Travelling to New York for First time...

juanpablo1983

Hi All,

2 friends of mine are travelling to New York in November and are wondering about the best areas to travel & stay ( Nice Hotels at a reasonable rate.) A good hostel would be fine.

If anyone who has experienced New York for the first time will have an idea what its like planning your first trip so any help would be great.

Many Thanks.

Twee.

I stayed at Hostelling International for a week and it was lovely. Very, very clean and easy to get to. It's on the 1 train that brings you straight to midtown. I found the area safe (22 year old female travling alone) to walk around. It's also in walking distance to Central Park. They organise walking tours and stuff too http://www.hinewyork.org/index.shtml

I'd recommend staying in Manhattan, just for convenience sake! There's Holiday Inns and the likes in Queens, but they're kind of in the middle of nowhere, or really residential. Like you couldn't just step out and have a wander, not much to see! There's a good few hostels in Brooklyn too, but you'd need to make sure they're near a decent (as in direct) line to Manhattan.

Watch out for the hostels/"hotels" in Chinatown, my brother got a really dodgy one!

Get a guidebook before you go and plan what you would like to see. There is SO much to do, you don't want to miss anything you really want to do, but also leave time for wandering!

I would recommend Top of the Rock (at night if you can!), Natural History Museum, The Met Museum, Central Park, The High Line, Ellis Island definitely. There's also Times Square, Union Square, tours for everything! Cool areas just to see are like Chelsea/West Village (High Line area), the East Village/Chinatown/Lower East Side. And then Broadway with all the shows!

To get out of Manhattan, head out to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, there's loads of cheap bars, nice pizza places. You can also do a tour of the Brooklyn Brewery.

There's so much to see, depending on your tastes and hobbies!

juanpablo1983

Twee,

Thank you very much for all of your help. Much appreciated.

JP

sillymare82

I am travelling to New York in March with some friends and we will be there for St Patricks Day, does anyone have any suggestions of good events or places to go on that day bar the parade. Thank you

rockonollie

We stayed at The Pod Hotel......it's half way between being a hostel and a hotel, which means the prices are a little higher than the hostels but way below what you pay for a hotel......it's got a great location, on 51st street between 2nd and 3rd avenue which puts you within a mile of both central park and times square.....alternatively, there's a subway station on the same block

The Black Oil

I stayed in the Chicago branch of Hostel International last year, found it pretty good. I've heard a few iffy things about the NY one (the sheer size, unfriendly staff, etc), but your post is reassuring, Twee.

Anyone know what New York is like in October?

crapmanjoe

Black Oil wrote: »

I stayed in the Chicago branch of Hostel International last year, found it pretty good. I've heard a few iffy things about the NY one (the sheer size, unfriendly staff, etc), but your post is reassuring, Twee.

Anyone know what New York is like in October?

Weather is generally very nice, still warm and the humidity is gone from the air. Plus with the cooler temps people lose some of their crazyness and its not as crowded.

My fav time of year

Otacon

Just to say me and a few others are also going to NY in October. My brother and I would definitely be interested in going to a sports game [basketball, football, anything really] How easy/difficult would it be to get tickets to something like that?

techdiver

Otacon wrote: »

Just to say me and a few others are also going to NY in October. My brother and I would definitely be interested in going to a sports game [basketball, football, anything really] How easy/difficult would it be to get tickets to something like that?

The ice hockey season usually starts in October. I've been to a couple of rangers games in MSG. It all depends on the schedule whether they are playing at home at the time.

I was able to buy tickets at face value of touts outside. So it should be too much of a problem to get them.

rockonollie

stubhub.com is a great source for last minute tickets for football and baseball games......it's a site where fans sell their tickets that they aren't using so sometimes you can even get tickets for below face value. It is also one of the most secure source of tickets other than the stadium ticket offices.

The Black Oil

I'd also be interesting in going to some sort of game mainly because I know nothing about American sports.

I'm intrigued by Ellis Island, so I'll probably check it out. I presume it'll be less mobbed in October.

Twee.

I really enjoyed Ellis Island, so much that I went twice over my J1! The first time (July) I didn't have to queue at all and didn't find the museum too busy, in August I queued for about 30 mins, but still didn't find the attractions crazy busy.

If you can book tickets in advance for anything I'd recommend it, just saves hassle. Ellis Island queueing is unsheltered so you wouldn't want to get caught in the cold/rain, or in my case, extreme heat! Boy did I get burnt on the boat that day...

No idea about getting sports tickets, but my friends got cheap ones for a baseball game. They said the seats were so far away they couldn't see, and it went on for hours. So I guess if you're really into seeing a proper game you may want to spend on some good seats.

If there's any good US based games on when you're there though just find a nice sports bar and watch! I watched the womens' World Cup final, USA v Japan, in a little bar and the buzz was amazing! Same goes for any day a NY team are playing something.

crapmanjoe

Twee. wrote: »

I really enjoyed Ellis Island, so much that I went twice over my J1! The first time (July) I didn't have to queue at all and didn't find the museum too busy, in August I queued for about 30 mins, but still didn't find the attractions crazy busy.

If you can book tickets in advance for anything I'd recommend it, just saves hassle. Ellis Island queueing is unsheltered so you wouldn't want to get caught in the cold/rain, or in my case, extreme heat! Boy did I get burnt on the boat that day...

No idea about getting sports tickets, but my friends got cheap ones for a baseball game. They said the seats were so far away they couldn't see, and it went on for hours. So I guess if you're really into seeing a proper game you may want to spend on some good seats.

If there's any good US based games on when you're there though just find a nice sports bar and watch! I watched the womens' World Cup final, USA v Japan, in a little bar and the buzz was amazing! Same goes for any day a NY team are playing something.

Football (NFL) tickets are minimum 150 each and depending on who is in town that week may be impossible to get - all games on Sunday (well the odd one on Monday)

Basketball should be started up by October as will hockey but baseball will be in play off mode in October, so if a New York team is through you will struggle to get tickets (baseball sucks anyway)

rockonollie

crapmanjoe wrote: »

Football (NFL) tickets are minimum 150 each and depending on who is in town that week may be impossible to get - all games on Sunday (well the odd one on Monday)

Basketball should be started up by October as will hockey but baseball will be in play off mode in October, so if a New York team is through you will struggle to get tickets (baseball sucks anyway)

Not true.....NFL tickets start at about $65-$70......cheapest face value for Jets games is $90 for the endzone section but as i previously stated you can get tickets below face value through stub-hub