New York: Spread the word, not your dough
— -- To paraphrase Ol' Blue Eyes, if you can make it on an autumn weekend in New York for $500, you can make it anywhere. The city is on track for another record tourism year — and despite the tumbles on Wall Street, Manhattan's hotel rates remain loftier than its skyline. Here's how USA TODAY's Laura Bly carved a budget-sized bite out of the Big Apple:
Lodging:
With average room rates topping $325 a night, I knew my biggest challenge would be finding a place in Manhattan for less than $150 that didn't involve bunk beds or roaches and stained mattresses as amenities. I triumphed. Twice.
Founded as a haven for German-Catholic immigrants in 1889, the Leo House on West 23rd Street in Chelsea is still run by the Sisters of St. Agnes but now shelters budget travelers of all faiths. Though it's typically booked solid months in advance, I got a last-minute cancellation on a $100 single room with private bath (shared-bath singles are $90, and a handful of family rooms with private baths are $190). Decidedly no-frills but clean and friendly, Leo House accommodations include use of a reading lounge, chapel and garden, plus access to a $9 buffet breakfast with fresh fruit, cereal, eggs and scrumptious banana bread.
If staying at the Leo House is akin to spending the night at an elderly aunt's, renting a room at The Jane is like bunking with your tattooed Gen-Y cousin. A work in progress aimed at young travelers with "more dash than cash," The Jane opened last month in a century-old West Village landmark that once housed surviving crew from the Titanic. Its handsomely renovated, 50-square-foot single "cabins" cost $99 per night, complete with Frette linens and flat-screen TVs. The catch: You share a communal bathroom (spiffily redone with '40s-style tile floors, marble vanities and rainfall showerheads in two private stalls) with residents of The Jane's former incarnation, the single-room-occupancy Hotel Riverview. My sojourn was uneventful — though it did give me pause when the front-desk clerk noted that white bleach stains on the newly installed hallway carpet were calling cards from a disgruntled tenant.
• Leo House, 212-929-1010;
• The Jane, 212-924-6700, thejanenyc.com
Dining:
My first New York nosh, a $3.05 hot dog and papaya drink at Chelsea Papaya, was a headache-inducing disappointment. I made up for it with everything from collard-wrapped vegetable rolls at Sal Anthony's The City Gardener's raw-food bar ($6 for two) to post-theater gelato, chocolate cake and glass of Muscat wine at Jarnac, a dreamy French bistro a five-minute walk from my West Village digs ($19, including tip). My most expensive meal: $29 at Central Park Boathouse for fresh-squeezed apple-pear juice, smoked turkey and Gruyère omelet and a ringside view of rowers.
Getting around:
I made extensive use of two "Fun Pass" MetroCards, which cost $7.50 for a day's worth of unlimited bus and subway rides, and walked as much over two days as I usually do in a week. But occasional splurges on cab fares — most memorably, a $20 trip from the Upper East Side to Greenwich Village on an unseasonably sticky afternoon — were worth it.
Entertainment:
Most theater lovers are familiar with the Theatre Development Fund's TKTS booths and their same-day discounts of 25% to 50% on Broadway and off-Broadway shows (the South Street Seaport location has shorter lines and offers next-day matinee tickets to boot). I scored a better deal online, paying $59 including fees through seasonofsavings.com (vs. $86 through the theater) for a matinee mezzanine seat at Broadway's blistering tragicomedy August: Osage County. (TKTS was charging $99 for an orchestra seat, a 25% discount.) That night, I exorcised Osage County's family demons by clapping along at Stomp in the East Village, paying $20 (vs. $69 at the box office) through "20 at 20," a twice-a-year, two-week program that sells off-Broadway tickets for $20, 20 minutes before showtime.
Saturday morning, I rambled through Chelsea and the West Village with Christina Ray Stanton of Big Apple Greeter. Founded in 1992, the organization matches visitors with volunteers who spend two to three hours showing off a favorite corner of the city, and it emphasizes that the free experiences are "visits," not tours. At Chelsea Market, Stanton steered me to brownie samples at Fat Witch Bakery and sour pickles at Friedman's Deli, and we shared a good laugh over a local pet store's copy of Is Your Cat Gay?. (One clue: kitty can "sniff out a knockoff at 20 paces.")
While the Museum of Modern Art waives its $20 entrance fee on Friday nights, the lines to get in can be daunting. I opted for the intriguing Himalayan-themed Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea, where the Friday night fun includes free admission, gallery talks, appetizers and two-for-one cocktails at the K2 Lounge (the $10 momos, or steamed dumplings, were pricey but good). And I channeled my inner New Yorker at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the "suggested donation" is $20, but budget-conscious visitors often pay less. The ticket taker took my $5 without batting an eye, and I celebrated with a $12 pomegranate martini on the museum's rooftop sculpture garden, the city at my feet.
• Big Apple Greeter, 212-669-8159, bigapplegreeter.org
• Rubin Museum of Art, 212-620-5000, rmanyc.org
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, 212-570-7710, metmuseum.org
Lessons learned:
New York may be full of bargains, but Manhattan hotel rates are not among them. Advice for weekend deal hounds: Lower your standards, be willing to stay in other boroughs or the New Jersey suburbs (where three-star hotels have been going for less than $125 a night through Priceline), include a Sunday night stay, or wait for January, when occupancy rates and prices drop.
• Information: 212-484-1200, nycvisit.com
What are your New York savings strategies? Share your best budget tips below.