New York on pocket change

We’re more wilderness people than City slickers. We love the mountains, the hiking, the wildlife, but we couldn’t go past the great the concrete jungle without stopping in for a little adventure.

With a caravan in tow it’s always a problem for us coming to the big Cities and that’s before we’ve considered cost. But if there’s a way to do and see the best of New York on a fraction of the budget we’ll find a way!

When we started looking at accommodation we were looking at least $150 for the cheapest inner City Manhattan hotel or hostel, plus booking fee and taxes the bill would have come to about $200US a night, $400US for two nights.

Then there’s transport to consider. The Greyhound bus from our campsite (where we could leave the trailer parked for free) was going to cost $65US each for a return trip.

If we drove in there is a $15 toll to go under the New Jersey to New York tunnel and parking I saw for $12 a half an hour!

Already we were looking at $530U.S to see New York over two days. That’s not including eating out and attractions (Empire State $35, Statue of Liberty $18 etc), so roughly about $600-$700U.S dollars for two days. That kind of money usually lasts us a month!

WHAT NEW YORK ACTUALLY COST US

Accommodation $90

Transport: bus and metro $100

Food $26

Attractions: Statue of Liberty $70

Two postcards $2

Total $288

HOW WE DID IT

We found a Days Inn hotel outside of the City in Parsippany for $90 (all taxes etc included) and caught a bus in for $10 one way ($40 each for two days was more expensive than we thought but still a cheaper alternative).

We decided to stay one night to save money but go into New York for the two full days.

Food. Easy. We always take our own. We took in tuna, crackers, fruits, bread, banana chips and muesli bars bought from Walmart. We didn’t eat out except for some $1 pizza slices which were a real New York experience for so cheap!

As we walked by coffee shops we craved iced coffees but they were about $8. Instead we went into a 7/11 and bought one large filter coffee, some milk and an extra cup for about $3 and made two large ice coffees which we walked around with.

Transport. Even easier. By foot! We walked 20km on our first day in New York. If we didn’t walk we wouldn’t have stumbled upon so many New York gems. We stumbled on Grand Central Station on the way to the Chrysler building and we walked down 5th Avenue by accident on our way from the Empire State building and then happened upon the Flatiron building.

Attractions. You can see everything in New York for free.

Times Square

Empire State building

Grand Central Station

Washington Square

Flat Iron Building

Fifth Avenue

One World Building

Twin Towers 9/11 Memorial

Walk Brooklyn Bridge

From here this is where we put $20 on a metro card and took the metro to Central Park.

I do think you should do something ‘touristy’ in New York, for me it was going to see the Statue of Liberty, I also wanted the great view of the City. Back on our transatlantic cruise in May we won $400 in the Casino and saved the money for little ‘extras’ on our trip (So far it’s gone towards white water rafting in Yellowstone $70, Niagara Falls $50, our New York Accommodation $90, the Statue of Liberty $70 and Mammoth Cave $52).

So go and treat yourself to something special in New York, it might be a bird’s eye view from the Empire State Building or it might be a horse and carriage ride through Central Park.

On our second day we walked the Skyline Trail and went to the Chelsea Markets