New York is an iconic destination, but it can certainly come with a price tag! But don’t worry, we’re here to share all the ways you can save money on your New York trip, and enjoy yourself to the max without emptying your bank account.
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1. Find the cheapest way to arrive in New York from the airport
New York is served by three airports, John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK), Newark Liberty Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
Since only the first two have direct flights from the UK, let’s just run through the cheapest way to get into the city form both of them. Clue: it’s not a New York taxi, sorry!
JFK Airport
AirTrain and subway - $11.40 / £9
First, you’ll need to get the AirTrain which takes passengers from inside JFK airport to one of two stations outside it – Jamaica and Howard Beach Stations.
The journey costs $8.50 / £6.75 and you can pay for it using contactless, or by using an OMNY card or MetroCard.
Next, catch the subway from either Jamaica Station or Howard Beach Station. A single subway ride is $2.90 / £2.30 and you can pay the same way as you do the AirTrain.
- From Jamaica, you can take the E line to Queens and Midtown, or the J or Z lines to Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.
- From Howard Beach, you can take the A line to Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.
Different subway lines will be quicker or slower and walking transfer times can vary, so just check which route suits you the best.
AirTrain and train - from $13.50 / £10.70
Take the AirTrain to Jamaica Station. From here, you can travel to the centre of New York on the LIRR (Long Island Railroad), which runs through central Manhattan and can be quicker. It stops at Penn Station and Grand Central, then Atlantic in Brooklyn and on to Long Island.
Your ticket for the AirTrain costs $8.50 £6.75. For the LIRR train, either get a single ticket – which will depend on your destination and time of travel – or a CityTicket which is a flat-rate ticket for one-way journeys and costs $7 / £5.50 (peak) or $5 / £4 (off peak).
Newark Airport
AirTrain and train - from $11.95
Take the AirTrain from Newark airport to Newark Airport train station. The journey costs $8.50 / £6.75, but when you buy an NJ transit or Amtrak ticket for the onward journey, it covers the AirTrain portion so you don’t have to pay it.
From Newark Airport train station, you can get an NJ transit or Amtrak train to either
- New York Penn Station in Manhattan ($16.80 / £13.30 single fare), from where you can catch the subway to your destination
or
- Newark Penn Station in Newark ($11.95 / £9.46 single fare) – and yes it sounds very similar so don’t get caught out! From here you can take a PATH train to Jersey City and Hoboken, as well as a bunch of stops in Manhattan ($3 / £2.35) single fare – pay with contactless or a MetroCard).
Whether you want to go to New York Penn Station and take the subway, or get a PATH train from Newark Penn, will depend on exactly where you’re staying.
Both Google Maps and Citymapper can help you figure out the best route to take, and CityMapper will show you costs too.
Looking for more affordable things to do in New York?
Browse The Best Things to Do in New York for Every Budget
2. Stay outside of Manhattan
For cheaper accommodation, you’ll want to look beyond just Manhattan. And sadly, even spots like Brooklyn that were once pretty affordable now come with a higher price tag. So it’s time to think outside the box!
To save money on your New York trip, have a browse of some of the places below where you can pay a much more reasonable price for your digs.
Queens
For a more local vibe in a diverse area, stay in Queens, which is east of Manhattan. You can easily catch the subway down to Midtown and beyond, and there are plenty of great bars and restaurants around here. My recommendation for this part of town is The Local NY, which has a roof terrace and private rooms for two from $163 / £129 per night, as well as dorm beds from $68 / £54 per night.
The Bronx
The Bronx is north of Manhattan and is famous for being where Hip Hop was born. It’s another really diverse neighbourhood, and is where the New York Yankees baseball team home stadium is located, as well as attractions like the Bronx Zoo and the Bronx Botanical Garden. You can stay in a top-rated 3 star hotel here like the Ramada by Wyndham Bronx from $124 / £98 per night.
Jersey City
Stay across the Hudson River in Jersey City, and you can make serious savings on the cost of your stay. It’s easy to travel into Manhattan from here on the PATH train – just keep an eye on off peak services and what time they stop running in the evenings. You can rent this amazing loft apartment with a private roof terrace from just $134 / £106 per night.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is an area popular with creatives and trendy families. Once an up-and-coming area, it’s now very much arrived and accommodation has become more expensive. That said, you can still find some well-priced hotels. Stay at Pod Brooklyn in buzzing Williamsburg from $150 / £119 per night, or at Tru by Hilton in lively Gowanus from $148 / £117 per night.
Looking for New York hotel inspo?
Browse our round up of the best affordable and stylish hotels in New York
3. Bunk up in a hostel
The US isn’t like countries in Europe or Asia when it comes to hostels – they’re less of a thing here. But there are some in New York and they are still worth checking out – especially if you want to meet other travellers. Many will have private rooms so you can strike a balance between affordability, privacy and socialising.
The Local NY in Queens is a spot I’d recommend. You can bag a room in a 6-bed dorm here from just $65 / £52 a night. The cheapest night I found for a double room with a private bathroom was $203 / £161 per night – which is pretty good for New York.
If you’re not a hostel person (I’m looking at you James) I totally get it, but if you were going to compromise on your accommodation anywhere, I reckon New York is the place to do it, because the hotel prices are so high.
Plus these days hostels have a lot of clever ways to help you keep your privacy, from curtains so you can screen yourself off from the rest of the room, to charging sockets by the bed and lockable lockers for your things.
For example, Kama Central Park has pod beds in their dorms, so you can climb under the covers, slide the door shut and be completely alone!
4. Consider a 1 or 2 day city pass
If you’ve got a long list of attractions you want to see, then consider whether a city pass could be a cheaper way to see them all than paying for individual tickets.
New York has five city passes:
- New York City Pass
- New York Explorer Pass
- New York Sightseeing Flex Pass
- New York All-Inclusive Pass
- New York Sightseeing Day Pass
Here’s a quick overview of how they measure up:
New York City Pass
- Best for - a short sharp visit
The New York City Pass is the most basic city pass.
You can visit 5 attractions out of the 8 it offers: the Empire State Building Obersvatory, the American Museum of Natural History, and 3 more of your choice from the list below.
- Top of the Rock Observation Deck
- Ferry Access to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
- 9/11 Memorial & Museum
- Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise
- Intrepid Museum
- Guggenheim Museum
The pass is valid for 9 days from first use.
From $153 / £121
New York Explorer Pass
New York Sightseeing Flex Pass
- Best for - ticking off specific attractions
The New York Explorer Pass and the New York Sightseeing Flex Pass are pretty similar, they’re just from two different companies.
The Explorer Pass has over 105 attractions to choose from, the Sightseeing Flex Pass promises over 150.
You buy a pass for however many attractions you want to visit. For example a 3-attraction pass for $109 / £86 or a 5-attraction pass from $169 / £134.
As well as attractions, the passes also offer things like tours, cruises, bike hire and even baseball tickets.
Both passes are valid for 60 days from the day you first use them.
From $84 / £66.50
New York All-Inclusive Pass
New York Sightseeing Day Pass
- Best for - cramming in as many sights as possible
The New York All-Inclusive Pass and New York Sightseeing Day Pass are also pretty similar – again it’s just two different companies’ offerings.
For this pass type, you choose how many consecutive days you want the pass to be valid for. Then you can visit unlimited attractions during those days.
The cost starts at $154 / £122 for a 1 day pass.
The All-Inclusive pass you can get for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 or 10 days.
The Sightseeing Pass you can get for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 days.
From $154 / £122 for a 1 day pass
Which pass should I choose?
Which pass you go for will depend on the kind of holiday you enjoy, how many attractions you like to visit and the length of time you prefer to spend in each place.
If you like to spend extended time in a handful of places taking everything in, then you might prefer a pass that includes a specific number of attractions.
If you’ve got loads of attractions on your list, and you’re happy to spend less time in places if it means you get to see more overall, then a pass that lasts for a number of consecutive days might work better for you.
Other than the City Pass, which only has 8 attractions to choose from, the other passes will probably offer most of the places on your hit list, but do check before you buy that all the places you want to see are offered. They don’t just cover attractions either – you can do walking tours, bike tours, cruises and Hop-On Hop-Off bus tours too.
Here’s a quick look at what you could save when visiting 8 attractions with a 1 day pass:
Attraction | Cost |
|---|---|
Total | $375 |
Empire State Building – main deck observatory | $44 |
Top of The Rock | $61 |
MoMA Museum | $30 |
9/11 Memorial and Museum | $33 |
SPYSCAPE | $59 |
Hop-On Hop-Off bus 1 day tour | $80 |
Statue of Liberty sunset cruise | $30 |
The Rink at Rockefeller Center (mid Nov to mid Mar) | $38 |
So when you think about that fact that a 1 day pass costs from $154 / £122, then I think using a pass to visit all these sites is an incredible deal!
You can get city passes from sites like Get Your Guide or directly from their own websites.
5. Hit up happy hours
Happy Hours are alive and well in New York, since everyone appreciates the opportunity to save a bit of cash on eating out these days.
Happy Hours are typically on weekday evenings, before 7pm, but they’ll vary from place to place.
As well as drinks offers, you can expect deals on snacks like sandwiches, and even oysters!
Our top New York happy hour picks
Milady's
Try Milady’s in Soho (Mon-Thu, 4-6pm) for cocktails from $12 / £9.50, wine from $14 / £11 and oysters from $12 for 6.
Clover Club
Check out Clover Club in Brooklyn (Mon-Fri, 4-6pm) for $6 / £5 beers, $10 / £8 glasses of wine and $12 cocktails.
Ulysses
Irish pub Ulysses does Lobster Mondays. $26 gets you a 1.5lb Maine lobster with sides of baked potato and corn on the cob. It’s in the Financial District – thanks to CHE follower Clare for this one!
6. Discover free events in New York
There’s always something to get involved with going on in New York City, and the best thing is loads of them are free.
To find out what’s going on when you’ll be there, NYC for free has loads of free listings, and you can check listing sites like eventbrite, as well as local Facebook groups.
When I had a quick look for free events this month, I found a free exhibition in Grand Central station by the Transit Museum (mini electric trains?! I’m there!), a female walking club with some sportswear freebies, a panel discussion about queer fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology and even a tea festival.
7. Hack your dinner time
There are a bunch of different ways to be savvy with your meals here, so it’s a great way to save money on your New York trip.
First of all, let’s talk about the portion sizes! Portion sizes in the States are usually incredibly generous, so you’ll probably get served more food than you expect. Be prepared to under-order rather than over-order, and remember taking your left-overs with you is common practice here. Don’t be afraid to ask for a doggy bag!
My other tips are to opt for set menus, or to eat out at lunchtime rather than dinner, as prices tend to be a bit lower.
New York also has incredible sandwiches that are really filling and can easily make up a meal. And you don’t have to go fancy – swing by the local deli for a bagel or hit up your nearest bodega for a hot egg sandwich. If you want to be guided, try 2nd Ave Deli or the TikTok famous Red Hook Food Corp.
8. Stock up on snacks and take a water bottle
Food in NYC can get very expensive, so grab snacks from the grocery store so you’re not tempting to splurge between meals when you’re out.
Head to a supermarket or a bodega to get your supplies – the US has so many items we don’t get in the UK so I always love trying delicious new things this way when I visit.
Plus after I left my water bottle behind on my trip to Tirana, Albania, I won’t be making that mistake again! Bring a bottle to save on buying water – the water in New York is fine to drink, even if a lot of New Yorkers drink only bottled.
9. Get cheap Broadway tickets
Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade
Whether you’re an avid theatre fan or you just like a good evening out, why not see if you can score cheap tickets to a Broadway show?
Some of the longest running shows include Phantom of the Opera, Chicago and The Lion King. You can also catch classics like Hamilton and Wicked.
For cut-price tickets, head down to a TKTS ticket booth – there’s one in Times Square and one at the Lincoln Centre – for up to 50% off tickets for same-day matinee and evening shows, and the matinees the following day.
Alternatively, download the TodayTix app and get discounted theatre tickets in the palm of your hand. They often run additional sales too.
10. Watch a TV show for free
A really fun and quintessential New York activity is to go and watch a live taping of a TV show. You’re guaranteed to be entertained, and you might even see a celeb or two!
Your best bet is to google the show you want to see plus ‘live taping New York’ to see exactly what’s on offer. Remember to bring your ID along when you go. Some tapings will have an age limit, like 16+ or 18+.
Popular shows include:
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Weekdays, 5pm
Request your ticket online – you’ll be entered into a queue and get an email if you’re successful.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Saturdays, 5pm
You can enter a lottery for up to 4 tickets, which opens on Tuesdays at 3pm. You can also queue up outside the studio on the afternoon of the taping.
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Weekdays, 11am-1pm and 3-5pm
Request up to 4 tickets online via a queue – you’ll be emailed if you’re chosen.
Boost Your Holiday Budget With Our Ways To Save Money on Your New York Trip
I just love New York and whilst it’s at the pricer end of the city break spectrum, there are a bunch of straightfoward ways you can save money on your New York trip.
I always say it, but planning is really key here to keep your costs down. My top tips are to stay somewhere cheaper like a Midtown hostel or a hotel in Queens, do most of the sights in one day with a city pass, and then use what’s leftover for a treat or two!
