Top 5 Tips & Tricks for Your Trip to NYC
When should I book my flights? How do I plan my trip? Where should we stay? What is there to do?
There are so many questions that are left unanswered after you have made the decision to visit NYC. We have answered them all below, to make preparing for your trip to NYC a little bit less stressful. We have been to NYC over 12 times and know what stressed us the first few times we made the trip. To spare you the trouble, check out our list of top 5 tips & tricks for your NYC trip below!
Planning your trip to NYC – top 5 tips & tricks
A relaxed vacation always starts with good planning. Nothing is more annoying than to find out shortly before your departure that you have forgotten something important. We have put together a list of the best travel tips for your trip to make sure that you can kick back, relax, and just be excited about your trip with everything taken care of. We have flown to New York City more than once a year since 2001 so we have been using this checklist ourselves.
NYC on a budget – How to save money!
One of the first tips and tricks we want to show you is how you can save money on your trip to NYC. Personally, we didn’t figure this little trick out until out 4th or 5th trip to NYC, meaning that we could have spent a lot of money if we had known about it. NYC offers a number of attraction passes, which allow you to pay a one time flat-rate to visit the most popular NYC attractions. This allows you to save up to 70% compared to purchasing the regular admission tickets! If you plan to do any sightseeing in NYC at all, even if it is only 3 attractions, there is a pass that can save you money. Check out our savings calculator here, or click below to find out more about the attraction passes!
4-5 months before – Book your sports tickets!
Going to a sports games is one of the most exciting activities on offer in NYC! The atmosphere is amazing and watching one of the world-famous NYC teams play is definitely an experience you will not be forgetting anytime soon. New York has a lot to offer: The Yankees, Knicks, Mets, Rangers, Nets & Giants all call NYC their home. The demand, however, is also high and so you should make sure that you buy the tickets around 4 to 5 months in advance if you can. This will save you some serious cash!
2-3 months before – Time to book your flights!
A very common question that we get asked all the time, is when to book your flights to New York City. Speaking from our personal experience, we have often found that booking flight and hotel separately can save you some money. There are at times special flight & hotel package offers which do indeed allow you to save money, but these are few and far in between. We recommend that you book your flights around 2-3 months before your travel date, as studies have shown this is when they tend to be cheapest. For more tips, check out our article below. In it, we disclose all of our secrets on securing the cheapest possible flights like what apps we use to track prices and which day of the week you should book your tickets!
Choose a Tuesday as your departure date, your flights will be cheaper
1 month before – Book your hotel
When is the best time to book your hotel? Many studies conducted by airlines and hotel operators have shown that it is particularly convenient if your starting date falls on Tuesday. If you can make that work, play around with that day. Booking your hotel only a month in advance may also seem to close to your date of travel, however, it has been shown that this is the best time to book your hotel because prices will be at their lowest. We do recommend you keep an eye on the hotels you have in mind though as there can be exceptions to this rule! For more tips on hotels, check out the articles below.
Cheap Hotels in NYC: 24 AMAZING Places to Stay in 2024
The 53 Best Hotels in New York with a View in 2024 | The COMPLETE Guide
2 weeks before – Research!
New York City can be quite overwhelming if you haven’t planned out what you want to do beforehand. We tried this on our second trip because we thought we would end up seeing more of the city, just the opposite happened, however. We ended up spending at least a few hours a day researching what we wanted to do next or where we wanted to eat. We weren’t happy with that and decided to do our third trip differently. It took us a few trips to find the perfect balance between planning everything and having the flexibility to do something else based on the weather that day, for example.
To make planning your trip easier we created a free tool for you: myNY. With it, you can add a bunch of attractions and restaurants to your list. This way, once you are in NYC, all you have to do is pick a few that are close together, drag them to the right day and you are all set to go and explore! To find out more about myNY, check out the link below!
Even more tips & tricks!
For more tips & tricks, check out some of the articles below. The more you have sorted before the start of your trip, the more you can relax and explore once you get to NYC! Below you will find our top articles on things that you can book in advance, to make your vacation much easier and stress free.
New York Airport Transfers: The Complete Guide
New York Deals
The 41 Absolute Best New York Attractions In 2024
Best Restaurants & Bars NYC | The Overview
