Driving to NYC

[Bastelmutti]

We are contemplating driving to NYC next summer and then parking the car for the duration of the trip (4-5 days?) and using public transportation until it's time to drive home. Does anyone know if most hotels charge exorbitant prices for their garages or are there other options?

[Dharma Bum]

NYC is a big place. You mean in Manhattan or elsewhere?

[catherine]

Hotels do charge a lot; in general, parking in NYC is ridiculous. Hey, why don't you park your car in my driveway, take the train in (<1 hr) and pick it up on your way out of town? I promise I won't charge nearly as much as NYC parking rates!

Alternatively, there's the Port Authority parking garage at the Lincoln Tunnel/NY side: $33 a day. A lot of hotels charge around $50 a day. I don't know where you're driving from, but you could park in Hoboken or Jersey City or Harrison NJ and take the PATH train in. I don't know anything about the long-term parking options for those cities, though.

[Weston]

Yes, assuming that you are talking about Manhattan most hotels do charge exorbitantly for parking. In fact pretty much everywhere in Manhattan parking is exorbitant.

I have read good things about this website http://www.bestparking.com/ but can not personally vouch for it since I do everything in my power to avoid driving in Manhattan.

I would also strongly urge you to give serious consideration to Catherine's second paragraph. I don't know it for certain, but I can definitely imagine that it might be cheaper to find parking in either NJ or Long Island and then take mass transit into NYC.

[Bastelmutti]

Silly me - yes, Manhattan. Thanks for the tips. I will look into it. This is just in the rough planning stages at this point. If really cheap flights come up sometime between now and then, we may do that instead. It might not be a huge savings to drive from the Midwest with the price of gas and parking.

[jennipurrr]

Never done this in NYC but I wonder if there are any park and fly hotels that have easy access to the city? They are usually by the airport and include 7 nights parking with a night booking.

[Bastelmutti]

Good idea, jennipurr - I didn't know about that possibility.

[lhamo]

Similar to catherine's suggestion, you could also consider staying in the outer boroughs somewhere and using public transit to get into the city. Street parking is generally more readily available in the outlying areas (though you have to be careful about the stupid "alternate side of the street parking" rules that apply on days they do street cleaning -- never managed to figure out how that worked in the time we lived in NYC). In Queens a couple of neighborhoods/areas to consider would be Jackson Heights (right near Laguardia) and Flushing (kind of between Laguardia and Kennedy. Both are very interesting ethnic neighborhoods -- Flushing is one of the biggest Chinatowns in the US, with some of the best Chinese restaurants, and Jackson Heights has large South Asian and Latin American populations, with a similar diversity of great restaurants. It is about 20-30 minutes on the subway to Manhattan from both places (assuming you get an express train from Flushing).

lhamo

[madgeylou]

stay at an airbnb (http://www.airbnb.com/) place in brooklyn near the subway, and you can generally park on the street. with new york airbnb joints, you need to make sure the place looks legit -- several reviews and contact with the host that gives you a decent feeling inside. we've always had really good experiences.

last time we visited, we stayed here (http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/38824) and parked on the street. it was amazing -- a whole apartment to ourselves, beautifully decorated, in a great neighborhood with a really exceptional pizza joint downstairs for less than half than the cheapest hotel i've seen in manhattan.

[Dragline]

Do not ever park, or even drive, in Manhattan if you can avoid it.

[Bastelmutti]

Dragline, I like that advice! Thanks everyone for providing these ideas. I will have to print out this thread! I am thinking that driving instead of flying might be good if we decide on a few days in NYC and visiting other places along the East Coast.

[madgeylou]

Do not ever park, or even drive, in Manhattan if you can avoid it.

i love driving in manhattan (a little bit here and there, not every day). people know how to drive there / pay attention / stay awake, etc. unlike in pittsburgh where it seems like everyone behind the wheel is half asleep ... driving in manhattan is fun like a videogame to me!