New York advice

I'm off to New York in June, with the breadknife, 65th Birthday present to myself.
Last time I was there was 1974 & again 1978.
Obviously things have changed.
I have a fair idea of what we would like to see from a tourist point of view.
The question is, book all the excursions before we go, or do our own thing when we get there?
I have read a number of horror stories regarding pre-booking a block of excursions etc.

Any advice from recent travellers would be appreciated.
Aim for about 2/3rds of the way up the tower for best results.
 
But it is expensive. Even average looking hotels in central areas are over £300 a night. That’s £2100 for a week. That’s just not affordable.

Try this site, mate.

https://www.hotwire.com/

LOADS of good hotel rates. As an example I just looked for March 1-March 6. You can get a 4 Star hotel at Rockerfeller Center for $99/night.

The catch is, they don't tell you ahead of time which hotel it is until you book. Wife and I used it one trip and got a great hotel right next to the U.N. cheap as chips.

If you look at the star rating, amenities and area location you can pretty well often figure out which hotel is selling its empty rooms at a discount.
 
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But it is expensive. Even average looking hotels in central areas are over £300 a night. That’s £2100 for a week. That’s just not affordable.
I looked for a friend coming over in March a
few days ago - check rates for hotels just over the East River in Queens - $85 to $95 a night in good areas near to the subway and 20 mins to downtown Manhattan.
 
Depends on what you get — the range for a pint is generallly $6-$9 (currently ~£4.5-£7).

And if you are in the city, NYCFC is your best option for a MLS match on travel and general expense, as RBNY’s stadium is over in New Jersey. Expect the beer to be much more expensive at the match, of course.

Agree about Denmark and Sweden being expensive. Was recently in KBH and Malmo and there aren’t many inexpensive pints to be had. Only had a few higher priced elsewhere, including Geneva and Zurich.
About $11 for a pint can of stella at the yankee stadium a few years ago. 2016 I think.
 
If you're going to the 9/11 memorial and museum (must go) then don't que up to buy tickets which is a long que. There is a machine around the corner from the que that no one uses where you can get your tickets via card then skip the que. It's baffling how they don't let people know this.

I wouldn't recommend the bus tour, its a busy city and a lot of it is sat in traffic listening to Frank Sinatra and Jay Z.

The Staten Island ferry is a must as well, it's free and the views are incredible, try and work out what boat you will travel on as one was called the Molinari which has outside decks and the other didn't so you have to view from the inside. It's an hour round journey.

You'll love it, it' a great city even if it is full of rude arrogant people.

I actually enjoyed the bus tour, although it was in glorious weather! Can't remember being stuck in traffic that much, but it wouldn't have bothered me, always something to look at and be amazed by on the way around the City. Hopped on and off a couple of times when we wanted to, found it a good way to see a lot of Downtown and Midtown, instead of being stuck underground on the Subway.
 
I went last year and we just did our own thing...we found we saw so much more doing it that way. It ain’t a cheap place though

Doing your own thing is my advice too. First went in 2007, two dollars to the pound...cheapest holiday we've had. It was 1:1.96 the following year. Again, fabulous. What a City it is.
 
But it is expensive. Even average looking hotels in central areas are over £300 a night. That’s £2100 for a week. That’s just not affordable.

Hence the mugging and thieving. They started it by taking the piss with hotel costs. I did find great places to eat and drink that were better value than back home. You just need to do what needs to be done when ever you go away, avoid the tourist traps and see the real place. Some people are scared to walk about at night. I'm from Glasgow so that holds no fear from me. You cut about Glasgow at night kinda insulates you from that anxiety. Walk boldly head up, if any **** stares at you, stare back.
 
Posted this in another thread a few months back but here you go...

Absolutely love NYC. My advice - don't bother visiting the statue of liberty. Waste of time. You spend hours and too much money doing it. Just get the free staten island ferry instead that passes it. The view is perfect for the photos etc. When it stops, immediately get back on the next one and head back to Manhattan for a second view, as there's nowt really on Staten Island. You can spend more time doing the interesting stuff then!

Oh, and go up the Rockefeller, not the Empire state. MUCH better views of Central Park, and you also get the view of the more interesting building - the Empire state :)

Rent a bike in central park, have a cycle around it if the weather is nice. It's great fun. I enjoyed the American Natural History museum, the 9/11 memorial museum is a must too. Sobering, but stunningly well put together. We had one spare thing left on our city pass so we went into the catchily titled 'New York City's Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum' - we enjoyed it! Surprised us tbh.

Our absolute favourite thing we did though was do a huge walk taking us from Little Italy, through China town, down through the financial district (wall street etc), then on to Battery park and walked up the west coast of manhattan. A stunningly fun/beautiful walk that takes in *loads* of unique parts of manhatten. Hugely recommend it.
 

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