Have you been wanting to plan a trip to New York? A few weeks ago I got the chance to visit New York with some of my girlfriends and we had an amazing time! It’s easy to feel like everything in New York is expensive, but here are a few tips on How to Save Money in New York on Vacation to help you plan and save on the trip of a lifetime.
This is a Sponsored Post about How to Save Money In New York on Vacation, A Big Thanks to the Residence Inn World Trade Center for providing a place for us to stay!
How to Save Money in New York
1. Research Hotels
We actually stayed at 2 different hotels during our stay in New York but by far our Favorite was the Residence Inn World Trade Center, in fact we wished we would have stayed there for the entire trip. It’s so important to do your research because not every hotel is created equal. The Residence Inn World Trade Center was just recently opened and they were so gracious to invite us to stay with them during our time in New York, everything is brand new and clean! There were 2 Queen Beds in a room (Compared to 2 double at our other hotel) Which is awesome if you have a family with you or you are sleeping more than one person per bed.
It also included a Microwave, Fridge and extra sink which meant we had space for our leftovers after dinner. It’s also centrally located near the World Trade Center Memorial, Century 21 and just a block away from the Fulton Street Subway Station which means you can get anywhere in the city easily.I had actually never stayed in this area of New York, I normally stay in Midtown but there was so much to do in the Financial District and it was easy to take the subway to Midtown so it’s a great option if you’re looking to save a little money and get a lot more value for your dollar!
2. Look for FREE Breakfasts
This is actually something that is NOT included at most New York Hotels so you have to know to watch for it. But in New York you could easily spend $10 per person on a “Cheap” Breakfast so be sure to either bring along your own breakfast bars or look for a Hotel that includes a Free Breakfast. We had a Hot Breakfast Buffet each morning that we stayed at the Residence Inn World Trade Center and it was so nice to have this ready and prepared each morning before we set out on a day of exploring the city.
3. Map Out Your Trip
You can spend a fortune in New York going from place to place if you’re not careful. Most things that look really close can actually be an expensive cab ride once you factor in the travel time and traffic. It’s best to plan out everything you want to do in one area so that you’re using both your time and money efficiently.
I like to use Google Maps, I create a custom map and add in all the locations where we want to go into a saved map. That way I have the addresses for later use, but I can also use that to make an itinerary.
4. Download Subway Apps
You can save a lot of money by opting for the Subway over taking a Cab, make sure you download the Free Subway Map Here or grab a Subway app like the New York Subway MTA Map & Route Planner or City Mapper. These are great because you can enter the destination and use your current location to map out which Subways to take to get there the fastest! These apps are a life saver especially if you plan on visiting different areas of New York on your trip.
I mentioned this earlier, but we had such great luck with the Subways in New York. Our Hotel was right by the Fulton Street Subway Station which is one of the newest subway stations and a central location to getting anywhere in the city.
5. Sign Up for Uber & Share a Ride
Uber is a great alternative to Cabs, you can download the App Here and use the Coupon Code kub37 to get your First Ride for FREE (Up to a $20 Value)! You can also opt to share a ride and pay a flat $10 per person rate which is a great deal!
6. Take advantage of Free Attractions
There are so many things to do in New York that don’t cost anything. Visit the World Trade Center Memorial, Check out Central Park, Visit the Chelsea Galleries, Take a Tour of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (6 daily) or visit the New York Public Library.
Here’s a great list of 40 Free Things to Do in New York!
7. Fill Up on Street Food
New York is known for it’s street food, there are vendors everywhere offering amazing food at reasonable prices. Check out NewYorkStreetFood.com for a list of some of the most popular vendors and to find a place to eat near your current location. You can also check out New York for Foodies, this is Free to Rent from Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited Library if you’re an Amazon Prime Member!
8. Expand Your Area
There are so many cool places to Visit in New York City outside of Times Square, you can save money by avoiding tourist traps when you explore areas like the Chinatown, Tribeca, Greenwich Village and other more locally known communities.
9. Book Shows Last Minute
There is a TKTS Booth in Times Square that sells Discounted Broadway Tickets for up to half price to help fill up theaters. If you aren’t picky about which shows you want to see or where you want to sit this is a fantastic way to get discounted Broadway tickets. You can also check out the Theater Websites a few hours before the shows start. You can often get tickets for reduced rates on the theater’s website or check out websites like BroadwayBox.com.
10. Use the Urban Spoon App
This is one of my Must Have Apps for traveling in New York. Often it can be hard to figure out where to eat and the Urban Spoon App lets you look for restaurants that are near your current location and let’s you choose based on price. This is so useful because it’s often hard to tell from the outside what you’re walking into.
11. Buy a New York Pass
If you are planning to do a lot of New York Attractions like Top of the Rock, The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and more then check out and compare the prices of the New York Pass. This gives you admission in to 80 New York tourist attractions. Keep in mind there’s no possible way to see all of the 80 attractions included in the New York Pass, so take some time to go through the list and pick out the top 8-10 attractions that will save you the most and that you want to visit.
12. Discounted & FREE Museum Admission
It’s a good idea to research all the attractions you want to visit and plan out your trip ahead of time to find out when the best times are to visit each attraction. For example you can get FREE Admission into the Museum of Modern Art on Fridays from 4-8pm (Details Here). Knowing about this ahead of time will help you save by planning these free and discounted time slots into your schedule.
13. Swap Lunch & Dinner
Instead of eating a Fancy Dinner and a Grab and Go Lunch on the streets of New York try switching these up. Most of the restaurants offer a less expensive lunch menu which means you can still get all the benefits of dining at New York City’s best restaurants at a reduced rate. Then opt for local street food or famous New York City Pizza for Dinner!
14. Use Groupon & Living Social
Once you book your trip and you know what dates you’ll be traveling make sure you start stalking the New York Deals from Groupon & Living Social, you can get discounts on all kinds of restaurants, attractions, services and more. Just keep in mind the area of town you will be in, there are often different areas and you don’t want to end up with a $60 cab ride over to a discounted service, that would eliminate your savings.Check out the Groupon New York Deals Here and the Living Social New York Deals Here.
15. Take a Free Food Tour
Check out Free Tours by Foot for a list of Free Walking Tours, You pay what you want to your host at the end of the tour and you get to choose what snacks and options to try along the way. Compared to $45 per tour this is a great way to save money and still get to experience the culture of New York Cusine.
You can also take a Self Guided Food Tour where you and your group visit several eateries on your own. There are some great ideas and suggestions on this page of FREE Self Guided New York Food Tours.
There are so many ways to save in New York, if you just spend a little time planning out your trip and researching the best options for everything you want to do you can save so much more than if you just walk up to each attraction the day of. If you have any tips and tricks for saving money in New York I’d love to hear them, just leave a comment below!