Big Apple on the cheap

By GRAHAM REID

Bitter experience tells most travellers to New York City that it can be enormously expensive. Consider this: a beer is US$4, you are expected to tip a buck so your beer is now closer to NZ$8. Not a big deal, unless you have three beers.

Accommodation is an even bigger trap. The room rates quoted at hotels invariably don't come with city or state taxes added. So US$90 a night, which is quite reasonable, can end up around US$120, which might be quite not.

So how can you stay modestly in New York?

Simple, sleep on the couch at a friend's house. Failing that you might be struggling.

The internet offers your best information - sites such as www.ny.com/hotels/budget.html, usatourist.com or travellerspoint.com - but these come with a caution. You should familiarise yourself with the various areas of greater New York before jumping at that nice looking place which is only US$30 a night. It could just be in a sidestreet where your neighbours are hookers and the sound of people arguing all night could keep you awake.

Not that New York is as unsafe as many make it out to be. But caution there, as everywhere, is advisable.

For many visitors the lower Manhattan area, known as Downtown, with easy access to Greenwich Village, the gay area around Christopher St, art galleries, Chinatown and Little Italy, the jazz, rock and comedy clubs, and cheap eateries is the place to be.

Budget hotels - most often clean and safe - abound in the areas known as SoHo (south of Houston St, pronounced How-ston) and TriBeCa (the triangle below Canal St). Expect to pay - before taxes - between US$70 and US$120. The room will have its own bathroom but it will be modest. But then you are in New York, so how much time are you going to spend in it?

The advantage of this area is that most of the places you might want to eat at are within easy walking distance, and the subway will take you to Midtown within 10 minutes.

Midtown (around Times Square) can be extremely expensive, especially when you convert back to our flaccid dollar, and for most travellers paying their own way the Upper East and Upper West Sides (each side of Central Park) would be out of consideration. Of course, if the trip's on the company, you'd want to stay near Times Square and the theatre district.

The neighbouring boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn across the East River - and New Jersey across the Hudson - don't have much in the way of hotels for tourists. Avoid staying near the airports, they are a long way from where you'll want to be.

So it's Downtown for most budget travellers.

Nothing wrong with that because the Asian restaurants are cheap, and there are plenty of markets where you can pick up reasonably priced ready-to-eat food. Check your calender, too. Around Little Italy there are often festivals for saints' days and the streets can be closed off with food stalls and sideshow attractions. Great fun.

So don't let the price of accommodation put you off: book early, check that it has a bathroom (if that's what you want, it'll save you US$20 if you share), do it online if you can because many places offer discount for online bookings - and consult a good city map on the internet before you do so.

But remember the most important thing: go there. New York, New York. It's the place so good they named it twice.