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My girlfriend and I will be stopping by New York City for a day this summer in order to see Finding Neverland on Broadway, and I'm looking for advice on where to stay the night before, somewhere outside of NYC itself. Ideally something near public transportation into the city so we don't need to drive in it at all. I know we have some New Jersey Halforum-ites, so I figure someone here might have some experience with this.

Do you have a budget?

There are a lot of options, but outside of hostels or airbnb or motels of questionable quality, there isn't much that's close that's actually cheap, but there are a lot of decent and not too ridiculously-$$$ hotels in Secaucus.

And if money is really not an issue, just stay in downtown Jersey City.

I'd say upwards to a couple hundred if that what it takes to get a decent place.

I would say you can also try the outer boroughs, but I'm not sure that might get any cheaper. For example, Long Island City is easy access, but I haven't checked hotel prices.

Doesn't a lot depend on personal preference? For one, why outside of NY? If it's just for a day, you can easily stay in walking distance from Broadway for a couple of hundred dollar...Which means going out in the city after the show and just walking to your room, which is altogether more pleasant than "hurrying to the subway for a 45min ride". Is there a comfort limit, are you ok with a youth hostel? Etc.

Bubble181 said:

Doesn't a lot depend on personal preference? For one, why outside of NY? If it's just for a day, you can easily stay in walking distance from Broadway for a couple of hundred dollar...Which means going out in the city after the show and just walking to your room, which is altogether more pleasant than "hurrying to the subway for a 45min ride". Is there a comfort limit, are you ok with a youth hostel? Etc.

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There are a few hotels under the Choice Hotels flag within half a mile of Penn Station. Depending on the date The Friends & Family rate could be available. I'd also have to check with management over here, too.

Bubble181 said:

Doesn't a lot depend on personal preference? For one, why outside of NY?

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Well, I'm sure there are affordable hotels in the city itself, I assume that there are comparable ones that are appreciably cheaper further out. But most importantly...fuck New York City driving.

Secaucus is looking pretty good though, the 320 bus leaves from the Plaza at Harmon Meadow every 15-20 minutes, and it's only a 20 minute ride to the Port Authority Bus Station, which itself is less than a 10 minute walk from the theater.

Do check on whether it goes back as well.

If you're willing to walk a bit (I love walking, but not everyone does), or don't mind spending $2.75/person on the subway to go two stops, there are also a decent smattering of decent hotels in the 50s-60s in Manhattan. They're usually over $200, but often there are deal packages of certain kinds that might reliably get you under $200, especially if you're going during the week instead of weekend.

There are also a ton of hotels in the 20s-30s, but they're usually much less nice for not that much less. At that point, you'd actually be better off looking for a nice new hostel that let's you pay slightly more for a private room.

Reverent-one said:

Well, I'm sure there are affordable hotels in the city itself, I assume that there are comparable ones that are appreciably cheaper further out. But most importantly...fuck New York City driving.

Secaucus is looking pretty good though, the 320 bus leaves from the Plaza at Harmon Meadow every 15-20 minutes, and it's only a 20 minute ride to the Port Authority Bus Station, which itself is less than a 10 minute walk from the theater.

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"parking outside the city, going to hotel and show in town with subway" vs "parking at hotel outside city, going to show in city by subway" isn't that big of a difference. Also, having driven in NYC...Eh. Don't see what the fuss is all about. Brussels is worse. Paris is worse, even Antwerp is pretty much equal. I really think Americans aren't aware of how much driving can properly suck if NYC is the worst they come up with (I'm aware of other US cities that are worse, thanks). To each their own.

Anyway, I was going to recommend somewhere in the 50s - the Pod hotel is nice and reasonably priced and in walking distance of central station and Broadway.

General FYI to anyone who didn't know (not implying anyone in particular in the thread, more of a just in case), be aware you'll likely need to be more specific when asking for directions to "Broadway" in the context of the Theater District.

"Broadway" in daily NYC parlance means the street named Broadway, which runs the North-South length of Manhattan (and the Bronx, into Westchester).

"On Broadway" refers to the Theater District, which is the portion of Time Square and the surrounding areas that encompass most of the famous theaters showing the most popular shows.

If you don't mind, I'm gonna piggyback onto this thread while I start vacation planning. When I started checking out which hotels were near Penn Station, one thing stood out on their amenities list: NO PARKING. That kinda puts the squash on trying to stay in Manhattan, even if the sum total of my driving in NYC was going to be driving in the day of arrival and driving out again when it was time to go home. The closest I'd ever been to driving into the city myself was driving to a friend's house in Verona and picking up a bus on Bloomfield Ave. and riding to the Port Authority.

DarkAudit said:

If you don't mind, I'm gonna piggyback onto this thread while I start vacation planning. When I started checking out which hotels were near Penn Station, one thing stood out on their amenities list: NO PARKING. That kinda puts the squash on trying to stay in Manhattan, even if the sum total of my driving in NYC was going to be driving in the day of arrival and driving out again when it was time to go home. The closest I'd ever been to driving into the city myself was driving to a friend's house in Verona and picking up a bus on Bloomfield Ave. and riding to the Port Authority.

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There's a ton of parking up in the 50s, both attached to hotels and not, but hotels up there can get a bit pricey compared to the ones in the high 20s (nicer, though).

SpecialKO said:

There's a ton of parking up in the 50s, both attached to hotels and not, but hotels up there can get a bit pricey compared to the ones in the high 20s (nicer, though).

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Best employee rate price I found was for a Quality Inn in Long Island City for $35/night (plus $20/day for third party parking... probably a dealbreaker), then a couple in Brooklyn near the arena for $55/night. Everything else in that price level was in New Jersey.

So, I'm biased when it comes to Jersey in that sense, because I really like the downtown/waterfront section of Jersey City a lot. It's basically a cheaper version of Park Slope in Brooklyn; nice restaurants, lots of places to walk, parks, a river promenade view of Manhattan, and most importantly, it is faster to take the PATH/ferry from that part of Jersey City and get to either the WTC or 9th-33rd st. on the Westside in Manhattan than most of the actual NYC.

Hoboken is similar, but is a good bit pricier in everywhere.

SpecialKO said:

So, I'm biased when it comes to Jersey in that sense, because I really like the downtown/waterfront section of Jersey City a lot. It's basically a cheaper version of Park Slope in Brooklyn; nice restaurants, lots of places to walk, parks, a river promenade view of Manhattan, and most importantly, it is faster to take the PATH/ferry from that part of Jersey City and get to either the WTC or 9th-33rd st. on the Westside in Manhattan than most of the actual NYC.

Hoboken is similar, but is a good bit pricier in everywhere.

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There's a Comfort Suites in North Bergen, a mile or so south of the Tonnelle Ave. HBLR station. That may be my best bet.

You don't want to drive in Manhattan, it's not worth it. The amount of time you'll spend crawling through traffic and trying to find parking is a waste. Use the subway; it's faster and more economical (both $ and time-wise).

Celt Z said:

You don't want to drive in Manhattan, it's not worth it. The amount of time you'll spend crawling through traffic and trying to find parking is a waste. Use the subway; it's faster and more economical (both $ and time-wise).

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When I went to DC a couple of years ago, I Metro'd my ass off Thanks to the park & ride near the hotel. I'll be doing that again this time, but that's another thread.