I’ve been to New York twice now and it’s a city I could never get tired of. There is so much to see and do it’s perfect for a city break destination.
Both times I have visited I stayed in the Sheraton Manhattan. The location is excellent, it’s approx 3 mins walk to Times Square and all the major sites are within a 15 minute walk. Hotel rooms in New York tend to be on the small side, having said that I spent very little time in my room as there was so much to do in New York. If it’s Mid Town Manhattan, Times Square, 5th Ave etc that you want to be near then really any hotel within a 10 block radius of Times Square should be central enough.
If you haven’t been to New York before I would recommend a hop on/hop off city tour, these are excellent value and it really gives you a feel for the city. I took the 4 hour tour and it was great to see parts of New York that I probably wouldn’t have gotten round to otherwise.
Shopping wise, New York is pretty unbeatable as a bargain destination. I always head out to Woodbury Common Outlet Mall before I hit the shops in Manhattan. Woodbury common is approx 1hour from the city centre but you can take a bus directly out to the mall, it’s approx €38 for a return trip. The shops are fantastic value, we shopped in Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Gant, Gap, Gucci, Timberland and plenty more. After Woodbury Common the next best value I could find was Century 21; a really huge TK Maxx! So prepare to rummage, the value is quite good but I found some of the items were $10 or $20 more expensive than Woodbury Common. Of course we also had to visit Macy’s and Bloomingdales. Macy’s offer an extra discount to tourists if you bring your passport to their customer service desk, but to get the best bargains from Macy’s, a visit at their sale time is a must.
Entertainment in New York is like any major city, very varied with something for everyone. Broadway is of course extremely popular, the tickets can be quite expensive so I always book mine before I travel. You can queue at a booth on Times Square to get cheap last minute tickets but you need to be in the queue from approx 8am and you may not get tickets at all after queuing all day, personally I would prefer to pay than lose a day of my holiday. There is also plenty of jazz and comedy clubs.
New York is definitely a favourite of mine and I never want to leave once I am there. I'm looking forward already to my third trip across the water!