New york pass and hop on hop off bus

[sumthinfornuthin]

we are going to New York in august. Has anyone had experience of these Passes and bus. ?? are the good value ?? Do they operate as they say they do ?? Is there much queing at the attractions ??

Any help and tips appreciated as I have no idea and are flying blind as we have never been to NY or east coast before. THANKS

where is a good place to stay to be reasonably central and convenient and not have to stress at night ?? Is it safe to walk at night ??

 

[Daver6]

My mother used one of those several years ago and was happy with it.

When I was in NYC with my wife, we just purchased a 7 day subway pass for roughly $30. I would highly recommend that for general convenience.

As for walking around at night...we did it and felt perfectly safe. I think if you just use common sense you should be fine. We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton in mid-town. Far from a fancy hotel, but convenient enough location. Rooms were smallish, but it is NYC after all.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

There's a double decker bus pass that is valid for a 24/48/72/96 hour period where you can do an uptown loop or downtown loop & there is a guide doing live commentary which is always very interesting. You could start midday & do the uptown tour in the arvo then the downtown tour the next morning.
Double Decker Bus Tours of NYC

There is also a service called www.bigapplegreeter.org where local New Yorkers take you on a personalised tour around the city. This is a free service & they have a no tipping policy however if you were having lunch or a snack somewhere it would be a nice gesture to shout them. You need to give at least 4 weeks notice for this or more during Easter, Xmas & summer holidays.

We stayed at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tribeca which is right above Chambers St subway station, close to ground zero & about 4 stops on the subway from South Ferry where you alight for the Liberty cruises trip to the Statue of Liberty. Do this early in the morning & expect airport style security procedures prior to boarding the ferry ie leave your swiss army knife back at the hotel.

 

[yo yo ma]

I used the bus in October last year and found them good - they run very frequently. I found it strange that the tour guide expected a tip each time you exit the bus. I went with my family and we walked around at 10pm a few nights with no problems at all - felt very safe. We stayed at the Affinia Manhattan becuse I was able to get a 2 bedroom apartment and found them very good.

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

Thanks guys, all good especially the NY Greeter iinfo. i will follow that up

 

[Flying Fox]

Have used the New York City Pass and it was great. You get to use the short lines for things like Empire State which would have saved us at least an hour in the queue. Same for other attractions so I think it's a winner.

We stayed at the Best Western Presidential (there's not much presidential about it) on the corner of W48th St & 8th Ave. great location near Times Sq and Broadway. Public transport is located near.

Walking at night was safe and as others say, use common sense.

My personal tip is to buy a 7 day unlimited subway pass. We simply got on and off as often as we wanted and it only cost about $24 (from memory).

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Sprucegoose]

There's the citipass as well.

Do the empire state at night with headphones tour, a great introduction to a great city.

Century 21 down near ground zero is good for shopping. Get your discount card from Macy's 10% off for tourists.

They reckon the decline in violence in NYC is due to roe v wade.......

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

thanks
1) you think the subway is better than the Hop on Hop off Bus ??

2( roe v wade ??

All good tips & stuff greatly appreciated

 

[Flying Fox]

thanks

1) you think the subway is better than the Hop on Hop off Bus ??

In the interests of full disclosure, I've never done the Hop-on-Hop-off Bus. However, I've heard it's prett expensive for 24 or 48 hrs and any hotel concierge could give you a city tourist map with all the good stuff on it and hence you can subway it all. Also get yourself a subway map.

My funny experience was that with my subway map I was helping locals get to their destinations. I'm guessing that they know how to get from home to work but everything else for them is an unknown

 

[ozbeachbabe]

The funny thing is before going to NY I thought it would be one of the hardest cities to find my way around because of its size however all the avenues go from east to west & streets from north to south so you may well find yourself getting around town without actually having to look at your map.

 

[Robert K]

Definitely go with the pass. Subway would be the way to go. It's so cheap it's rediculous. I recommend the AKA hotels.
They have a few locations including one street bak from central park and times square. They're more like serviced apartment. I think their site is stayaka.com

Recommend takin the bus tours.

 

[Pushka]

The funny thing is before going to NY I thought it would be one of the hardest cities to find my way around because of its size however all the avenues go from east to west & streets from north to south so you may well find yourself getting around town without actually having to look at your map.

I know exactly what you mean. Mention a street name in NYC and you will know exactly where it is. As opposed to stupid street names in Adelaide whgere even main roads change their name when they cross another street.

The hop on hop off bus is good. Very easy to get a feel of the city using it. Very frequent buses. And as everyone using it are tourists, everyone's very chilled.

The subway is pretty complex.

We did a day trip to Washington. Caught an early morning train and got there just after 9. Did the Washington HoHo buses and toured all the main monuments. The Smithsonian's are free, and the Space one is amazing. Got back to NYC around 10pm. We did this after our NYC nicks basketball game was cancelled the night before due to asbestos - wanted to see the Madison Square Gardens stadium for years and the only night we could go it was closed. Opened a couple of days later. Unions!!!

Tourist NYC is extremely safe even at midnight. Police everywhere and they are friendly and approachable and love having their photo taken. Because they are everywhere they are not needed.

Check out the Pearl just off Times square. We stayed there the week it first opened about 18 months ago. So brand new building. The hoho bus is just around the corner as is Times Square and Hershey's! A convenience grocery store two doors away that sells proper food, salads and Pizzas that are in containers and are taken away, or eaten there. The pearl has microwaves in your room, which are HUGE. And free drinkies at night time. There is a Broadway theatre on the same street and we walked to the theatre showing Phantom. And very quiet at nighttime.

 

[thommo9]

+1 for the subway. Riding the subway, what's more New York than that! The routes were easy to navigate (even for a first timer like me) and very easy to use.

Another +1 for the New York Pass. Express entry to many sights and easily paid for its self by the time I had been to the places we saw.

 

[QF029]

If you can spare a little bit more time, the buses are very easy to navigate using the avenues (usually one way) and the cross streets. As a tourist I love to look out the windows and see what's around. FWIW NYC is similar to London in that way.

 

[blackcat20]

If you can spare a little bit more time, the buses are very easy to navigate using the avenues (usually one way) and the cross streets. As a tourist I love to look out the windows and see what's around. FWIW NYC is similar to London in that way.

The buses are a great way to get an idea of where everything is, and get a quick look at the main attractions. After that, the subway is a quick and easy way to get where you need to go. However, I really enjoyed just walking; you see a lot of things and find some interesting places that youd miss if you were on the subway/bus. I managed to walk right into the filming of The Good Wife a couple of years ago wandering down some random street
The only downside is finding some great place to eat, but never being able to find it again because you have no idea what it was called or where it was even located...

 

[rechoboam]

New York palace hotel in midtown is unique, close to Rockefeller centre, 5th avenue and broadway. It's Chuck Basses and the Van den Whatstheirnames old house which you may understand if you have teenagers. (if you don't understand count yourself lucky).

Very safe walking at night I find, although there are restaurant touts, rip-off jewellery merchants in the street at various times who you should avoid. It's not as bad as Europe but there are scams in the street. I certainly encountered no threatening situations

The pass is useful, even in a quiet season we beat the queues. I think you can use it At Top of the Rock and make sure you don't miss that.

 

[codash1099]

The buses are a great way to get an idea of where everything is, and get a quick look at the main attractions. After that, the subway is a quick and easy way to get where you need to go. However, I really enjoyed just walking; you see a lot of things and find some interesting places that youd miss if you were on the subway/bus. I managed to walk right into the filming of The Good Wife a couple of years ago wandering down some random street
The only downside is finding some great place to eat, but never being able to find it again because you have no idea what it was called or where it was even located...

I totally agree. The Hop on/hop off bus is the way to go at least for the first day or two. While more expensive than the subway, you get to see a lot more and are better oriented with regard to where things are. You will also see things that you wouldn't bother taking the subway to. After the initial period, I got a weekly subway pass - cheap if you are moving around a lot.

I last stayed at the Doubletree on Times Square - perfectly positioned. Rather than a city pass of any sort, I just pre-purchased "jump the queue" tickets to whatever I wanted to see. Viator have some of these grouped. And IMO views from the Rockefeller Centre beat those from the Empire State.

 

[Pushka]

Loved the Rockefeller View. We spent ages there. Just don't do what we did and joined the long queue outfront. That was for buses but they dont tell you that. As a couple or single you can just walk straight in and go down and purchase your tickets.

We were there when they were filming "Man on a Ledge" on the Roosevelt Hotel Ledge. Captured a car chase on my camera. Man they get really cranky when you try to walk across the road (which is part of their set!)

 

[zig]

Another vote here for the subway over the HOHO bus. The traffic in NYC is what creates difficulties for the bus, you find yourself getting very frustrated sitting on a bus going nowhere very slowly. If you are keen to do it, I would suggest just the 24 hour pass, and after that hit the subways, or walk. NY is the easiest city to navigate around. Hopstop is a great app to download to assist with the subway routes etc.

 

[rechoboam]

Another vote here for the subway over the HOHO bus. The traffic in NYC is what creates difficulties for the bus, you find yourself getting very frustrated sitting on a bus going nowhere very slowly. If you are keen to do it, I would suggest just the 24 hour pass, and after that hit the subways, or walk. NY is the easiest city to navigate around. Hopstop is a great app to download to assist with the subway routes etc.

Loved the subway. You cover so much ground quickly. We quickly moved from cabs to subway. So envious of NYC, Tokyo and (can't believe I'm saying this) even London where you can have a few drinks and get home quickly and safely by train.