Where To Stay In NYC: 7 Excellent Areas For A First Visit

We remember exactly how it felt – having no idea about where to stay on our first visit to NYC and being totally overwhelmed. The anxiety of booking a terrible hotel in a sketchy area, miles away from attractions with poor transport links and no atmosphere. That was us back in 2018. We had a low budget and no concept of how to get around the city. But we did okay, staying in a cheap hotel in West Midtown. It wasn’t amazing but it did the trick.

Since then? We’ve stayed at more than 20 hotels throughout our favorite neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn across 10+ trips and 4 months living in NYC from December 2020 to March 2021 – during which time we picked a new hotel in a new area most weekends, so we could learn more about the nuances of staying in each of the popular touristy places. And we definitely found a few hidden gems along the way.

This guide has helped thousands of first-timers figure out where to stay in New York since we first published it in 2021. We’ve kept it updated with minor adjustments over the years, but we’ve given it a complete overhaul for 2026 and beyond. Why? Because trends and neighborhoods change. The city has changed. We want you to pick the best area to stay based on your interests and travel style, not just based on geography.

We’re going to show you the 7 areas we’d happily stay on a first trip to NYC depending on the type of trip we wanted, with pros and cons for each area based on our vast experiences, and a helpful map at the end. Let’s dive in!

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Our Favorite Hotels

If you’re in a hurry or don’t want to read this full guide, here are our top three affordable hotel picks for first-time visitors to New York City based on a perfect blend of location, quality, value for money, previous guest reviews and our own experiences.

🏨 Citizen M Times Square – This seriously affordable hotel has impressive ratings (4.6/5 Google and 8.8/10 Booking), and a superb location just steps from 50 St subway lines, Broadway and Times Square. It’s also under 15 minutes walk to Central Park, and we loved our stay in 2021.

🏨 Archer Hotel – We stayed here in 2022 and it was lovely. It’s got excellent ratings (4.5/5 Google and 8.8/10 Google), a quieter location on 38th Street between Bryant Park and the Empire State Building, and lots of subway lines within 5 minutes walk.

🏨 LUMA – We haven’t stayed here yet but it’s top of our list for next time we book in Midtown. It’s got sky-high guest ratings (4.6/5 Google and 9.1/10 Booking), a near-perfect location next to Bryant Park, and basically every subway line within 2 minutes walk. It’s close to Times Square but far enough back from the chaos.

These are top-quality hotels located in and around Midtown, which is where most first-timers stay. But that doesn’t mean we think they’re the “best” places to stay in NYC. Here’s a quick summary breaking down the areas we cover in this guide:

Area	Best For
Midtown & Times Square	First-timers who want to walk to Broadway.
Nomad & Flatiron	Foodies and people who want to be “centrally cool”.
Central Park & UWS	Families, museum lovers, and Central Park access.
West Village & Chelsea	Romantic, movie-set vibes and the High Line.
SoHo, Nolita & LES	Fashion, nightlife and “Instagrammable” streets.
Lower Manhattan	Value, bigger hotel rooms, and history.
DUMBO & Williamsburg	Skyline views and the “hip” Brooklyn lifestyle.

We hope you love to research and learn about a place before you visit like we do – keep reading to see what we think makes each of New York’s popular neighborhoods a good or bad area to stay for your trip.

In The Middle Of It All: Times Square & Midtown

Okay, let’s kick things off with the most popular area that we think will work best for the majority of first time visitors to NYC – Times Square and Midtown Manhattan. It’s perfect for shorter 1-3 day trips to be in the middle of it all, including walking distance to Broadway, Central Park and NYC observation decks. Plus, this area has a massive amount of hotels ranging from cheap to luxury, so it caters incredibly well to first-timers.

We stayed in Midtown for our first few trips to New York because it was central to major attractions, it had excellent subway links, and connections to JFK or Newark were close by at Grand Central or Penn Station. But we have to be honest – it’s noisy, gimmicky, overcrowded and a full-blown tourist trap. Expect inflated food prices here compared to other areas.

In 2018, we stayed at Arlo Midtown on 38th Street not far from Hudson Yards. It was affordable and had a rooftop bar but the area wasn’t the best. Then in 2019 we stayed at AC Hotel Times Square which had a better rooftop bar, and was a bit closer to the action and subway lines. But it was still on that Midtown West side in the Garment District, which is where a lot of the cheap hotels are located, and they’re cheaper for a reason.

When we moved to NYC in late 2020 and plotted out hotels to stay throughout the city (with a healthier budget – which was important), we decided to stay in the nicer parts of Midtown. That’s when we booked the excellent CitizenM Times Square, and we’d happily book it again if we wanted to be close to Times Square.

Nearby, we’d love to stay at the boutiquey Hotel Scherman on W 46th Street because it’s located in the middle of Restaurant Row (perfect spot for foodies) and has stellar reviews. We also have friends who stayed at the affordable and popular Riu Plaza in the same area who said it was ideal their family trip.

One of the most convenient stays we’ve done in Midtown was at Henn na Hotel on 35th Street. We got off the LIRR from JKF at Penn Station, walked for maybe 7 or 8 minutes and that was it, we were at the hotel. It was also basically next to Best Bagel & Coffee and a 1 minute walk to Liberty Bagels, two of our favorite bagel spots in NYC.

Heading to the bougier southeast side of Times Square near Bryant Park (our favorite part of the area because it’s quieter), we loved our stay at Archer Hotel in 2022 – our room had Empire State views. And next up on our own NYC hotel wishlist is LUMA, which looks like the complete package. But we’d also like to stay at Park Terrace Hotel or Executive Hotel Le Soleil on a mid-range budget, or if money was no object we’d definitely book The Langham – a proper 5 star hotel.

Finally, we haven’t done either (and probably wouldn’t at our age!) but YOTEL Times Square and Pod Times Square are both very popular, super low-budget places to stay if you need the absolute cheapest possible options.

Overall, we think Midtown and Times Square are the best places for most first time visitors to stay in New York because they have three key elements – a central location, unbeatable connectivity to subway lines and airport trains, and a massive range of hotels for any visitor on any budget.

Mark’s return visit tip: If you end up staying in Midtown first, give yourself a day on your NYC itinerary to explore neighborhoods so you know exactly where you want to stay the next time you’re in town.

Smart Insider Area: Nomad & Flatiron

After our first few trips to New York and before we moved to the city, we started gravitating towards Midtown South around Nomad, Flatiron and Chelsea’s eastern border (we cover Chelsea-proper later) for our next few hotels. Despite still being within easy walking distance of subway lines and attractions, it was so much quieter than what we’d experienced anywhere within a 5-block radius of Times Square.

NoMad and Flatiron are more like the real New York to us (business by day, posh bars and lounges by night) compared to the touristy Midtown bubble. It’s low-key, central without the tourist trap feel of Times Square, has a European feel with parks and stunning architecture, there’s a fast-growing list of 5-star boutique hotels, and it’s a massive foodie spot. Overall, we think this part of Manhattan is a smart “insider” place to book a hotel.

MOXY Chelsea was the first hotel we booked in the area back in 2021, it was affordable and right on 6th Ave a few blocks south of the Empire State Building and Macy’s. We liked the quieter location, and just a few buildings down we actually stayed at the Cambria Hotel for a second time in July 2025 – it was one of the only hotels we called by phone to request a crib for our daughter who would actually guarantee that we’d get the crib (rather than it be first come first served).

They were both affordable with great eateries nearby (like NYC Bagel & Coffee House, Loopy’s Korean and Ichiran ramen). But we actually prefer the area of NoMad slightly to the east, so we’d like to stay at Broadway Plaza Hotel near Madison Square Park and 230 Fifth (the most popular NY rooftop bar for tourists). With a higher budget in the same area, we’d also consider staying at The Ned or The Fifth Avenue Hotel – they’re both 5-star hotels.

Two more hotels we’d consider are Arlo NoMad in Koreatown on lower mid-budget, and Hotel Giraffe on Park Ave near Madison Square Park on mid-budget (this is our “wildcard” entry for Midtown South because it’s further from attractions in a very quiet area but it has fantastic ratings).

Overall we’d say Midtown South is perfect if you want a quieter central area with good transport links, and higher-end places to eat and stay. It’s got a nice mix of charm, shopping, eateries and bars that we think works best for couples and families. We’ll admit the walk up 6th Ave or Broadway to reach the touristy area did begin to drag by the end of our trip in July 2025, but we did have our daughter in a stroller which probably made it feel worse than it actually was.

Kristen’s neighborhood tip: A lot of hotels and restaurants on the west side of NoMad have “Chelsea” in the name because they want the buzz word, but they’re actually on the far eastern reaches of the much larger Chelsea neighborhood – which is a long way from the High Line and the famous market.

Quiet Classics: Central Park & Upper West Side

We take a long walk around Central Park every single time we visit NYC, but we’ve only ever stayed this far up Manhattan once – at the luxury boutique 1 Hotel Central Park. It was expensive (we splurged for a night), but the room was wonderful and we had views overlooking the park. It was in early 2021 when we had a Central Park snow day, but the view would be just as great from spring through fall.

Honestly, we really like the quieter, calmer escape of the Upper East Side and Upper West Side – we’ve eaten, shopped, and sat in plenty of bars around these areas over the years. The only two reasons we haven’t done more hotel stays around Central Park are because they’re way more expensive and they’re significantly more isolated from the rest of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Now, you might notice our title above doesn’t include Upper East Side. Well, that’s because there are very few hotel options in the UES – basically it’s a few very expensive 5-star hotels and a few poorly rated 3-star hotels. But the Upper West Side does have three hotels we’d consider booking if we visited NYC with younger kids – The Lucerne on a tighter budget, Hotel Beacon on a mid-range budget or The Wallace with a healthier budget (this one looks lovely).

The very southern part of Central Park (around 59th Street) is home to all the old world classic 5-star hotels like Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz-Carlton, The Pierre and The Plaza (from Home Alone 2). These hotels offer the ultimate luxury, with nightly prices to match. A 5-star boutique hotel we’d love to book is located a touch further south on 56th Street – The Whitby Hotel. It has one of the highest guest ratings in the city, and we enjoyed at very luxe afternoon tea at The Whitby.

But let’s move away from ultra-ritzy and expensive hotels to more affordable hotels offering better value for money on the border between 59th Street at the bottom of Central Park and the top end of the Times Square chaos. The Carnegie Hotel is affordable and polished, the New York Hilton Midtown is a non-flashy but popular choice, The Michelangelo strikes a great balance, and M Social Times Square has a superb rooftop view.

Overall, we’d say the Central Park area is ideal for families or couples who want a quieter, safer New York experience. When our kids are older we’ll stay in this area more often, not just because it’s safe but also because we can wake up and be Central Park instantly. Plus, The Met is our favorite museum in the city, so being this close would be a nice bonus.

Movie Set Aesthetic: West Village & Chelsea

It took us ages to finally get around to really exploring the heart of the West Village and Chelsea because we were so busy ticking off New York’s top attractions during our early trips and the first few months we lived there. Finally, at the end of February 2021 on a sunny but cold day we spent half a day slowly wandering around both areas.

We thought the West Village was the quintessential New York we’d seen in so many movies and tv shows. It doesn’t have those same predictable Manhattan grids, it’s more like London where getting lost is part of what makes it so great. If you’re obsessed with Sex and the City (66 Perry Street) or Friends (corner of Bedford & Grove St), this is the place to stay. It’s got those classic brownstone rows of houses, and jazz cellars rather than broadway shows.

Now, it would be a cool place to stay, but the problem is there’s not many hotels. And because Airbnb is basically banned in NYC, there’s really not much choice for first time visitors. If we were to stay in the West Village, we’d book the Washington Square Hotel or The Marlton Hotel – both are a few minutes walk east from the heart of Greenwich Village.

Chelsea has a fun residential vibe and two major attractions – The High Line and Chelsea Market (Los Tacos No.1 is our absolute favorite). And best of all it’s still within striking distance of touristy Midtown, which would make it a better choice than the West Village if we wanted a downtown feel but also planned to tick off a touristy bucket list.

But the same issue with a lack of hotels applies to Chelsea. There are two hotels with excellent ratings: The Standard High Line and Gansevoort Meatpacking – but they’re expensive and a bit party-focused because they’re in the Meatpacking District. We’d be reluctant to book any of these on a weekend when the city’s most glamorous nightclubs are in full swing. Otherwise there’s only Chelsea Savoy Hotel in the cheap category – or The Maritime Hotel and The Moore in the mid-range budget category. The luxury splurge here would be The Hotel Chelsea.

Overall, we think these areas work well if you’re chasing social media aesthetics or movie scenes, or you’d prefer to stay in a more real and authentic part of the city with locals going about daily life. We’ll definitely stay this side of Manhattan at some point, but we wouldn’t plan to tick off attractions on the same trip. Instead, we’d book foodie tours like this one with stops at famous tv landmarks or this one along the High Line and through Chelsea Market.

Trendy Downtown Vibe: SoHo, Nolita & Lower East Side

Towards the end of the 4 months we spent living in NYC, we found ourselves spending more and more time in SoHo, Nolita and the western edges of Lower East Side. These lively and authentic areas flow into one another and encompass what we like to call the “cool New York” universe. But each mini-area has a different vibe that will suit different people and travel styles.

Here’s what we learned: SoHo is a fashion playground (flagship brands and high-end boutiques), with cast-iron buildings and cobblestones, expensive hotels and pretentious eateries. Nolita is cozy, cute, great for couples and has the best pizza in New York City. And Lower East Side is gritty, raw, and has trash on the street – but it’s arguably the best nightlife spot in the city.

We think families are better off sticking to SoHo or Nolita, but the younger crowd and groups should definitely consider LES if New York is about having fun rather than seeing attractions like Top of the Rock and the top NYC museums. On a future trip to the city, we’d love to spend our time exclusively hanging out in areas like LES to embrace the non-touristy side of the city, which ironically we rarely did when we lived there.

Unlike the West Village and Chelsea, there’s stacks of excellent hotel options in these trendy “downtown” areas. Mark stayed at the highly rated low budget NobleDEN in Little Italy just below Nolita on a boys trip to NYC in May 2024 and thought it was great. We also stayed at CitzenM Bowery in 2022 (after enjoying the CitizenM in Times Square the year before), and it was just as good. These are our two top affordable picks in this central part of the city. We also stayed at Arlo SoHo in 2020 because it was cheap – the hotel was great but it was too far west of the action.

Other excellent hotels that we’d definitely book include SoHo Grand Hotel, The Dominick Hotel or The Mercer in SoHo, The Bowery Hotel slightly north of Nolita, The Ludlow Hotel in LES or Untitled at 3 Freeman Alley next to the CitizenM we booked. But if we really wanted an ultimate luxury splurge on our visit to New York, the luxurious Crosby Street Hotel would be near the top of our list.

Overall, we really like this area for food, drinks, shopping and feeling like we’re in the real New York. But it’s not a good spot for first-timers who are visiting with the sole intention of ticking off attractions because it’s not within easy walking distance of anything. Chinatown is just below Nolita, and it’s another gritty but authentic place for foodies and speakeasies. We’d love to book this original foodie tour through Little Italy and Chinatown, or this true crime foodie tour through the East Village and Little Italy with a retired NYPD detective.

Best Kept Secret: Lower Manhattan

The one place that surprised us most in NYC was Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan). We genuinely thought it was just a boring office district with nothing but Wall Street bankers and mysterious skyscrapers. But honestly, we found so many fun things to do in Lower Manhattan, and the area is undergoing a massive and prolonged growth phase.

We always really look forward to seeing more of Lower Manhattan’s cobblestone streets (Stone Street is one of our favorites for a beer), stunning architecture, hidden gem hole-in-the-wall eateries, up and coming live music bars and riverside piers every time we go back to the city these days.

We know it’s not the first place you think of when considering where to stay in NYC, but take it from us – Lower Manhattan is booming with tourists after brand new modern hotels and shops have been developed in recent years. It has excellent transport links (Fulton Street Station), and it’s walking distance to Brooklyn Bridge and the ferry to Statue of Liberty.

The best part? Most hotels in the area offer discounted rates at weekends when business travelers vacate rooms. This means you can pick up a plush, 5-star room at 4-star rates during the weekends, which is when hotels in Midtown and everywhere else in NYC are most expensive. Check out The Wall Street Hotel and you’ll see what we mean.

So far we’ve stayed at Artezen Hotel which was a wonderful experience (we’d happily stay there again) and Club Quarters Hotel which was also great and had a super location a few minutes walk from 9/11 Memorial – which you have to see. The Beekman is a stunning hotel that we’d love to book in the future, but Mint House at 70 Pine would be top of our list because it has apartments with kitchens that look perfect for longer stays and families with kids.

Overall, we think Lower Manhattan is a total hidden gem for booking hotels as a tourist. Seaport is the aesthetic side with low-rise colorful buildings, harbor views and awesome places to eat out – whereas the Financial District is the skyline side with the NYSE, Oculus and One World Observatory our standout buildings to see.

The Brooklyn View: DUMBO & Williamsburg

We absolutely love Brooklyn, it’s such a cool place to explore. We’ve tasted key lime pies in Red Hook, seen the Green-Wood Cemetery, walked around Prospect Park and shopped on the bustling Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn. But when it comes to booking a hotel as a first timer, there are only two places we’d consider – DUMBO and Williamsburg.

DUMBO is like a movie set, it’s quite literally set underneath the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge on the East River. We’ve spent a lot of time here eating delicious but overpriced food at Time Out Market and snapping photos for our prints store (especially the Manhattan Bridge view on Washington Street). But there’s only one hotel actually in DUMBO, the pricey 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge. It has immense views, with immense nightly prices to match.

If we were desperate for DUMBO but not willing to pay those prices, we’d look a bit further back at areas around Brooklyn Heights or Downtown Brooklyn. The Hampton Inn Brooklyn and Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge are both reasonably priced and 10 minutes walk from DUMBO. They’re also close to one of our favorite hidden gem museums in the city – the NY Transit Museum.

But if we’re being totally honest, our Brooklyn hearts are set on Williamsburg – specifically the areas around Bedford Ave and Berry Street. We could quite happily spent a year living in Williamsburg. It’s more our scene with pubs, hip boutiques, vintage stores, weekend markets, Domino Park and the best view of the Midtown Manhattan skyline.

We stayed at the excellent Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg in March 2021, but we haven’t booked any other hotels yet because our most recent trips have all been to test NY attraction passes, which meant we needed a central Manhattan location. Mark did take the Brooklyn Brewery tour with a friend in May 2024 and it was awesome, but we’re actively planning to stay in Williamsburg again soon.

We’ll likely stay at either The William Vale or The Hoxton – both look superb so it’ll be a tough choice. We also really like the look of The Penny Williamsburg but it’s set further back near Metropolitan Ave subway station and we want those waterfront views. The Penny would work great if you wanted better transport links for access to trendy areas like Bushwick (the murals are cool and the nightlife is wild). The final option we haven’t done but know is popular for solo or budget travelers is Pod Brooklyn Williamsburg.

Overall, as much as we love Williamsburg (and DUMBO), we do think it’s better suited to return visitors who have already done the top attractions and seen the broadway shows. Williamsburg is a fantastic place to stay, but the hotels we like are quite a walk from Bedford Av subway station – the major lifeline for getting into Manhattan.

Mark’s transport tip: If you stay in Williamsburg, take the ferry from North Williamsburg to East 34th St (20 minute walk to Midtown) or Wall Street for Lower Manhattan. It’s much nicer than taking the subway.

NYC Neighborhoods Map

Map key:

• Green – Cheap hotels
• Red – Mid range hotels
• Blue – Luxury hotels

How to use this map: Click the map above to activate, then tap any hotel icon to see more information and book (hotel link in description). See a list of all hotels and arrondissements by clicking the arrow icon in the top left, or see a full version of the map by clicking the “view larger map” icon in the top right.

How to save this map: Click the small star next to the map title – this will add the map to your Google account. Open your Google Maps app, tap “saved”, then tap “maps” and open this map.

Our Top Tips

Here’s a few quick tips we learned about booking accommodation in New York City that could save you a small fortune:

Avoid Thursday-Saturday stays: Hotel prices are significantly lower from Sunday through Wednesday in NYC when compared to Thursday through Saturday stays. We found that Sunday tends to be the absolute cheapest night because business travelers aren’t in town and weekend tourists all checkout. Lower Manhattan is the exception to this rule when Friday through Monday is usually cheaper.

Beat the rush: Book as far in advance as you possibly can to get the best rates in spring, summer, fall and in the few weeks leading up to Christmas. Last minute deals don’t work like they used to, and especially not in a place this popular. When we plan trips to the city nowadays, we book months in advance.

Seasonality: Trust us when we tell you hotels in New York are way cheaper in the off season and shoulder seasons versus summer. Our hotel was noticeably cheaper during our April trip to NYC, and November is another excellent time of year to save money on hotels before the brutal winter cold sets in.

Hotel week: The only time we would risk a last minute booking is if we visited NYC in the winter when it’s way quieter. But honestly, one of the best things to do is take advantage of the annual “hotel week” (which actually runs from early January to mid-February) when many of the city’s top hotels offer huge discounts. It’s freezing cold, but this is when you get a real 5-star hotel at bargain-bin prices.

Events: Be mindful of any events taking place around the time you visit because hotel prices can spike. Consider concerts, sporting events, parades and seasonal events like the NY Marathon (first weekend of November) or UN General Assembly (mid-September)

Hidden fees: We’ve stayed in hundreds of hotels around the world since starting our travel business in 2018, and the one place that angers us the most with hidden fees is NYC. Make sure you check the fine print when booking a hotel – look for amenity fee, city tax, service fee, destination fee, facility fee, or any other type of added fee. Unfortunately, it’s just a part of going to New York.

Getting around: In NYC, being close to a subway station is essential. If you’re planning to take a taxi or uber everywhere, think again. The traffic is outrageous and you’ll lose so much time. Get a metro card and pay $2.90 per trip, you’ll save time and a small fortune.

And finally, we travel for a living so take a look at the ways we book cheaper hotels so you’ve got more money to spend in the city.

Next Steps

We hope our guide on where to stay in NYC has given you a better idea about which neighborhood to book a hotel.

Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments box below, and remember you can schedule a travel planning call with us if you’d like expert help figuring out how to make the most of your trip to New York.

Still researching for your trip?

• Here’s our first time visitor guide for NYC.
• Follow our 4-day NYC itinerary.
• These are our standout NYC experiences.

Finally, if you’ll be heading upstate on the same trip, we recommend reading our New York State travel guide for more helpful tips and advice.

Happy Travels,

Mark and Kristen

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