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So far, I’ve shared what we did on the first three days of our budget trip to New York and today, I’m going to share our last full day with you. Trust me, it was a good day!
Seeing as we did more than we’d expected on day 2, we’d actually ticked just about everything off of our New York bucket list by this point so I decided to go with plan b for today which was to head to the American Museum of Natural History.
I was convinced the kids would love it as it looked like so much fun in the Night at the Museum films so, despite their protests, I put my foot down and told them we were going as soon as we’d finished our posh hotel breakfast which was made up of leftover cake and melon from the night before.
The museum has a ‘pay what you want policy’ which I won’t go into detail about as I shared it in my five frugal things post when I got home but basically, we paid $20 to get in which was a bargain.
Aside from the famous T-Rex skeleton, there was absolutely nothing in that museum that the kids were interested in. They tried to pretend for my sake but they weren’t very good at it so we decided to cut our losses and head across the road to Central Park.
We had hot dogs for lunch from a cart in the park and then went for a stroll past the great lawn and got totally lost as we were heading to the Bethesda fountain area but found ourselves at the opposite end of the park somehow. We decided not to head back to the other end of the park and instead, we thought we’d call an Uber to get back to the hotel but we were in such a busy location that we needed to walk a bit further away from the park so it was safe for the Uber to stop.
What happened next was bizarre! We walked past a crowd of people outside a hotel called The Mark and it turned out that they were waiting for Meghan Markle who was having her baby shower there. As we stood there trying to figure out whether it was worth waiting to catch a glimpse over the tops of everyone’s heads, the security team moved a load of people off the road and somehow, we ended up right at the front as it was all the people in front of us who got moved. We were right at the point that they were OK with people standing so we ended up right at the front just in time to see her coming out of the hotel.
After our princess spotting adventures, we got an Uber back to the hotel where we had a quick relax and warm before heading out to Fifth Avenue for some long-awaited shopping time. Miss Frugal bought herself some jeans and some make-up from Sephora but that was with her own pocket money that she’d saved up so I’m not going to count that. I bought myself some Dior lip gloss from Sephora and a super cute water bottle from Barnes and Noble which I will count as that came out of our budget. 😉
We had a good look at the handbag themed windows in Saks Fifth Avenue and wandered over to the Rockefeller Centre to watch the ice skating for a while.
We had to head back to the hotel after that though as I’d booked a table at Serendipity for Frozen Hot Chocolate! Frozen Hot Chocolate is something Miss Frugal and I loved as a treat last time we visited New York and I really wanted Master Frugal to have the same experience. It’s not cheap but it was a memorable treat – Serendipity is a gorgeous little place that’s been in quite a few films and it’s famous for it’s Frozen Hot Chocolate…
We then walked back to the hotel stopping at the supermarket for drinks and a couple of sandwiches for later that night in case we got hungry as we hadn’t had actual food since our lunchtime hot dogs.
Uber to the museum$15 Entry to the museum$20 Lunch $15 Uber back to the hotel$12 Shopping $45 Serendipity$40 Supermarket $25
Not our cheapest day of the trip but still not bad when you consider we had some extra special treats.
In case you’ve missed my last few New York on a Budget posts, you can catch up here:
New York on a budget – day 1
New York on a budget – day 2
New York on a budget – day 3
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So how much spending money do you need for four days in New York? Adding up the breakdown of this post, I would advise £560 per person including your accommodation (based on staying at the Hotel Penn) or £900 per person if you wanted to include your flight to New York.
If you're planning a trip to New York City and want to budget for 4 days, read on for the breakdown. It's not the cheapest place to visit, but you can definitely do a lot even without spending too much. To see how we did it, refer to our Christmas itinerary here. In total, we spent $1,235 per person for 4 days.
If you plan to stay at a 5-star hotel and dine at upscale restaurants in Manhattan, then a budget of $1000 is definitely not going to cut it. However, if you book a mid-tier hotel and take advantage of the many free things to do in New York, then a budget of $1000 is just fine.
With 5 days in NYC, there's enough time to see all the major sites and landmarks and really get to know the city. A lot of the activities and attractions mentioned in this post are included on The New York Pass–save money on admission to dozens of the most popular attractions in NYC is included for one low price.
If visitors are cautious about planning their travel, accommodations, transportation and itinerary, it is absolutely possible to visit New York City on a budget and still have a great time. Here are some tips on how to successfully do New York City on $100 a day.
Lunch figure $10-15/person assuming sandwiches, pizza, salads or ethnic (Chinese, Thai, Indian etc.) Dinner figure $20-30person without drinks for casual or prix fixe meals. Add this up to $45/person/day WITHOUT drinks and I'm including sodas in that.
While 4 days is a great amount of time for an introduction to NYC, know that you won't be able to see and do everything you want to on one trip. New York is such a large city that you could spend a lifetime here and still never run out of things to do.
Yes just for one. Mainly food, drink, a couple of museums/galleries and the odd taxi. Should be plenty. Food and drinks can be surprisingly inexpensive in New York depending on where you go.
Yes it's enough. Many people spend far less than that. Some people spend more. You will just have to be mindful of your expenses, especially at bars and restaurants.
My advice is to keep the cash low per day, get more when you need it from your bank's ATM. New York is a an expensive city. If you include hotel rates, transportation, dining, and maybe a show or two think in terms of about $1,000 a day average.
The weather becomes warm and mild, usually without the unpleasant humidity of summer – May is perhaps the best month for New York City weather. Broadway perks up again as shows open in advance of the June Tony Awards. In late May, uniformed sailors fan out on the town as Navy vessels dock on the Hudson for Fleet Week.
If visitors are cautious about planning their travel, accommodations, transportation and itinerary, it is absolutely possible to visit New York City on a budget and still have a great time. Here are some tips on how to successfully do New York City on $100 a day.
As a rough estimation, budget $50-100 per person for each day that you will be away. This should cover your accommodation, food, drink and transportation costs.
Introduction: My name is Dean Jakubowski Ret, I am a enthusiastic, friendly, homely, handsome, zealous, brainy, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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