Yes. See posts above for more detail 
If you wanna really go bare bones for a place to stay I would suggest The Vanderbilt YMCA or the West Side YMCA. It’s been a couple of years (2008) since I was in New York but I have stayed at both and paid under $100 per night. They are both in great locations but they are truly bare bones - if you are serious about only wanting someplace clean and safe to sleep for the night and shower this is it. I’m pretty sure you can use the excercise facilities and the pool if you want but there isn’t much in the way of amenities. This always works great for me because I’m out doing things all day when I go to NYC but I realize it may not be for everyone.
They had some great exhibits: history of porn, history of condoms, art, sex toys, animals, and an awesome gift shop.
Thanks to all. As I said, neither of us has ever been to NYC before. Sounds like staying in the city may be best. We used to live in Honolulu and always heard the old trope about it being as expensive as New York to live in. Cost-of-living-wise that may be true, but I’ll tell ya, Waikiki has NYC’s hotel prices beat. Must be the heavy competition. **
Shalmanese’s** B&B website looks interesting, and we’ll explore that, with an eye to the various areas mentioned so far. Will probably start making hard decisions and reservations about the middle of this year, maybe toward the end. We’re locked into April; I’m good just about anytime, but that’s the only month the wife can be gone the whole period. It’s a good time to be gone from Thailand, that’s for sure, as that’s THE hottest part of the year, the most intense heat. But the main benefit is missing the dreaded Songkran holiday. We spent most of last April in Vietnam, so that certainly was not escaping the heat – although northern Vietnam was still surprisingly cool and refreshing – but there’s no Songkran there, hehehe.
Anyway, thanks. We’re thinking now B&B and about a week in NYC. Early April, the first week. That will still allow us a good three weeks in Hawaii. We’ll focus on the suggested areas above.
Ah yes, one more thing. Bedbugs have been mentioned. And I’ve seen something about that in the news recently. Just how bad are they?
Don’t know how much of this info you’ll need since you’re looking into more hotels and BnB’s instead of hostels and vacation rentals, but I had read on TripAdvisor while I was doing research for my upcoming trip that some of the hostels and vacation rentals that are being offered for ridiculously cheap prices are often illegal housing. Some of them are not up to code (at least one of them lack windows in certain rooms) and almost all of them only accept cash.
With that in mind, I found a pretty good deal through hotwire. Usually, I find that I get as good or better deals through the hotel websites when I vacation, but for NYC, I did a search with kayak and compared it with the hotel website prices and found a small savings in comparison to the hotel websites. I took a chance on a hotwire listing for a 3.5 star hotel near the Empire State Building and it was substantially cheaper than the list price on the hotel website. If you do go that route though, check out betterbidding.com for the hotels that hotwire and priceline offer.
Whatever you do – don’t bring a car into Manhattan.
I’ve visited NYC maybe half a dozen times over the years, though mostly on business. Yes, there’s plenty to do. I enjoyed the ride on the Staten Island Ferry, MOMA was great, I loved the Guggenheim. As others have said, it’s a great town for walking around. Even the commercial districts – you will find yourself walking through little neighborhoods of similar wholesale retail stores. There’s a garment district, a fur district, a gem district, one for electronics, etc. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else.
Lots of great restaurants of every variety of food.
I must say, though, I really dislike the people. They fulfilled all my expectations of rudeness and then some. A friend of mine who lived there said I would fit right in, because I can be a real asshole when I want to.
We visited friends in Hawaii once, and discovered that you get steep discounts if you have a Hawaiian drivers license. We stayed in a perfectly nice motel on the Kona Coast for about $17 a night. (1984 or so, but still.) No such discounts in NY.
April is usually a nice month.
They happen - a friend was in a room with bed bugs in a swanky hotel in Austin, and the daughter of another friend had them in a not so swanky apartment in Berkeley. Another reason not to book into a dive, but a well-recommended B&B should be fine - though I don’t know from B&Bs in NY, since we used to go for ritzy in midtown when we went.
What are your interests?
Art?
History?
Sports?
Literature?
Theatre?
Dance?
Comedy?
Movies?
We’ve got art museums. Lots of them. Big ones, little ones, modern ones, old ones.
Lots of historical places to see. From Revolutionary Battlefields, to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to place where George Washington stood to take the oath of office to the place where the Oreo cookie was invented and a whole lot more.
We’ve got sport teams. Baseball will be starting. Basketball and Hockey? (their seasons are strange to me)
Loads of authors have called NYC home. Would you like to see that?
From Broadway productions to Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway. See some theatre while you are here.
Or dance.
Not only are there some of the top comedy clubs here but you can also attend the taping of various television shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.
If you like eating, from fine dining to dives and food from just about anyplace on earth can be found here.
We’ve got movies here, from the huge IMAX at Lincoln Square to loads of art houses where you can see films that maybe you’ve only vaguely heard about.
Oh and there are a few bowling alleys.
The way I hear it, itch from bedbug bites?
I used travelocity’s secret hotel - they tell you its general location and star ratings and price. I got a luxury hotel in midtown for a little under 200.00.
A show called Fuerza Bruta is what I recommend. You can buy discount tickets for anything by googling. The show is usually 75 but I found a source that sells them for half price.
If you want to go see the statute, reserve tickets well in advance to get crown admission. I was there in September and saw that they were reserved through Febuary at that point. It was really cool to climb up to the top! Be sure to print your tickets before and to save at least half a day. Going through the line took a minimum of an hour alone.
I got those fast passes and because I was determined, I made it pay off. Most people, I imagine, break even. It’s really hard to see everything in the allotted time. It’s super touristy, but I love bus tours. You can see everything enough to make a plan of attack.
We know someone who went to a taping of The Daily Show and you must write in for tickets months in advance. You can put your name down for last minute tickets, but when we did that we didn’t get them and I wouldn’t bet on it.
Mostly agree, but I would point out that there are plenty of good (and relatively cheap) hotels on the Upper West Side. It’s only a ten-minute or so subway ride to Midtown, and you’ve also got the option of walking most of the way there through Central Park. I recommend the Hotel Alexander - you should be able to get a (small) room with ensuite bath there for $130/night.
Naw, NYC is a total bust. NOTHING to do there. Nothing at all. Give it a miss.
That is, unless you want to see great museums, great (pricey!) shows, skyscrapers, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, fine restaurants, cheap-but-great restaurants, etc.
I don’t think you want to go totally bare bones, hotel-wise, but I’m sure others will pop in with some specific suggestions for good compromises, cost-wise. When I took Moon Unit last May, and when **Typo Knig **took Dweezil a few months ago, we used Priceline to bid on a hotel in the desired area. Both times we got very nice places for under 200 a night, right near Times Square. Other parts of town might be less expensive for just as good a neighborhood; in our case we really wanted to be in the Times Square area. Be warned however that NYC has steep hotel taxes (seriously adds 1/3 to the cost of the room).
Oh - and if you use Priceline to bid, you’re bidding on a single night - but you will usually (always?) be given the option to extend your stay by one or more extra nights at the same price.
If any of the cast is still alive you might have a shot at seeing Spiderman.
I just got this in my mailbox and thought of this thread
Bring a plastic zip mattress cover and leave your luggage in the tub.
I forgot the most important thing, Riverside Tower at 80th and Riverside is dirt cheap and safe. The rooms are like being transported to a 1970’s dorm room, but it’s cheap, safe, clean and close to everything.
Ah yes, that’s what is formally known as the “kamaaina discount.” They still have those. Kamaaina is Hawaiian for “local” (or close to it; my Hawaiian is rusty), and it is available to anyone – American or foreigner – who can produce a state driver’s license or ID. My Hawaiian license expired years ago, but we’ll still be able to stay in Waikiki for under $100 a night. This will actually be our first time to stay in Waikiki, as we’ve always opted previously for the East West Center on the U of Hawaii campus, where we have lifetime privileges. (Well, the wife does, since she was an East West scholar; as long as she lives, I can piggyback on that.) Not free, but dirt cheap. And while that’s aways good for old times’ sake, we decided to stay closer to the beach this time for a change instead.
But back to New York. Thanks again for the suggestions. Still 15 months away, so we’ll have plenty of time to sift through them and consider. As for our interests, we do like museums. Not much into theater, but we’ll have to take in a show or two. Walking will be a biggie. All the tourist stuff. My father always wanted to see New York but never did. We’re figuring a week, and if we can keep the room under $200 a night, I think we’ll be happy.
My father’s family actually comes from upstate New York, back centuries in the Albany area, all the way to the old Dutch days. My grandfather is the one who moved out to California. He was born in 1876 – Yes, I said grandfather and 1876; he did not have my father until 1929 – and he not only graduated from Columbia around 1900 (I have a copy of his photo with his graduating class), but also had been sent to the city to attend high school before that. The name of it escapes me now, I have it buried in my records, but it’s still operating, and some years ago I corresponded with a school official there. Would be good to take a look at that.
Is there anything to do in NYC?:dubious:
Um…yeah. Quite a few things. Your question is a little odd.
It’s not cheap though. I would just get one of those travel guide books. They’ll give you plenty ideas for museums, tourist attractions, dining and the like.
That pretty much limits you to Jersey City or the W Hotel in Hoboken. Although both cities have stuff to do and provide excellent views of the city.