid on the occasion. Less organised events though.. these really tend to take place in June, July and August to take advantage of the long days.
But all shops and buildings have decent aircon so it it gets too uncomfortable just go find one of the thousands of Starbucks or some other shop/restaurant to chill out in. The big problem regarding heat is the subway stations... the trains themselves have decent enough aircon but the stations tend to be hot, sticky and sweaty.... so a long wait can have leave you soaked with sweat!
I am student at college redoing my A levels at 27!
12 nights in New York as a tourist! I'd kinda assumed it was a part work/family/part tourist thing!
Way too much time. Managed to do everything I wanted to do in New York in 3.5 days.
If you want to take things slow, 12 days would be a perfect timescale for doing say 6 nights New York, 2 Nights Philadelphia, 4 nights Washington.
In 4 Nights Washington, managed to do the tour of the Capitol Building, all the monuments, Smithsonian, Arlington Cemetery and a guided tour of The Pentagon.
3.5 days?!?!? Holy crap - someone visiting the Met could spend 2 days taking in all it has to offer! Most tourists complain that even 7 days isn't enough... still it depends what you want to see I guess
Thanks for the info, I guess June would be a good time to go then. However, I've always loved the idea of visiting at Christmas (probably from watching Home Alone 2 one too many times