In this “Travel SMART” series of articles we discuss real-world travel plans for exploring popular locations in a cost-effective manner. SMART evaluates the Staying options, Mobility, Attractions, ROI (Return-On-Investment) and Transport options for planning the trip. This article focuses on travel plan based from NewYork City, USA.
New York City was originally founded by the Dutch Republic around 1624 and later overtaken by British colonists. Today it is the most populous city in USA and one of the largest megacities in the world with the metro area population close to 24 million. Located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world’s largest natural harbors, the city comprises 5 boroughs where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean. At its core is Manhattan. Lower Manhattan has the world’s most expensive real estate comprising of major commercial, financial and cultural centers that we outline in the Attractions section below.
Other boroughs include Queens – famous for its large immigrant neighborhoods; Bronx – with a historic origin of Italian immigrant neighborhoods; Brooklyn – the birthplace of Hip-Hop and most populous of the 5 Burroughs and Staten Island – an island by New York Harbor connected to rest of the city via the famous Staten Island Ferry. An additional important part of the metro area is Long Island, the largest island in USA featuring its own airport where many New Yorkers live in the suburban cities well connected via bus and train to the city center.
Transport options – New York City (NYC) is one of the busiest destination in the world. It is well served with hundreds of international and domestic flights daily, mostly from Western Europe, U.S.A. and Canada into 3 major airports – John F. Kennedy (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark Liberty International (EWR). It is helpful to know where these airports are located when planning your stay in metropolitan New York City. JFK sits at the border of Queens and Long Island with easy highway access to both the metro and Long Island, Laguardia is in Bronx and part of the metro (MTA Bus and Subway) and Newark Liberty is across the Hudson river in New Jersey with a direct 45 min. bus connection to Port Authority in Manhattan.
Additionally New York is one of the few cities in U.S. with many train connections all the way south from Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago from west as well as Portland, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts from the north all terminating at the historic New York Grand Central station. Additionally long distance bus services like Greyhound and Flixbus connects NYC to all major cities in U.S.A. and from Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Interstate I-95 and I-80 connects NYC to entire north-south and east-west stretch of U.S.A. all the way to Miami, FL and Seattle, WA respectively.
Staying options – Hotel and AirBnB prices can very greatly depending on your staying choice in NYC. Generally areas around Lower Manhattan and some Upper Manhattan neighborhoods are most expensive. For itinerary focused on attractions around NYC a hotel near one of the major airports can be a good option with less worry about famous traffic congestion to reach your flight and public connection to all of NYC. One of our choice of stay in New York is the Hilton Garden Inn, JFK Airport which offers free shuttle from JFK and free breakfast. JFK also has the metro loop shuttle connecting to the NYC subway and MTA bus system as well as rental car center in the airport for a quick access to the highway to Long Island for excursions outside the city. Another good option when we venture into city is the Hampton Inn, Laguardia Airport which is literally across LGA and offers free shuttle from the airport as well as free breakfast. This location is in Bronx with metro connection to all of NYC including Manhattan. Another slightly cheaper option well suited for out of town excursions is the Hampton Inn Long Island – Brookhaven which is nearly at the center of Long Island with easy highway access and about 25-30 mins drive from JFK. We found this location great for road trips all over Long Island including the famous Hamptons and Montauk as well as ferry connection to Connecticut and Massachusetts for day trip to out-of-state sites! This hotel is also well served to NYC Penn Station via the Long Island train which is about 10 mins drive away. As with all Hilton Hotels you maybe eligible for extra perks and points if you use the Hilton Honors App during your stay on any of the mentioned hotels or dozens of others in the Hilton chain around metro New York.
Mobility – Traveling around NYC can be costly or very affordable depending on your plans and purpose. Driving in the city can take long time due to the infamous traffic congestion in all the boroughs and parking is one of the most expensive among U.S. cities in Manhattan. Additionally, driving in between the boroughs require crossing the toll bridges across the islands which can costs hundreds of dollars over a few days of frequent travel by car. As such, even rideshare services like Uber and AirBnB have typically high rates during peak hours in and around Manhattan, Queens and Bronx.
The fastest and cheapest way to move around NYC and the metro area is a combination of Subway (underground metro network), MTA buses and the train. For example, from Newark, NJ you can take a bus to Port Authority or Upper Manhattan and then use subway and walking to reach most famous sites in Manhattan. From Long Island you can take the Long Island Train to Penn Station and take subway or MTA bus to visit attractions in the city.
Going out of town to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island attractions or even as far as Rhode Island is possible using car and ferry connections to Bridgeport, MA and New London, CT from one of the ferry ports in Long Island avoiding the many tolls to drive across NYC to reach the northern states.
Attractions – NYC has the greatest concentration of key attractions among major cities in USA. Lower Manhattan features skyscrapers like the historic Empire State Building, Freedom Tower (tallest skyscraper in North America) and iconic Chrysler Building, the sprawling Central Park, Broadway theater, Headquarter of United Nations and the neon-lit Times Square. Upper Manhattan contains many famous museums like The Met, MOMA, Guggenheim Museum and historic Chinatown.
A quick and economic way to see a lot of lower Manhattan attractions, Statue of Liberty and historic bridges like Brooklyn Bridge is to take the famous Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise from midtown Manhattan. The guided tour is very enjoyable and you can cover a lot of the sights in few hours. The nearby USS Intrepid naval museum in New York Harbor is another must see attractions.
Out of town road trips can include beautiful seaside Long Island resort towns in the Hamptons and Montauk. Also ferry connections and a short drive can take travelers to historic mansions in Newport, RI via Connecticut, famous university towns like Yale, Harvard and MIT via Massachusetts and the historic Plymouth, MA famous for the arrival of the pilgrims/colonists from Europe to North America.
ROI (Return On Investment) – Some important factors when evaluating New York City visit are the mobility and staying options. We found the following steps in our travel plan for using NYC as a base yielded a high ROI!
- Rent a car from the JFK airport if planning to take road trips outside the city. Otherwise, public transportation with New York Subway, MTA Bus, Train and Google Map is sufficient for exploring most attractions.
- Use a credit card online for advance booking on popular attraction visits like The Empire State Building, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise or Freedom Tower.
- When exploring central NYC in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Bronx, keep your belongings at a safe place. High crowd concentration typically occurs in Times Square, in subways and busy markets in Queens. Use small travel handbags and phone wallets and secure your phone with a neck-chain or belt-lock. Avoid responding to strangers and panhandlers in these areas. Rest of the city attractions in Long Island, most populated areas in Central Park during daylight and around New York Harbor are relatively safe and tourist friendly.
- Save on meals by choosing a hotel with free breakfast options. For example, Hilton Hotel chains have free breakfast for Hilton Honors members (free program with a downloadable app). Staying near JFK or LGA can give you better variety and choices for meals, shopping and transport.
- Save on Overall transport cost by using a combination of public transport coming to and moving around NYC and using a rental car for trips outside the city. Having the rental car allowed us to visit The Breakers in Newport, RI and locations around Long Island in day trips.
Enjoy the video clip below for a quick glimpse of a Bout Tour of Lower Manhattan, NYC!