My friends and I are in the process of planning a trip to NYC for our spring break. We are planning on going from March 19/20th to March 25th (so 5 or 6 nights). I am pretty sure at this point that we are going to take Megabus to NYC out of Pittsburgh. I am not sure if my friend in Pittsburgh will be able to help us out or not, so I need to find out if there is some place to park my car for a week downtown that is safe and relatively cheap. So, if anyone has advice or information on that, I would really appreciate it. Also, we are still not sure where we will be staying while in NYC, but I have found five different places, but I am open to recommendations (keep in mind that I am in college, so I would like to keep it as close to $100 a night as possible). The places that we are considering are the Jazz on Lenox Hostel (104 West 128 Street), Chocolat Hostel (850 West End Avenue), La Quinta Queens (37-18 Queens Blvd), Days Inn (31 36 Queens Blvd), and Lafayette International Hostel (484 Lafayette Avenue). I would like to know if anyone has opinions on these establishments or their locations. As I said earlier, I am not set on these four and I am open to suggestions. If you need any more information from me, just ask. I am grateful for any advice or recommendations that people have, thanks in advance!

If you're in college, a hostel is a great place to stay.  I think the East Village has a great hostel.

^Thanks, do you happen to know what the name of that hostel is?

 

 

I *THINK* it's this one:

 

Hostel - more info »

27 East 7th Street, NY (212) 228-0828

 

But I've never stayed at a hostel in New York so I wouldn't know.  Just going by what a friend told me.

Thanks CDM.

 

Well, my friends and I have decided on a place to stay and our transportation situation has been figured out, so, does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do on my first trip to NYC? We already plan on checking out the Empire State Building, Little Italy, Chinatown, FAO Scwartz, and hopefully some other things, but is there anything that I shouldn't miss? Also, any recommendations on good restaurants that aren't too expensive? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

^If you get to the Empire State Building and find the lines are too long, I would recommend Top of the Rock instead.

 

http://www.TopOfTheRockNyc.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc

^Thanks MayDay.

 

Little update, taking Megabus out of Pittsburgh ended up not working out so we are going to take Amtrak to NYC. I know that the station in Cleveland has long term parking, but I am concerned about leaving my car in an unsecured lot for a week. Would you recommend parking the car at the station or should we have a friend drop us off and pick us up?

I've never heard of anyone having a problem with the long term Amtrak lot,  but yea I'd rather have someone drop me off if I'm going to be away for a week.

^Thanks MayDay.

 

Little update, taking Megabus out of Pittsburgh ended up not working out so we are going to take Amtrak to NYC. I know that the station in Cleveland has long term parking, but I am concerned about leaving my car in an unsecured lot for a week. Would you recommend parking the car at the station or should we have a friend drop us off and pick us up?

 

You've likely already looked, but there are often cheap flights between Canton/Akron and NYC if you'd prefer a quicker journey there.  And if you were thinking of driving to Pittsburgh, I doubt leaving from CAK would be an issue for you.  I'd guess the long term parking there is pretty reasonable too, but don't know for sure.

And don’t pay (or pay very little) to get into museums! Here’s a list of free museum admission times:

http://gonyc.about.com/cs/museums/a/museumdeals.htm