Where to Stay in New York City

Finding your Bearings in New York City

New York City consists of 5 large districts, which are known as boroughs:

• Manhattan: includes Downtown, Midtown and Uptown (subdivided into further neighborhoods)
• Brooklyn: includes Williamsburg, DUMBO and Dyker Heights, among others
• Queens: includes Long Island City, Astoria and Flushing, among others
• Bronx: includes East Bronx, West Bronx and Parkchester, among others
• Staten Island: includes Port Richmond and Midland Beach, among others

If you’re traveling to New York City for sightseeing, Manhattan is your only real option. All the most famous and important attractions of New York City are located here.

That’s why a hotel in Manhattan is the best place to stay in New York City for first-time visitors.

Where to Stay in New York City? The Best Areas on a Map

The most important thing to consider when deciding where to stay in New York is the location. The best places to stay in New York City depend on how long you’re visiting and what you plan to do.

No matter which neighborhood you choose, always make sure there’s a subway station nearby.

So, where to stay in New York City? We recommend these areas:

• Midtown Manhattan: ideal for first-time visitors to New York City
• Chelsea & Greenwich Village: an authentic part of Manhattan in NYC
• Brooklyn: the best alternative to Manhattan
• Queens & Jersey City: great, if you want to spend less money

For better orientation, we have marked the 4 best areas to stay in New York City on a map – as well as some important attractions.

In the next sections, we’ll take a look at each of these areas to help you find the right one for you.

Where to Stay in Midtown Manhattan

Midtown is the best place to stay if it’s your first time in New York, you want to see as many sights as possible in a short time, and you’d like to avoid long travel times.

This part of town is perfect for about 90% of New York visitors. Midtown is not only the most popular district for finding hotels, but also the part of the city with the largest selection of hotels in every price range.

Here you are within walking distance of many of the most important and well-known attractions: 5th Avenue, Times Square, famous  museums in New York City, Top of the Rock, Central Park and the Empire State Building.

From Midtown, you can explore the city easily on foot and get to all other parts of the city from there.

All major subway lines run through Midtown, so you never have to walk very far to the next station.

Pros of staying in Midtown:

• centrally located
• well-connected
• huge selection of hotels in every price range
• many attractions are within walking distance

Cons of staying in Midtown:

• an area for tourists, not locals
• the density of cool restaurants is lower than in the other neighborhoods
• the many tourists on the street can sometimes be exhausting
• noise level (when booking a hotel, make sure that the reviews don’t complain about too much noise)

Our hotel recommendations for Midtown Manhattan

Our favorite hotel in New York is citizenM in Times Square, offering excellent value for money in a perfect location.

Each hotel only has a single room category, and all the rooms have the same layout with super-modern furnishings. We’re total fans of citizenM and would recommend the hotel to anyone.

A great alternative is the Pod in Times Square. We’ve stayed here before and can highly recommend it as well.

Where to Stay in Chelsea & Greenwich Village

Chelsea and Greenwich Village are ideal places to stay in NYC if you want to experience the city shown in many TV shows and movies.

Chelsea is still part of Midtown Manhattan, while Greenwich Village is already part of Downtown Manhattan.

Both areas are teeming with life. You can expect street musicians, record shops and book stores, the sandstone houses typical of New York and small restaurants.

Chelsea and Greenwich Village simply have that iconic New York vibe.

Personal tip from us: either visit one of the comedy clubs in Greenwich Village or walk through the neighborhood with a coffee-to-go. So cool!

Pros of staying in Chelsea & Greenwich Village:

• you’re right in the middle of New York life
• large selection of great restaurants in every price range
• large selection of very stylish hotels
• You can quickly get to the South (Wall Street, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty) and Midtown by subway
• You can feel like you’re in the cool New York movies
• There are lots of great, alternative photo spots

Cons of staying in Chelsea & Greenwich Village:

• the attractions in Midtown are no longer within walking distance
• it can get noisy in the evenings and at night, especially at weekends (when booking, make sure that others have not complained about this)

Our hotel recommendations for Chelsea & Greenwich Village:

The hotels in Chelsea and Greenwich Village are really cool. We particularly like the SpringHill Hotel. The rooms are spacious, bright and offer a great view over New York. There are also breakfast options, family rooms and private parking options.

Where to Stay in Brooklyn

Brooklyn is perfect if you’ve already seen NYC’s top highlights and want to explore its surroundings and alternative spots.

Brooklyn is huge. A total of 2.7 million people live here. That’s as many as in Rome, the eighth-largest city in Europe.

If you are looking for hotels in Brooklyn, you should therefore consider the exact location and its connection to Manhattan. All of our recommended hotels in Brooklyn are well-located with good connections.

The trendiest neighborhoods in Brooklyn are Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick.

If you’re into street art, trendy stores, great restaurants, and NYC’s best clubs, Brooklyn is for you.

However, if you mainly want to visit the classic sights in Manhattan, then we would advise against staying in Brooklyn. The daily commute to Manhattan is simply too long.

Pros of staying in Brooklyn:

• you stay where the locals live
• plenty of restaurants, bars and stores for every budget
• hotel prices are cheaper than in Manhattan
• a great area for young people

Cons of staying in Brooklyn:

• you have to drive to all the major attractions
• depending on where you stay in Brooklyn, the connection to Manhattan may not be as good

Our hotel recommendations for Brooklyn:

We particularly like the Penny Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The price-performance ratio is good, the rooms are very comfortably furnished and the hotel has its own restaurant and bar.

Where to Stay in Queens & Jersey City

Queens and Jersey City are the right New York areas for you if you’re on a budget and looking for a cheap hotel in New York. And you’re not even far off the beaten track.

Queens is on the other side of the East River. Jersey City is located outside of New York on the other side of the Hudson River and is no longer officially part of New York.

Both districts are very well-connected to Manhattan. You can be in Manhattan Midtown in 15 minutes by subway.

Which area is better: Queens or Jersey City? To be honest, it doesn’t matter. You’re mainly there to spend the night. You hardly spend any time in the area. Queens is more typical of New York, Jersey City is considered a bit sterile. If we were you, we would mainly look at where you can find a cheaper hotel.

Pros of staying in Queens or Jersey City:

• you get more for your money than in Manhattan
• you pay less, but are still very close to the most important sights
• you can enjoy the view of the New York skyline

Cons of staying in Queens or Jersey City:

• located outside of Manhattan
• you’ll always need to take the train to reach the main attractions.

Our hotel recommendations for Queens & Jersey City:

The LIC Plaza in Queens is our favorite among the hotels outside of Manhattan. You pay significantly less here than in the city center and still don’t have to miss out on anything. The connection to Manhattan is really good.

Our tips for Booking a Hotel in New York

Finally, we’ll give you a few general tips for booking a hotel in New York.

#1 Keep an eye on New York hotel prices

Considering New York’s exorbitant real estate prices, it’s no wonder that budget hotels are so scarce. If you want to spend as little as possible on your accommodation in New York and you don’t mind the commute, check out our article on affordable hotels in New York,

But if you’re more like us and enjoy a comfortable hotel (at a fair price!) and love being in the center of the action, then this is the perfect post for you.

But let’s talk room rates: You rarely get a decent hotel room for less than 300 euros in Manhattan.

The lowest room rates are available in January, February, and August. Rooms are the most expensive during the peak seasons, e.g. April, May, September, and October.

However, prices vary enormously – sometimes from one day to the next.

Our tip: it’s really worth keeping an eye on the prices of the hotels you particularly like in New York over several weeks. Prices vary greatly depending on the time of day and day of the week. If you book when prices are low, you can easily save 100 to 200 dollars.

#2 Bear in mind the resort fees

The resort fee (also known as the destination fee or facility fee) is an additional fee that many hotels in New York City and other US cities charge on top of the room rate. This fee is often justified as the cost of certain amenities such as Wi-Fi, access to the gym, a daily newspaper or other extras.

The fee is usually between 20 and 50 dollars per night. Sometimes even more. And it is charged regardless of whether you use the services offered or not.

That sounds super cheeky (and it kind of is), but it’s common practice in the USA. Only in the rarest of cases do New York hotels not charge a resort fee. And unfortunately you can’t avoid them either.

#3 Quality vs. price

If you pay attention to good reviews when booking, you can’t really go too far wrong. But there are a few things you should know: New York hotels are small. And when we say small, we mean small.

It doesn’t quite come close to the tiny hotels in Japan, but we’re talking about 15 square meters with a room price of around 300 euros, depending on the location.

This brings us to our general tip on luggage: Pack light and minimalistic.

We show you how we do this in our packing list for city trips. That way, you won’t have the problem of not being able to fit your luggage into small rooms.

Book early

An important tip for finding a place to stay in New York is to book as early as possible. The metropolis is a popular destination for tourists all year round.

Especially in the peak travel season, many hotels book up quickly and you end up having to take whatever is left.

These are the hotels we recommend that do not charge resort fees (as of March 2025):

• CitizenM
• Civilian Hotel
• SpringHill Hotel
• Henry Norman Hotel (250 USD deposit required, refundable on departure)
• LIC Plaza Queens (100 USD deposit required. Refund on departure)

These were our top picks for where to stay in New York

Do you know a good place to stay in New York City? Or do you have a question about areas to stay in NYC? Then write us a comment. We look forward to hearing from you!