Also, aside from shopping, what other cultural activities can be recommended... and cheap flights?
In moment of madness I've agreed to fund a week in NYC for my daughter and my niece in July this year as an eighteenth birthday present for them. Any recommendations for reasonable hotels? Clean, tidy and, especially, safe. Nothing too luxurious.
Get the New York Pass:
http://www.newyorkpass.com/prices.aspx
http://www.newyorkpass.com/attractions/
New York from Frankfurt €480 rtn in the A380 with Singapore Airlines.
OR from CDG, FR on BA ( Kayak link )
Price valid if booked fully paid at www.flugladen.de ( Discount code HAYWIRE ).
I recommed to stay outside Manhattan, hotels are cheaper. I lived just across the river on NJ side, a town called Edgewater. There is Clarion or Quality Inn hotel there, I think is about $100 per night. It has been just renovated after hurricane Sandy. Just outside the hotel, you can catch a bus into Manhattan main bust terminal in Times Square (so you are right in the middle of the action). It only takes 30/40 min to get there from the hotel. Its about $4.50 per person. I think on the long run it would be more economical than staying at a $$ hotel in Manhattan. That is if you don't mind riding the bus and saving some money.
if only i knew about cheap flights . hotels i don't know much about either but i could find out for you. just give an idea of where she'd/you'd like (her) to stay. depending on what she wants/likes to do- i would definitely recommend the bronx zoo (for any age), various museums (depending) and most importantly, i'm guessing for an 18 year old- shopping? thinking to stay in upper west side may appease both daughter and father- well established area, museums and central park close by, easy access to midtown, downtown but quieter and a bit tamer for getting home late.
july is great- most people away on the weekends. another option is a trip to the hamptons for a day or two. lot's of options...
with a week only and two 18 year olds, i wouldn't have them hanging around jersey and taking the train back and forth. if it was for work or something, fine, but these girls wanna go out and have fun and experience nyc. new jersey is a whole nother experience .
and jrspet- i have to remember you when i wanna return for a visit to the homeland. if i saw these kind of prices a few months ago i wouldn't gone back in a heartbeat!
It is killing me... I am trying to remember the name of the hotel I stayed when I was early twenties. It was closed to the famous triangle building we see all the time in movies, between 5th avenue I think....
It was super well centered, very good prices and clean. We had a very good time there.
I'll keep thinking....
Edit:
Found it!!!
the flatiron building
One option is the Pod Hotels , there's a couple of them.
There's a cool hostel called the Gershwin Hotel , it looked kinda cool, hip, and artsy.
I only know this as I booked for a conference in Harlem recently - I ended up staying at the aloft hotel , which is also a really nice hotel for what you pay (which is still a lot). It is in Harlem, though - I felt perfectly safe there but some folks might be uncomfortable, and there are still certain areas you will want to avoid at night.
The suggestion to stay outside of Manhattan is a good one for money saving. Make sure it would be in a place well connected - if in Jersey, anywhere with a PATH connection (Hoboken or Jersey City).
One note of caution: NYC has a HUGE bedbug problem. So going cheap might be inadvisable - don't stay in some fleabag place in Chinatown! Double check the bedbug registry before booking.
Shopping I think is the main attraction. It'll just be the two of them, but they are fairly sensible.
Yeah - I heard about the bedbug problem from some friends who were there last year.
Damn. If you'd gold me last Thursday, I could have brought you a copy of the Air France in flight magazine - currently all about Brooklyn, which is the place to be... apparently...
i have a student who just stayed a week in an apartment of a swiss girl who rents rooms for short term. a cheaper option if you want i'm happy to find info about it.
I have found a website / app which allows you to search for the cheapest flight months ahead, allowing you to scroll through. This way, you will be able to see whether a particular day is very cheap or very expensive without having to search day by day. It is called skyscanner. Might help.
For the hotel, use hotwire.com! I ended up in a cute boutique hotel a block from Central Park for 110/nt in June so high season. You don't see what hotel it really is until you book it, but you can choose all the amenities and general location that you want plus it shows you the prices of all the options.
Definitely put them in Manhattan, and if you can upper Manhattan around Central Park so they are close to Time Square etc. There are lots of hop on/hop off type bus tours that can take you all over and some include the cost of the entrance to major sites.
Got excited about those prices for July for the flight as we *need* to go and buy 5 tickets, but alas it looks like that is for late June, of course July 7 - 21 (for example) are almost 2x as much. Good ol' supply and demand!
They're planning last week of July, so it'll be more.
How about AirBnB? https://www.airbnb.com/
this should be cheaper than a hotel; probably much more comfortable, and if they are lucky, there may be a host willing to show them around a bit.
AirBNB is a great experience, not only because of the often attractive weekly pricing.
Flights sorted - Delta from Zürich to JFH. For various reasons flights from other cities aren't really an option.
Gershwin looks good. I'm a bit nervous about the negative reviews on Trip Advisor though. Will examine other hotel options as well. The problem with hotwire is that one of the guests must be 21 or more. This is the same for many other hotels as well - though not for Gerswin.
Don't know if they're party animals or not but don't forget the legal drinking age in the States is 21. The girls might have problems getting into bars and clubs that ask for ID.
there is a Hilton at 53rd and 6th that is quite nice and will run you about the same price as the Gershwin (it is VERY popular with tourists). there is also a Marriott in the area, though closer to Broadway, roughly the same price and also quite nice. the Gershwin is fine but it will be roughly a 20 block walk to Times Square, a 35 block walk to Central Park, and unless your daughter wants to shop the street vendors and vintage stores in the Village or Soho than the shopping will also be about 35 blocks walk away.
hailing a cab out of JFK can also be interesting, and the cabbies are well-known for treating tourists to an extra long "tour" of the city, i.e. running up the metered fare. I would book a car in advance, for a party of 2 it will cost you a little more (probably an extra 100 bucks or so), but your daughter will not have to worry about squeezing luggage into a cab, the service will be courteous and perfectly safe, and door-to-door. here is the service I typically use:
hope this helps, summer is an absolutely fantastic time in the city and your daughter will no doubt have the time of her life!