After a little pondering, I've decided to add more information to the posts for this trip. I used
Fodors,
Expedia and
Tripadvisor etc quite a bit and instead of signing up to these multitude of sites and posting comments, I'll post where, why and how much (current Dec 2006-Jan 2007) for those who might be interested in travelling to these places themselves. I'm going to blog from what I can remember and apologise in advance if there are some details that I've left out etc. NYC is a fast moving place and things may change just because.
So here goes!
For NYC, we chose
Milford Plaza. We stayed there in June 2004 and one can't beat this place for location, location, location.
The price per nite ranged from USD 139 to USD 400 bearing in mind this was over the 22nd of December to the 3rd of January. It's old, dated and the rooms are small but if you just need to be where the action is, near the subway, a clean place to sleep and wash up, then this is it.
Milford is located on 8th Ave btwn 44th and 45th streets even though their address says 270W 45th, the entrance is on 8th. Once you step out of the hotel and turn 2 lefts or 2 rights, you're right on Times Square. There were other places in the Upper West side which were cheaper and slightly larger and probably marginally quieter. For first time visitors who are fond of a nice quiet room and need the silence to sleep, Milford is NOT for you even though it has no room that faces Times Square itself. New York is a noisy city even at nite. There are fast food places just across the road and lots of nice restaurants on the midtown westside.
Access to the
Subway is right on the corner of 8th and 44th. There is still some walking to do but at least it provides relief from crowds and having to wait for traffic lights. Once you're down there, the first trains you will come across are ones that run on/under 8th (A,C,E lines) and these are handy for:
1) Uptown - the
Museum of Natural History, Upper West Side,
Central Park West, Harlem West, Cathedral Church of St John the Divine etc.
2) Downtown -
Penn Station for Amtrak,
PATH for buses and buses to
Woodbury Commons for Great Shopping!,
Ground Zero, Wall Street and the Financial District, Battery Park and cruises to
Statue of Liberty,
Century 21 for more shopping is you can't get to Woodbury.
You can continue walking in the subway to the 42nd Street subway shuttles to Grand Central, the 7th train to Flushing, transfers to other lines as well.
We tried the 7day Metro ticket but found that if your travel in the subway is inconsistent, you would be better off buying the Metrocard where you get 6 trips for 5 at a cost of USD10. It doesn't expire and I think you can even top it up(?).
We also stayed at 2 other places in Manhattan -
Solita and
Off Soho Suites and will add them on later.
