Stayed at the Red Roof Inn on 32nd

Just got back yesterday afternoon from a wonderful couple of days in New York. Arrived Friday afternoon and the weather was gorgeous, bright, sunny but COLD. There was a huge lineup for cabs at LGA and was prepared to wait when an express bus to Grand Central pull up. I overheard one of the employees advising that they also dropped off customers at some of the mid town hotels, Red Roof Inn included. Price $12. per person. My husband and I decided to go for it. We were dropped off at Grand Central, where we waited for another smaller shuttle to take us to our final location. It showed up within 5 minutes and then dropped us off at the corner of 5th and 32nd. Excellent. 30 second walk to our hotel.

The location of the hotel was great. 2 blocks from the Empire State building. Still Awesome! Took us 15 minutes to walk to times square.

The hotel itself has very clean, small rooms with a coffee maker and an excellent continental breakfast. Fresh bagels, donuts, fruit, cerial, juice etc. Small eating area which got crowded later in the day, but if you were there early, open from 7:00 to 10:00, there was plenty of seating. If you wanted more coffee than what you had in the room, you could get more in the breakfast area as there were plenty of cups and lids available. There was a small bar on the mezz level, open from 5pm til midnight, however did not try it out. both nights we grabbed some beer from a store and brought it back to the room as we were exhausted from walking around. Funny thing, the 2nd night we purchased 4 budweiser and the cashier asked us if we wanted individual bags? Took us a bewildered 10 seconds to figure out what he meant. My husband and I were laughing for the next block over that one.

We arrived at the hotel at appox 1230 and got our room right away, even though checkin was not until 3pm. Kind of crashed until 6pm as both of us had been working late the night before, but times square was FANTASTIC. 25 yrs ago it was grungier and not an area I remember feeling comfortable in, but now, it reminded me a bit of Vegas with the lights and the crowds, packed with people but very safe, cleaned up. Lots of police presence but not in an obvious manner.

The 2nd day started about 10am with a walk up 5th ave. Empire state building had no line up to buy tickets, but the wait was 1hr 30mins to get to the top. Passed on it, and contined to Rockefeller Centre and NBC studios tour. Grabbed a brochure from the hotel, which had a coupon for $2.50 off the tour price, so it cost 15.00 for the tour. Was it worth it? By far, the studio that was most exciting to see was the Saturday Night live one, and although that was the largest of the ones we saw, it was still quite small. The problem with the tour was the bored and condescending tour guides. DID NOT LIKE THEM AT ALL. Like they were doing us a favour by being there at all. Responded to questions with one word answers without elaborating. It made the difference between recommending it or not. At the end of the tour when we were dropped off in a theatre, we heard others in the group making comments about them as well.

Onwards to Central park...beautiful, beautiful, but I was not impressed with the Gates, orange orange everywhere, interesting but art, well it%26#39;s subjective.

After that continued along the Central park south to Columbus circle and down 9th ave towards Grenwich, Soho and eventually the World Trade Centre.

Lot%26#39;s of cute small restaurants along 9th ave between 35th and lower 20th...roughly..just not as fancy an area as other streets. One place, on 9th just below 42nd and across from Penn station, called Tony and John%26#39;s Pizza had excellent slices of pizza for $1.75. Thin crust, good cheese, tasty sause. Mind you, it looks like a dump, but my husband saw the place packed for lunch so we came by later that night for a couple of slices and it was worth it. 3 slices of pizza, 2 corona, $11.75?

Walked along Bleeker st. Funky small clothing shops, restaurants, coffee shops, loved it.

Continued along broadway and then hit Canal Street. I AM COMING BACK to shop. If you want fake anything, it%26#39;s available, from fake gucci, LV, pashima scarves, beaded handbags, necklaces, sunglasses what ever, best quality junk I%26#39;ve ever seen. It%26#39;s crowded and bargaining is permissable. I loved the atmosphere.

Further along church st. to the World Trade Centre site. What hit me immediately is the silence that permeates. You go from the hustle bustle of the block previous to an area where the wind is the loudest thing you hear. It is a respectful, touching memorial. Worth visiting.

We walked back along broadway, past Washington square, where someone was protesting something, with banners and pamphlets, loud speakers etc. It was starting to get dark and could see the Empire state building in the distance, lit up, beatiful.

We were exhausted by this time and decided we are coming back soon. LOVE this city. For those of you are are undecided about coming here, you must go! We%26#39;ve both travelled a lot and although there are a lot of places we loved visiting, there are not a lot that we said, we%26#39;ve got to go back. This is one of them.

Next day arranged a limo from the hotel to the airport. Cost $40.00 plus tip, but worth it. Took us 15 mins to get to the airport. Shuttle would have cost us $21.00 each and taken and hour and a half. Great trip!

Stayed at the Red Roof Inn on 32nd

It sounds like you had fun. Thanks for the feedback. I am looking at making this trip a dream come true for my husbands 50th birthday. This is where he has always wanted to travel. I was thinking of taking the shuttle instead of a cab but we are also coming with my 16 year old son. I didn%26#39;t think the price through for the 3 of us. We went to Florida a couple of years ago and found the Limo to be just $30. from our house a lot classier and cheaper than cabs or shuttles. Do you think we could order one to pick us up at the airport?

Stayed at the Red Roof Inn on 32nd

Hi Martini,

Lovely trip you just have had. this november we are traveling to this amazing city. been there once, loved it. we are coming from cura锟斤拷ao, island near the coast of Venezuela. we are planning to stay at red roof considering the price and central location. we are a group of 15. are the rooms small acceptable or too small?

Seattle, re limo from LGA, think it would be worth it for you with 3 people, for the convenience of having someone hold up sign with your name on it and getting right into the limo after a 5hour plane ride instead of waiting in line for a cab. I%26#39;m guessing it was about a 30min wait when I was there and it was cold outside. That%26#39;s why we grabbed the bus, we were freezing. The line moved quickly but it was huge. My limo from the hotel was a flat rate, which makes a huge difference if there is traffic. Also depends what day of the week you arrive on I suppose, I arrived Fri, noon and departed Sunday at noon. Traffic was light leaving Manhattan, I don%26#39;t know what it would be like mid week.

Curacao, re room size at Red Roof inn. We had a queen bed and two of us in the room. Between the dresser and the foot of the bed was enough room for one person to pass at a time, so it was tight, but cozy. One other thing, the elevators are slow, also small and get crowded quick. Trick is to get on even if it%26#39;s going in the opposite direction. We were on the 6th floor and I found by the time the elevator stopped on the way down, it was packed. Still, the Red Roof Inn is a great value, clean and excellent location.