Where to Stay Uptown? Midtown? Downtown? NYC Newbie

Hello,

I%26#39;m planning to surprise my wife with a trip to NYC in June for our anniversary. She%26#39;s been there twice. I%26#39;ve never been. I%26#39;m thinking that we%26#39;re going to stay in Manhatten, but I have no idea why one would choose Uptown vs Midtown vs Downtown to find a place to stay.

We plan to do all the normal tourist things...museum, maybe see a show, sample some great NYC cuisine...

Any help would be most appreciated as, from reading, it looks like this is the key consideratio as our ';base of operations';.

Where to Stay Uptown? Midtown? Downtown? NYC Newbie

The areas have different personalities.

I%26#39;ll start with midtown. This is the busiest part of the city. Major office buildings are here, the two train stations, the crossroads of a number of subway systems, etc.

The Times Square area -- the westside between 42nd street and 52nd street is perhaps the most densely populated area of midtown since it has lots of major hotels and the ';broadway'; theaters. Expect ';crushes of people on the sidewalk'; most of the day and night. If theater is high on your list, then this is a convenient place to stay.

My choice would be to stay a little bit away from this area, say in the EAST 40s or 50s.

Uptown (Upper Westside and Upper Eastside) are more residential areas of the city -- Very few office buildings. People walking their dogs, bringing home groceries, etc. The other feature about uptown is that its closest to Central Park -- which has lots to offer (including romantic strolls!).

Downtown includes a lot of areas, east village, west village, chelsea, soho, etc. These are also residential areas but they don%26#39;t have the ';bid city'; feel of upper east and westsides. They feel more like a small town, rather than a city neighborhood. Here you%26#39;ll find smaller properties, bed and breakfasts, etc.

Where to Stay Uptown? Midtown? Downtown? NYC Newbie

You may like to look at this recent thread -

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k1385963鈥?/a>

HopSkipJump,

Thanks for your thoughts. From the little I%26#39;ve read so far, I%26#39;m leaning towards downtown. I like the thought of Soho, Little Italy and Chinatown being close by, although I also like the thought of Central park being close by too....arrgh...decisions...decisions!!

Mssal,

Thanks for the link. I%26#39;ll take a look at it.

I only started investigating seriously last week and I%26#39;ve started combing through the threads on TripAdvisor. However, I do have to admit that all this is really overwhelming!