Who of you does not dream of going, at least once in a lifetime, to New York? The city has so many attractions that you do not know where to start when you step on it for the first time. It is known for being the place chosen to live by actors and artists as of the most successful businessmen and that is that New York has much to offer. For something it is known as The Big Apple.
A night walk on the Brooklyn Bridge, see a musical on Broadway, spend an afternoon in Times Square, enjoy shopping on Fifth Avenue or feel like an authentic powerful businessman in the Wall Street neighborhood … But be careful because, as in any tourist city, it is very difficult to find a good accommodation at a reasonable price. Let’s try to bring you some light at this point.
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When is it cheaper to stay in New York?
Although in New York it’s high season almost all year, the months of July-August (for the great heat) and January-March (for being very cold) are usually the months when it is cheaper to stay. On the other side, during the United States holiday period, such as Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, or the New York Marathon, the first Sunday of November, the price rises a lot. In these last cases I recommend you to book your hotel well in advance.
Staying in Manhattan
If you pretend to stay in Manhattan, I recommend that since you are going to pay a good amount of money for your accommodation you focus as much as possible, if possible, in Midtown. Being very centrally located also allows you to leave your purchases at the hotel and not have to carry them all day, go through the hotel to rest a bit, … benefits that the first day you will not notice but you will appreciate according to go spending your stay in New York. On the other hand, it must be borne in mind that the Financial District area hotels will be a bit cheaper than those in Midtown but, being an area full of offices, from the 6 in the evening the atmosphere will be much lower on the streets. As a last advice I recommend you to stay if possible in the upper floors of the hotel that you choose, in Manhattan there is a lot of noise on the street at any time of the day and if you are a light sleeper you will appreciate being as far as possible from the street.
Recommendations in Midwtown
In the center of Manhattan, Midtown, apart from the legendary movie hotels we all know as the Waldorf Astoria, but which are not available for all budgets, I give you six hotel recommendations, from higher to lower prices:
- The Hyatt Centric Times Square hotel. Perfectly connected, next to Bryant Park and two steps from Times Square, not only are the views from your room spectacular, if you ask for it with a view of the city, you can see all Times Square and the 7 Avenida, below, but their bar at the roof, the 54 Bar, is one of the most spectacular but unknown in New York. Going to the bar will come at half price to climb the Empire State or the Top of the Rock, because they force you to have a drink at the bar, and your views of Midtown and the Chrysler building are worth it.
- The Hilton hotels, and in particular the New York Hilton Midtown. This huge hotel is located two steps from the Rockefeller Center and Times Square, and surrounded by metro stops that will take you anywhere in New York quickly, and is the official hotel of the New York Marathon, so it’s where most marathoners stay.
- The Crowne Plaza Times Square hotel. This hotel is very well located, two steps from the main theaters of Broadway and Times Square, surrounded by subway stops that will take you anywhere in New York quickly. The rooms are quite large, for the average room size in New York, and the bed is very comfortable.
- The Doubletree by Hilton – Chelsea hotel. This hotel is very well located, between Sixth and Seventh Avenue, two steps from Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Empire State Building or Flatiron Building, and surrounded by subway stops that will take you anywhere in New York quickly. Being from the Hilton chain is a guarantee, and the rooms are not very large, but enough to store your suitcase and your clothes in the closet, and the bed is very comfortable.
- The Holiday Inn Times Square hotel. It is perfectly located, right next to Times Square and Port Authority, the bus station with airport bus stop, on 8ª Avenue, and with good views from the rooms to Midtown. The biggest drawback with respect to the previous ones is that the room is a bit smaller and the closet is quite small, but if you are going to sleep and a little more to the room it is certainly a highly recommended hotel.
- The Watson Hotel, very well located, very close to Columbus Circle and the Carnegie Hall with 4 subway lines with a stop nearby, offers a room and a large bathroom, especially by New York standards. It is a good place to walk anywhere in Midtown or Central Park.
Staying in Soho
If you are looking for cheaper accommodation, the Soho or Tribeca area may be a solution, but you have to be careful when choosing your hotel. Generally the hotels in this area are usually quite low, so the noise of the street may bother you at the time of falling asleep, especially if the hotel overlooks a main avenue. To see that the hotel has an elevator or that it is not close to a nightlife area is something that I recommend for this area.
The cheapest places to stay in New York
Finally, if your budget is tight, I recommend you opt for some accommodation in the Queens or Brooklyn area, that has a nearby subway stop that allows you to move “quickly” to the main tourist areas of New York, which will take you between half an hour and an hour. There are people who are staying across the river in New Jersey, but you will have to move by regional train to get to New York, unless you stay in the area of Hoboken, which has access to the PATH, which in twenty minutes – half an hour will leave you in the center of New York.
Rent an apartment in New York
On the other hand, another economic option, especially if you go in a group of 3 or more people, is rent an apartment, although you have to keep in mind that it is illegal to rent an apartment in New York for less than 30 days, although they usually do all kinds of tricks to skip this ban. In these cases I always recommend using reliable websites, such as Airbnb, and book your apartment in the same areas that I have recommended for hotels and with the same considerations.
As more than one visitor has had some very unpleasant experience with apartment rentals, I give you two tips:
- Always distrust very cheap offers, an apartment of 3 rooms on Fifth Avenue is very rare that costs $200 per day, normally they will cost two, three or four times more than that amount.
- Always pay through the platform and never in cash or through a bank transfer before going, if there is a problem and you have paid through the platform you will have options to recover your money.
Where to look for reliable accommodation in New York?
To search for accommodation at a good price, I usually use the following websites:
- Expedia, Hotels.com o Booking.com, which offer the best discounts and prices in hotels.
- Airbnb to find apartments in New York
- Hostelbookers, especially to look for hostels and hostels, that are not usually in the other webs
