USVI-On-Line

I would post on NYC trip advisor but my password is not working or the site is not working not sure. I tried changing the password but still would not let me in. Anyway, we are heading to NYC on December 9th (friday). For my husbands 50th I have tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for our family. My kids and husband have never been and I was only in NY one time many moons ago. We are hoping to stay over two nights but the prices are really high this time of year. My question is where do we stay? Any suggestions? People are telling me Times Square??? Any other must do attractions? I know we will see Rockefeller Center but any must do's for kids 14 and 10. Our 14 year old son wants to go to ground zero. Thanks for any help. I was trying to keep the budget around 300 per night but just not sure I can get a hotel for this price.

We love staying in Times Square area because we go to a lot of theater. There's so much to see and things going on all the time!

Try to find some place near a subway stop to make all your travels easier.

If you want to go to the 911 Memorial, you need to get tickets/reservations... there is no cost but it needs to be done ahead http://www.911memorial.org/

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are wonderful. There are buses that go throughout Manhattan and are on and off so you can stop wherever you want and then get back on!

Good luck with the hotel search! It's a tough time to find a "deal".

Places to see/things to do:
staten island ferry (free ride--good view of Statue of liberty)and you caan easiy do the ground zero thing on the way to or from or you can take the ellis island ferry and do the whole shebanng (statue, ellis island museum--which is really terrific)
windows on fifth avenue/rock center tree--shopping
musuems. jeez...tons of them.. the modern is spectacular, (as are the Met, whitney, Frick, Guggenheim, etc) but also the museum of the american indian, the natural history museum. --
walk across the brooklyn bridge (sort of an iconic walk. have pizza at grimaldis (and people will disagree with this but it is some of the best piszza in the city)
hit TKTS (try the seaport location, not as crowded) and get discount seats for a broadway show
the botanical garden in the bronx has a wonderful christmas display
shopping in soho, tribeca the old meatpacking district--
china town!
central park zoo polar bears
the intrepid air and space museum
grants tomb, hamilton grange (get your american history fix) fort tryon park and the clositers museum
highline park
and i am just getting going!
let me give it some more thought --i am at work now--
prices will be expensive at that time --it's a peak visiting season. I am not a huge fan of times square--and you'll pay a premium there-- have you thought of a b and B? mount morris house, greenwich village Habitue and Ivy terrace all get great reviews on the TA forum and are nicely located

hi hawaii,

Some visitors stay in Queens or in New Jersey and commute to Manhattan. Since you're only staying 2 nights that's not practical -- you'd spend all your time on the train.

Some friends stayed at the Gershwin Hotel and liked it:
http://www.booking.com/hotel/us/gershwi ... 5QodAjRTMQ

If link doesn't work, just google the name.

BTW, it's going to be pretty cold to do a ferry ride, free as it is, and even though you do get good views. It gets very windy on the harbor even on a summer's day.

American Museum of Natural History is a good idea, and so is the Intrepid (most fun is on the deck, again, it'll be cold. But if you're going for one cold day out do this one). Between these, the Christmas show, Ground Zero and doing a bit of eating and shopping I think your days will be well filled.

For hotels we have had great luck with Quikbook.com and bookit.com

We have stayed right in Times square and most recently on the Upper West Side. Times sqaure can be great but it is crowded as heck and the city really spreads out the further you get away from it, so if you are ok with walking and the subway, you can expand your search to other areas and get a better deal.
Saturday nights are popular as heck, especially as you get closer to the holidays, but if are a risk taker, great deals can be found last minute too!

We have stayed at the Crown Plaza its right in Time Square great walking city you are able to get anywhere easy from there. Plan a lunch at "Top of the Rock" that time of year you will have a great view of the city. Have fun

Thanks for this timely post! I am headed to NYC with my family to cheer on my husband in the marathon in a few weeks. I had no idea we needed reservations for the 911 Memorial and now will be sure to do that.

I'll read through the other suggestions as well - Thanks!

Thanks everyone - as usual you are all a tremendous help. I will research this week and see what I come up with. Thanks again.

Re Ground Zero, of course I get why folks want to “see it” and it certainly is popular judging by the hoards of tourists you see down there, but if you can't get a ticket into the just opened memorial, I can't help but wonder if visitors anticipate the fact that from the street you are basically looking at a noisy construction site surrounded by tall, screened construction fences.

That said, if you want to see over the fences to see the footprints of the towers, you have to be a little creative and view the site from the Vesey Street Pedestrian Bridge on the West Side Highway side (at the top of the stairs) and from within the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center on the west side of the site. St. Paul’s Chapel across the street on the east side is worth a stop – I think there are still tributes in there.

Some semi-recent articles in the NYT. We’ve stayed at several Kimpton properties in other cities (Boston, Portland OR) that are no doubt similar to the “Eventi” and “Ink48” properties mentioned in these articles. It is a very well run chain.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/tr ... otels.html

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/tr ... hours.html

The Highline mentioned in the 36 Hours article is very cool, especially at dusk.

Still on my NYC list: walk the Brooklyn Bridge; the Guggenheim; Lower East Side Tenement Museum. The MoMA remains a fav as is strolling Bleecker Street down in the Village for Sunday brunch.

If you are museum people, you may also find this “museum must-see” link useful:

http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture ... -must-sees

I've done 2-5 night trips to New York in the last 6 months, prior to that it had been a LONG time since I was there. In June we stayed in downtown Brooklyn and Sept. in SoHo. The trip advisor site was really helpful explaining the subway system and we quickly adapted to using it. As long as you are willing to use it to get around you can stay in just about any part of either Manhattan or even Brooklyn but just somewhere near a subway station. Our hotel in Brooklyn (Sheraton) was less than a block from a stop and a very short ride into lower Manhattan. Times Sq would not be for me...too many people!

Lots of good advise w/ above posts. I have to reiterate walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Just be aware of the bike lane and stay out of it! There are serious bike commuters and I can't blame them for getting annoyed w/ the walkers ignoring their bike lane.

We were there in good weather and spent many hours walking, mostly Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, SoHo, Tribeca, and some of Greenwich Village. One day I was so tired of walking I took a hop on/hop off Grayline tour just to see some different sights. I did 3 separate loops, Uptown, Downtown and Brooklyn. I think it was a good way to get a good overview of the city but I would not use it as a means of transportation. There were some stops w/ long lines of people who couldn't get on and other times there was quite a wait for the next bus to come along. Subway would be much more effective.

There is something for everyone in NYC. So much to do there. I had such good experiences with really friendly helpful people and will be going back more often. Good luck finding what makes you happy and enjoy!

Just went a few weeks ago. If you have an iPhone their are great subway / street maps..better than carrying a map. Make dinner reservations. Becco's is our fav for a reasonable meal. Blue smoke for ribs, it is huge but still reserve.

I was in NYC in July for 8 nights. From a tip of someone on this forum, I utilized PriceLine. I did not want to stay in Times Square so configured my bids so as not to get that location. I managed to get 54th & Lexington area which was walkable to Times Square in about 10-15 minutes. Only about 5 minute walk to Radio City & Rockefeller Centre. I can't remember the name of the hotel but our room looked at the Waldorf Astoria. I would absolutely stay in that area again.

By the way, my friend's daughter has been a Rockette for years: Lisa Lewis is a senior dancer with the company and when it's not the Rockette's busy holiday season she acts in the Lion King. Not bad for someone who didn't even start dancing til she was 8 yrs old.

bubblybrenda - Wow, that is so neat to know someone that dances for the Rockettes. I did finally book our hotel which is Courtyard Marriott/Midtown East so within walking distance but not right in times square. This is our first visit and we are just staying one night with the prices being pretty high this time of year. Maybe in the summer we will go back but we are just excited to go see the show and some of the sites. Thanks again for everyone's help.

You'll love NYC. You live so close... geez, I think I would be there monthly if I were only a few hours away.

I now recall the hotel I won on Priceline: Intercontinental Barclay. It was very nice and I would highly recommend it. Won it for $160/night.

for those traveling to NYC this holiday season. or any time really.

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com ... ref=travel