The Best Neighborhoods to stay in New York
Are you leaving soon but you don't know where to sleep in New York yet? Don't panic, you've come to the right place! In this post, I will give you my advice on choosing your accommodation in New York, and show you the best areas to spend a few nights during your stay in New York.
I will also give you addresses of hotels in New York that I recommend and that I have been able to test. If you don't know where to stay in New York yet, then this is the article for you
On the agenda of this article
- How to choose your accommodation in New York?
- Stay close to the metro
- Choose your type of accommodation
- Book early enough
- Where to sleep in New York? In Manhattan of course!
- Lower Manhattan
- Lower East Side and East Village
- Midtown
- Upper West Side and Upper East Side
- Harlem
- Where to sleep in New York in Queens?
- Where to stay in New York in Brooklyn?
Dealing with your accommodation will be one of the first things to do when preparing for your stay in New York. Countless hotels are present in New York, and the many neighborhoods of the city have very different faces from each other.
You will therefore have to decide in which district you wish to stay. Of course, your choice will be made according to your desires, but also according to your budget, since accommodation will represent a significant part of it. By asking yourself the right questions, you can find the best compromise for a pleasant stay in New York.
Stay close to the metro
To find accommodation in New York, a very important thing to take into account is the distance between your hotel and the subway. Unless you want to make most of your trips by taxi for example, even if you are staying in a central location, you will often need to take the metro.
Always check where the nearest metro station is before booking your accommodation. During your long days of visiting, you will surely want to be able to stop by your room to relax for a few moments, or to change.
For example, it may be much better to choose a hotel in Queens or Brooklyn, a few steps from the subway, rather than a hotel in Manhattan, further from a station. You will pay much less for your room in the first case, and you will not necessarily waste time traveling to the various sites of interest, which are often located in Manhattan.
Choose your type of accommodation
You will have a lot of choices and finding the right hotel in New York may take time, but you will eventually find the establishment that suits you perfectly. However, if you don't want to sleep in a hotel that's too remote, you should expect to pay a minimum of $100 per night for your room.
Other solutions are available if your budget does not allow it. Airbnb-type accommodations are often still much more expensive than hotels in New York, but they can be interesting if you are traveling in a group. Alone or as a couple, you can also find homestays at a good price. This will allow you to get to know locals, but in return you will have to be ready to give up some privacy and share the rest of the house.
Youth hostels in New York will often be the most economical choice, you can find rooms 3 to 4 times cheaper than in hotels, outside of peak periods. During the high tourist season, prices go up, and these hostels often become much less attractive.
Book early enough
As in all tourist destinations in the world, booking your rooms as early as possible will always be useful. In New York, prices are already high to start with, and they clearly tend to climb as establishments fill up. The more rooms your hotel has available on the date you want, the better the rates will be.
If you have a real crush on an establishment, going there in advance will also simply prevent you from not being able to find a room there. When booking on the Internet, you can also take the opportunity to check customer reviews. I also advise you to favor offers with free cancellation. This may allow you to keep looking from time to time if another good deal comes along!
Where to sleep in New York? In Manhattan of course!
Manhattan Island is truly the focal point of New York. If you come to visit New York in a few days, for me this is the best place to stay in New York. It is the smallest and densest borough in the city, but from Wall Street to Greenwich Village, via Harlem, real diversity is still present in Manhattan.
The advantage of Manhattan is that you won't waste time on public transport every day. You are in the heart of the city and at the center of everything you can do in New York.
The disadvantage is that if the accommodations are quite expensive unless you book far enough in advance. For me, if it's your first time in New York and you don't know yet where to sleep in New York, I strongly advise you to look at the hotel offers in Manhattan. You can still find offers with a good quality / price ratio.
Lower Manhattan
In the south of the island, you can stay in a trendy district, such as SoHo (known for being the temple of hipsters and one of the favorite places for shopaholics) or TriBeCa, which is today a very popular district for artists.
The Arlo SoHo is a very well located hotel, which is 20 meters from the Canal Street station, rooms with a large double bed are offered at around 245$ per night. The rooms are original and in very good condition. The terrace is superb and above all you are in the heart of New York! This is a hotel that I was able to test in 2019 and it was really good! I recommend it if you don't know where to sleep in Manhattan
Lower East Side and East Village
Lower East Side and East Village, between Brooklyn and the heart of Manhattan, are perfect neighborhoods to find accommodation. Even if they remain close to trendy places, these quieter and residential neighborhoods have retained a certain authenticity. Hotel prices here are often more affordable than in the rest of Manhattan.
CitizenM New York Bowery is a 4-star hotel on the Lower East Side, located less than 100 meters from the Bowery station. It offers rooms for two with very modern decoration, for around 200$ per night.
East Village Hotel is a typical New York style establishment, which is located a few minutes walk from the Astor Place station. You can find double rooms there for around $105 a night.
Midtown
Midtown is where many of Manhattan's best-known sights are located. In this very dense district, where Times Square is located, everything always goes very quickly, and the prices of accommodation are often very high.
Hyatt Place Times Square is 700 m from Times Square, the heart of New York. You can find rooms with a king-size bed, with very sober decoration, for around 200 $ per night.
where to sleep new york archer hotel
Archer Hotel New York is a luxury hotel also located a few hundred meters from Times Square. It has a rooftop bar, from which you can enjoy the view of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Rooms for two are available from around $255 per night.
It's upscale but the view is just CRAZY! The location is PERFECT to visit New York in a few days. Tested during a stay in 2018. We keep great memories with Amélie
Upper West Side and Upper East Side
Upper West Side and Upper East Side, the two neighborhoods that border Central Park, are a little quieter and are home to many cultural places. They are undoubtedly among the best places to sleep in New York, if your budget allows it.
HI NYC Hostel is a hostel located just steps from Broadway and a ten-minute walk from Central Park. It is possible to book a bed in a dormitory for around $42 per night.
The Beacon Hotel is a 4-star hotel located on the Upper East Side, near Central Park. It offers fully equipped 30 m² studios, with a large double bed, for $255 per night.
The Courtyard New York Manhattan/Upper East Side is located in a quiet residential area of the Upper East Side. A few minutes walk from the 96th Street station, you will find rooms that can accommodate 3 people, for around $190 per night.
Harlem
North of Manhattan is the neighborhood of Harlem. It still has a bad reputation, but things have changed a lot since the early 2000s. Harlem is today a cosmopolitan place, very influential on New York culture. In this area, you can find accommodation at more affordable prices, while remaining less than 15 minutes by subway from Times Square.
The Central Park North is a guest house that undoubtedly represents one of the most economical solutions for accommodation in Manhattan during a stay in New York. It is only a hundred meters from the Central Park North – 110th Street subway station, and offers rooms with a double bed and shared bathroom, for just over $52 a night. This guest house offers the cheapest room to sleep in New York.
Where to sleep in New York in Queens?
Queens is a very pleasant neighborhood, but if you choose it, it will be important to find an establishment close to a metro station, and more particularly to Queensboro Plaza, the station that will allow you to reach Times Square in just about fifteen minutes. .
Queens County Inn and Suites is a Long Island hotel, which is just 300 meters from the Queensboro Plaza station, and within walking distance of popular bars and restaurants. You can find rooms for two there from $112 per night.
Aloft Long Island City-Manhattan View is a very modern 4-star establishment, which has a bar, a gym and a Rooftop which offers a superb view of the city. It is located just 200 meters from Queensboro Plaza, and you can find rooms for two there from around $235 a night.
Where to stay in New York in Brooklyn?
Brooklyn is therefore the other borough to favor if you want to save some money, without going too far from the center. This arrondissement is very large, since alone it is twice the size of intramural Paris. As you can imagine, with such an area, it is also a district that presents a very different face depending on the neighborhood.
Again, the proximity to Manhattan will be important, generally, the closer a property is to the East River, the more its prices rise, and the hotels located right next to the Brooklyn Bridge are the most expensive.
Once again, the best will be to choose a hotel which, even if it is further from the center, is at most a few hundred meters from a metro station. This borough has much better subway service than Queens, so you'll have more choices in this area. If you don't yet know where to sleep in New York, take a look at the offers in this area, there are some nice surprises
It is possible to find rooms at attractive rates, while staying a maximum of 30 minutes from the center of Manhattan .
The Sheraton Brooklyn New York is a 4-star hotel in Downtown Brooklyn, from which you can quickly reach Manhattan. The nearest metro station is 200 meters away, and large rooms for two are available there from $170.
Illumination Bed & Breakfast is a B&B type establishment very well located in Brooklyn, which offers large rooms for two of 22 m², with a view of the garden, for around 140 $ per night. The property also has a fitness center and is close to several metro stations.
EVEN Hotel Brooklyn is a 4-star hotel located approximately 5 minutes' walk from the Atlantic Avenue - Pacific Street subway station, from which you can reach Times Square in 25 minutes. It is notably equipped with a very good gym, and rooms for two are available there from around $200.
Here we are at the end of this article on housing in New York. I hope the information was useful for you to finalize the reservation of your accommodation for your stay in the Big Apple
If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments!
