Traveling to New York City on a Budget

January 16, 2008 By Matthew Paulson

New York City is perhaps one of the most expensive cities in the world to be in, but it’s also one of the most unique cities to visit. If you’re not careful, you can rack up a rather large bill in just a few days. You can’t even drive around without paying $5-$10 tolls in some places! If you plan on visiting New York City, here are some tips that will allow you to visit New York City without draining your bank account.

When you are traveling to New York City, you probably don’t want to drive. When you consider the cost of gasoline, extra wear and tear on your vehicle, the nightmarish city traffic, the cost of parking, the cost of tolls, most of the time it just makes sense to get public transportation. Take a bus or fly into New York City. Once you’re there use taxi’s, the subway, and busses to get around. This way you’ll be able to avoid having to deal with the traffic issues that the city faces

If you’re going to NYC, you’ll definitely want to head over to a Broadway show. However regular tickets cost upwards of $100.00, so you’ll have to be savvy to go without breaking the bank. In order to get some discounted tickets, consider going to the TKTS line, which is run by the Theater Development Fund. Tickets to all shows won’t be available because some will be sold out. You can however get very lucky and get some great deals on tickets without spending much at all. You can also consider checking for student prices, rush tickets, and standing room only tickets. If you can’t afford Broadway, checkout Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. There’s still plenty of good shows in those theaters.

You’ll be able to find some very diverse and delicious food in New York. There are some places that are excellent and definitely worth going to, but there are also some places which have some terribly over-priced and mediocre meals. In order to get good food, get out of Time Square and travel to some of the more interesting parts of town. This will help you avoid some of the tourist traps. It’s a lot easier to get reservations during the week and prices are often cheaper on these days. Do some research by reading New York Magazine to figure out which restaurants are decent, and if all else fails, ask a local resident where they enjoy eating at.

Lodging in New York City is an extremely expensive endeavor. In most places, you’d never pay $200 a night to stay there, but this is a pretty decent price for New York City. Use price-comparison services such as Travelocity, Priceline, and Hotwire to find the best hotel deal out there. Usually you’ll save quite a bit of money by staying away from mid-town.

Taking a trip to New York City is a very complicated affair, but if you play your cards right and do plenty of research in advance, you can avoid many of the problems that travelers often face when visiting.

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