Thread: Going to New York in October-Where best to go+How much should i pay?

Hi, i am planning to take my lovely girlfriend on holiday for a week (or 10 days) to New York in early October for her 21st birthday. What i would like to know from anyone out there is, firstly, how much should i look at paying for a weeks stay in a room only hotel in New York? Im not thinking of a bog standard hostel but neither am i thinking of a 5 star, just somewhere inbetween really! This is what i have been quoted:

Travel Agents:
7 days for 2 people:

£2039 for flights+room only at the 3* 'Bedford' Hotel
(£372 each for the flight)

10 days for 2 people:
£2608 for flights+room only at the 3* 'Bedford' hotel

In The Observer holiday section:
3 nights for 1 person:
£459 for flights+3* hotel

Also what i would like to know is where to go in and around New York and roughly how much spending money we should take!
I know im asking a lot but please try and give me any advice you can, thank you in advance!!

My first and main piece of advice is NEVER travel from London airports if you can help it. If you are anywhere near regional airports try to get a direct New York flight as the check in times and general hassle are ten times less than at Heathrow.

Continental has departures out of Birmingham and Bristol for example.

Hi thanks for that answer. Is there any Hotels you would advise against going to? The 'Bedford' keeps cropping up you see......

Hi thanks for that answer. Is there any Hotels you would advise against going to? The 'Bedford' keeps cropping up you see......

Hi thanks for that answer. Is there any Hotels you would advise against going to? The 'Bedford' keeps cropping up you see......

i got back from New York a few weeks ago (first time ive been, 2nd for my Mrs) anyway. we stayed in the Hilton on west 35th street.... it was a lovely hotel right next to the empire state so had an awesome view from our 19th floor room.

food and tipping in quite expensive. we ate in time square everynight and paid between $60 and $120 for a meal for 2. but im sure there were cheaper places to eat. also there are Deli`s everywhere for things like breakfast or lunch.

getting about is simple. we used the subway to get to places further away or just spent the day out walking. you can catch thestatten island ferry for free and get an awesome view of the statue of liberty and the whole of lower Manhattan. we got the light railway from JFK and it stopped a few blocks from our hotel so we just walked.

one thing to note... there are so many things to see that you end up spending time looking around rather than how far you have walked, so you end up looking at the map and you are miles away from where you started.

things like going up the Empire State must be done i think it was $20 per person to go up to the viewing floor.

you will be pestered by the people selling tours ( i guess the same as london really) i thought it was a rip off at $89 for the day trip around new york. so we just walked and shopped and did our own thing and didnt miss anything. i just told the tour guys that id already been and they left us alone.

just a few notes. make sure you have applied to enter the USA your tour operator will advise you of this. and be prepared to have your finger & palm prints taken aswell as an iris scan when entering the country.

if you wanna know anything else then ask while the memories are fresh lol