Would you love to see the dazzling lights of Times Square? Ice skate in Central Park or take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge? Have you been put off by the expense of it all? This blog is for you.....
New York is known to be one of the greatest cities in the world. Like any city it can be expensive, but with careful planning it can be done on even the tightest of budgets.
This may seem a little overwhelming but you can still have an amazing time and break the bank, as our family of 4 did recently. In actual fact, our recent trip worked out cheaper than some of our previous holidays to Europe.
New York is so expensive! MYTH
Yes of course, New York can be expensive, after all its one of the most visited cities in the world. However its one of those places that can be as cheap or as expensive as you like.
Here, I share some tips of how it can be done on a budget and bust some myths.
Firstly, I would definitely say to book a DIY package. We found travel agents packages to be so much more expensive than booking flights and hotel separately.
Flights are expensive! MYTH
Flights can be expensive - I'm often seeing UK - NYC flights for £5-600 per person, BUT, if you book in advance - approximately 11 months earlier or look out for the airline sales, you can grab yourself a real bargain.
We recently booked return flights with Virgin in peak summer for £260 each return! (We were super pleased with this find!). I booked the flights in between Christmas and New Year for the following August. We only booked in two cases as this can really add on to the cost of the flights and we all took a 10kg hand luggage too for extra space. I initially searched for the flights on www.skyscanner.co.uk . I love this site for finding cheap flights and really like how you can search for the cheapest month and see the month as a whole to select the cheapest days. The site then found the cheapest flights which was through www.traveltrolly.co.uk to actually book it. We loved flight with Virgin by the way!
Top tips:
1. Search dates for the whole month
2. Be flexible
3. Limit baggage - each bag was around £60 each way
4. Dont pay to book seats, although this may be risky we have never been sat separate and children under 12 have to be sat with a parent.
Hotels are expensive - Kinda true
Hotels in New York can be expensive compared to other places but the key is to shop around on sites such as www.booking.com or www.agoda.com. Agoda is my new favourite, they often give you discount codes and you can also earn 'agoda cash' to use on future bookings.
If you are able to pay in full then do this as it as it can cost you more to book now and pay later, although this is convenient at times. If you cant pay upfront, book the room on a pay later offer and once you are able to pay, cancel the initial room and book another whilst paying in full (availability depending). We did this and got the room for £200 less!
Try to stay a little bit out from the main tourist hot spots, Times Square is a tourist trap and you will pay through the nose to stay here. We stayed at The Watson Hotel in Hells Kitchen area which was very reasonable with the added bonus of a roof top pool! It cost us £860 for four people for six nights on Agoda.com. China town is also more reasonably priced and you can also use Air BnB to find an apartment. Perhaps consider Jersey Shore or Brooklyn and use the tube to get into the city!
Lastly, remember that in America there is a resort fee. This can vary depending on the hotel and can really bump up the price when you arrive. Ours was $20 per night. I have heard that if you give the receptionist a small gift from your home country they sometimes wave this fee - however i've not tried this myself. Worth a shot!?
Do you really need an attraction pass?
Lots of people rave on about the attraction passes, and whilst they can be worthwhile for some, for others its simply not cost effective. Personally for us, it didnt pay to have an attraction pass - some of the activities we wanted to do where not included and whilst it may seem good value that you can visit so many attractions, have you actually got time?
I found this calculator a really good tool to consider whether it would pay for us to have one https://www.passcomparison.com/newyork/new-york-pass-comparison/. If it does pay for you to have one, Groupon has some great offers. Personally we just paid for each attraction as we went along and I found some individual deals such as booking The Beast Speedboat Ride via Gold Star events for $20 each instead of $30.
Most importantly, a rough itinerary is helpful but be prepared to go off track a little.
Food is expensive in New York.
Yes and no. We discovered that like many places, you can eat as cheaply or as expensive as you like. For cheap eats, eat from food carts in the street. Breakfast cost around $20 for 4 of us and filled us for a long time. We ate some other nice foods from the carts too such as chicken and rice ($7 for a very large portion) from the Halal food card. Philly cheese steak baguette ($6 - Yummy!), slices of pizzas ($1-3), large pretzel for a filling snack ($3) and a large punnet of grapes ($4).
Self service diners can be much cheaper too. We enjoyed Fluffys cafe for breakfast and this cost around $40 for 4 breakfasts and drinks. Its self service here so you dont have to pay the 20% tip, which can really add up!
if you do decide to eat in a restaurant, you can use google maps to explore nearby places. You can then filter based on price ranging from $ to $$$$. So a restuarant with $ sign would obviously be cheapest. You can also check the menus online first too. We ate at Route 66 and had 3 burgers, 1 child's meal, 2 soft drinks and 4 alcoholic drinks and this came to $150 with a tip. It was very nice and we enjoyed it, but we did think it expensive when compared to where you could eat in the UK for that price.
Look out for happy hours with alcoholic drinks around $5. Some bars such as Rudys do cheap drinks with free hot dogs with each round, but you cant take children into bars like this.
Do free things....
There are plenty of free things to do in NYC such as taking a stroll through Central Park, Swimming at Lasker Pool and riding the Staten Island Ferry. See my 'Free things to do in NYC' blog for more ideas!
Use the Metro
Don't be frightened to use the tube to get around the city and to and from the Airport.
Taxis alone are $70 flat rate each way from the Airport to Manhattan, however you can get a weekly tube pass for $33 each. If you're coming from JFK take the Airtrain to Jamaica Centre ($5 each way or $25 return for 4) and switch to the tube here. It cost us $157 for our return Airtrain and tube pass for the week for four people. If we would have got taxis both ways plus the tube this would have cost $272!!
The tube wasn't as scary as we imagined and we managed to navigate our way around easily, sometimes asking locals for help. If all else fails, google your journey!
Finally, have fun and enjoy every moment!
If you enjoyed reading this blog, please follow me on Instagram (family_trips_on_a_budget) for more travel tips on a budget. More blogs to follow including NYC with kids and Free things to do in NYC.
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