OP planning to do the same thing but I am going to take a bus trip. We want to see a broadway show and see the Christmas window displays. I am thinking of staying with friends in Hoboken.NJ.
I would stay in Manhattan, especially if your daughter has never been to the city before. Look at this hotel:
http://www.thepodhotel.com. I stayed there with my daughter earlier this year. It’s in midtown and it’s clean. The rooms are also very, very small; however, we only paid $150 per night (including taxes). IThere’s not much space–the bed takes up most of it and the bathroom is quite small, but if you are out and about all day seeing the sites and all you want to do is sleep there, this is perfect. You can walk to the theater district from here or take public transportation.
Check out secretescapes.com. I see hotels for under 200.
In my opinion, the Christmas window displays are a bit blah these days. The Christmas markets, on the other hand, are pretty nice. I like the one in Union Square the best.
As for restaurants near the theater district, I like Ma Peche, which is part of the Momofuku group.
@hunt where can I find out about the Christmas markets. It’s been years since I’ve seen window displays. Is this it?
http://urbanspacenyc.com/union-square-holiday-market/
Anything else worth checking out during the holidays for a weekend trip?
Here’s a good source: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/shopping/holiday-markets-in-new-york-city
Thanks so much @hunt.
The big tree and the ice skaters at Rockefeller Center are also nice to see.
Okay - you’ve all convinced me to stay in the city! Thinking about it, it does make a lot of sense as we are going to an evening show and I hadn’t even considered that we might want the ability to stop off in the room in the middle of the day.
We are not going until the summer as I could not get decent seats to see Hamilton until then. It’s at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. My daughter has talked about seeing Hamilton every day since she heard the music, so I know it will be a really special trip for her, although she has been to NYC a few times on school trips in high school, and once with our family when she was in middle school.
Yes, I know I have plenty of time to plan, but I am one of those people who likes to get things taken care of early. I don’t have our flights booked yet, but I am thinking of staying for two nights. We can’t stay much longer than that as my daughter will be leaving for Paris for 9 months for a study abroad program about 1 1/2 weeks after our NYC trip and I’m sure she will have a lot to do. Plus I am sure that there are other friends and family members she will want to see. But, I am looking forward to spending some time alone with my daughter before she leaves. We are very close and I know it’s going to be tough for me having her so far away, even though I know what a great experience she is going to have. Bonus - I’ll get to visit her in Paris!
Thank you all for your help. You’re an awesome group of people. I spent some time last night starting to research hotels. Amazing how you can’t find one that has all positive reviews, but I guess that’s par for the course with most everything.
benreb, I’ve been watching this thread because I am taking my son to NYC in April - yes to see Hamilton! Ended up paying a lot for tickets but he’s getting married in May, so this was kind of the last chance for just the two of us to go. We’ve been following the show since it was the Hamilton Mixed Tape.
I booked the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square (790 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019). It seemed like the best-reviewed hotel for the least money. I’m not a fan of staying in the Times Square area, but if it’s a short trip and your sole purpose is to see a show, it makes sense.
The Richard Rodgers Theater is on West 46th Street, so you’ll want to eat in midtown. (I asked because a few “Broadway” shows go up at Lincoln Center, which has a different set of convenient restaurants.)
At the risk of sounding like “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it”, it is true that to enjoy New York you have to suspend some of your value filter on purchases and services…especially food and transportation. I agree with the other comments about not saving that much if you are willing to bear inconvenience.
I hope you enjoy your trip.
On a recent trip to NYC, H and I stayed at the Warwick. I see it on Jetsetter now for a good price. We liked it a lot (we like non-chain hotels). It’s in a great location - you can walk to Times Square, shopping, Rockefeller Center, etc. The best Halal Guys food cart around is located right by the hotel, and you can get enough food to feed two for under $10. There are places within walking distance to get a reasonably-priced breakfast or cup of coffee (we chose not to spend a lot on food, and we found that the Irish taverns in the area had reasonable drink prices). It’s a safe area and within walking distance to the subway for jaunts to Soho or other cool places.
We hit a number of museums (the Warwick is right by MOMA), and we went to several plays. I love NYC!
I didn’t read entire thread but there is a train from Newark airport directly to NYC Penn Station. So there is no traffic to worry about. I am thinking it takes about 20 minutes by train to NYC Penn Station. BUT beware- there is also a stop called NEWARK Penn station (don’t get off at the wrong stop! NYC is the last stop and the train will empty out)
If you are booking for next summer, you may want to keep an eye on hotel rates, they fluctuate, and you may be able to get a deal better than what you book now (and you always have the comfort of knowing you have a hotel). I don’t know the names, but there are a variety of so called “european style” hotels in the city that aren’t as fancy, but are clean and a lot less expensive, sites like hotwire and kayak can help ferret them out. The other option might be airbnb, where people will rent out their apartment or a room in it, that can be very cost effective, too, and I think some of them provide breakfast with it, might be something worth looking into. One hotel I have used, when I needed to stay in the city, was the Chelsea Savoy, it is on the corner of 23rd and 7th in chelsea. It is about a mile walk from the theater district, or a short hop on the subway, and it runs around 200/night according to their website (might be cheaper through another site). It has the advantage of being near the high line, if you want to try walking that, chelsea market is nearby, and there are a lot of restaurants in Chelsea and the village that is nearby.
Keep in mind that staying in the burns close to “public transportation” probably won’t save you anything. If there are 2 of you, traveling by train from white plains can be up to $30 each round trip. The suburbs are not on the subway line.
Last year I took a continuing ed class just down the street from the Union Street Christmas market. It’s huge! Lots of nice things.
Agree with everyone staying in town will be much nicer. All of the airports have various versions of public and group ways of getting into the city, but LaGuardia is by far the closest.
I’d actually prefer not to see all positive reviews. The trick is seeing if the negative reviews are silly stuff, or people being cranky.