Make the most of Manhattan without blowing the budget, writes Elaine Glusac
People go to New York for the street life, restaurants, cultural treasures and more. I go to New York because it makes me think, which is how I found myself on a
Can you tour New York on a tight budget? Photo / NYC & Company
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My top tip for saving time and money in New York: Take public transportation, including to and from the airports.
On previous trips between La Guardia Airport and Manhattan, I’ve taken taxis (from about US$40 - NZ$67), van shuttles (from $29) and a bus ($2.90). None were speedy.
Now, the free LaGuardia Link Q70 runs between the airport and the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue station in Queens. The bus runs every eight to 10 minutes and connects to subway lines into Manhattan ($2.90). Within an hour of landing, I was standing amid the crowds at Rockefeller Centre.
If you land at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the interterminal AirTrain JFK links to the subway ($11.40). At Newark Liberty International Airport, NJ Transit trains connect the airport to Penn Station ($17.10).
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In general, getting around by public transportation is inexpensive, quick and generally seamless. The system accepts mobile phone wallets and contactless credit cards with a tap at a turnstile ($2.90 for most rides, capped at $34 within a seven-day period as long as you use the same payment method each time).
Read more: What to see and do in Brooklyn, New York
Look for lodging deals on the fringes
They say you can find anything in New York. I say a cheap, decently located hotel remains a challenge.
Pauline Frommer, who writes the annual “Frommer’s New York City” guidebook, said the citywide ban on short-term rentals of fewer than 30 days and the influx of migrants, many lodged in hotels, had reduced the availability of bargain rooms.
“For the first year, I had to send people to New Jersey,” she said of the book’s just-published 2025 edition.
Over the years, I’ve had luck in midtown Manhattan on the far reaches of the East and West sides. To the west, at 10th Avenue and 42nd Street, Yotel New York Times Square offers rooms so compact that you have to hit the switch that electronically retracts the bed into a sofa to walk around it. On the East Side, at 51st Street and Second Avenue, Pod 51 has comfortable no-frills rooms. Rates swing with the seasons and demand, but I’ve stayed at both for around $100 a night.
Step up from street food
New York’s classic culinary bargains — street-cart hot dogs, pizza by the slice — will set you back a few dollars. Sitting down to eat boosts bills, making takeout a good option. In Rockefeller Centre, Frommer steered me to Ace’s Pizza, a spinoff of the Brooklyn original that specialises in Detroit-style pizza with a chewy centre, crispy edges and a nice price — $10 for a personal pepperoni pizza that was more than a meal.
Late that afternoon, wandering around Times Square, I joined the line at Los Tacos No. 1. Modelled on Mexican taquerias, it looked the part with hand-lettered signs and counter-only dining. Dinner came to around $10 (one tasty marinated-pork “adobada” taco costs $5.25).
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For sit-down fare, I consulted the Michelin guide’s Bib Gourmand list of value-focused restaurants.
Theatre discounts abound
A theatre geek, I usually splurge on Broadway. But you don’t have to. Money-saving strategies rely on flexibility in show selection, dates and seat location.
The most visible discounter in the theatre district, TKTS, lists same-day sales for tickets, often at half off. Travellers wait in line daily at its Times Square booth to purchase them.
Many shows offer bargain same-day rush tickets to those who show up at the box office or opt for a digital lottery through LuckySeat.com. Broadway Roulette sells tickets from $49 to $59, but you won’t know what show you’re seeing until you’ve paid.
To save time, I used online discount seller Broadway Box to purchase an $86 ticket — said to be $40 off, it totalled $99 with fees — in the front row, right side of the Stephen Sondheim Theater to “& Juliet,” the jukebox musical that emancipates Shakespeare’s Juliet from Romeo with good cheer and Britney Spears anthems.
See free art
Energised by my Broadway experience, I hopped the M42 bus ($2.90) to the East River, where a vacant lot has been transformed by installation artist Bruce Munro into “Field of Light” at Freedom Plaza (free timed tickets, through November 30).
More than 18,000 glowing lights topped stems that looked like radiant flowers amid a dark field of tall grasses. A walking path wound through them. The experience, as the crickets sang, was meditative.
Free pop-ups energise New York (including an outdoor sculpture exhibit of life-size elephants in the Meatpacking District). But travellers can also count on a handful of free museums to offset more expensive options (the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, costs $30 for out-of-towners).
I missed the American Folk Art Museum (free) in Lincoln Square, which was temporarily closed to install its fall shows, but took the subway to the Financial District to the National Museum of the American Indian (free).
The Smithsonian affiliate, sibling to the museum of the same name in Washington, has a revealing origin story: George Gustav Heye, an early-20th-century investment banker, amassed the largest collection of Native American artefacts by a single individual. (Smithsonian Magazine called him “a great vacuum cleaner of a collector.”)
Housed in the Alexander Hamilton United States Custom House, the museum mingles grand spaces, including a three-storey rotunda with murals by the painter Reginald Marsh, and quiet galleries devoted to Indigenous cultures from the Arctic to southernmost South America.
Enjoy the great outdoors
New York’s parks offer free restorative escapes and testify to the genius of its landscapers, starting with Central Park.
In the 340ha haven, designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux included formal gardens, promenades, open fields and woodlands. On a 90-minute walk, I was thrilled to see warblers and finches and explore the native grasses and flowers on Dene Slope.
It took a lot of construction to make Central Park look natural. That’s true, too, of newer spaces, including Little Island in the Hudson River, on the demolished site of the former Pier 54, where trans-Atlantic passengers arrived in the early 20th century. The Meatpacking District attraction opened in 2021 on raised piers that look like supersize golf tees.
I visited one morning when the 1ha park was crisscrossed by runners following its ramps and stairs around landscaped hills. From the southwest hilltop, I could see the Statue of Liberty and, a few blocks away, the High Line.
Perhaps New York’s most acclaimed urban reuse project, the High Line is a linear park that occupies the elevated tracks of a former freight rail line. From Gansevoort Street to 34th Street (about 20 blocks), the High Line offers quintessential New York views — from cobblestone streets to the Empire State Building — framed by flowering perennials, shrubs and trees.
There’s a tour for every budget
There are seemingly limitless tours in New York City. Some go macro — like helicopter tours — while others get specific, like the filming locations of “Sex and the City” or midtown Manhattan food carts. Self-guided audio tours offer inexpensive options.
To test what’s gained and lost by going guided versus DIY, I spent two mornings touring, starting with a 90-minute trek around the landmark Grand Central Terminal with the company Walks ($35).
Colin Israel, an actor and the guide for our group of 15, mingled statistics — the station “has 33 miles of track in one city block,” he said — and architectural insights, including the ornamental use of acorns that referred to a philosophy embraced by the terminal’s developer, Cornelius Vanderbilt: From small acorns spring mighty oaks.
We learned the constellations on the ceiling mural in the main hall appear backward, and explored the Yayoi Kusama mosaic mural in a 2023 addition. Afterwards, Israel answered questions on dining and Broadway favourites (“Moulin Rouge”). For expertise and engagement, it was a good value.
I don’t know if I felt as invested in my cheaper walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with an audio guide from Free Tours by Foot ($2.99) that I listened to through my cellphone.
I got lost and missed the exit indicated on the recording, but I ended up in front of a Brooklyn firehouse where winded firefighters stood soaked after drilling with hoses.
The encounter with a slice of New York life just a few blocks from the thronged bridge reminded me of the unquantifiable rewards of spontaneity and the surprise of going off course.
Checklist
NEW YORK CITY
GETTING THERE
Fly non-stop from Auckland to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York in approx. 15 hours, 30 minutes with both Air NZ and Qantas.
DETAILS
This article originally appeared in The New York Times
