Some New York questions

So next year for my birthday I am considering a trip to NY for 4 or maybe 5 days, this will be in Jan so would like some advice on any preference for flight times to NY and any suggestions on Hotels, I want something decent as its for my birthday but nothing outrageous . Note this will all be booked via Virgin and flights will be from Heathrow, any help/advice will be grateful.

I like the early morning flights or the lunch time ones as I find flying in the late afternoon and arriving in NY after 9pm is a pain considering you have to clear customs and then get into Manhattan which is can be anywhere from a 45min to 2 hour journey so potential check in is around 10:30-11pm which makes it a long day!

VS003 (very early wake up call!) and the VS045 are my preferred ones but I don't travel a huge amount into NYC, maybe someone else can have some better advice!

We stayed in the intercontinental Times Square in September. If you're wanting to do the 'touristy' stuff then the location is perfect. Being 2 blocks away from Times Square itself however means you avoid the crowds. Good bars and restaurants another couple of blocks west from the hotel - in particular Rudy's bar. A complete dive but with great beer, atmosphere and free hot dogs!

Thanks for the replies so far, def not interested in getting to NY to late in the day so early flight would be a must then, and yea want to do some touristy stuff as it will be my first time to NY, I would like to know somewhere where I can go and get a good steak or something specialish as it will be my birthday while I am out there as well .

For jet lag minimisation, in my experience I highly recommend catching the VS9/25/17 outbound and VS18/26 inbound.

I have family in New York and actually the other day I counted up how many times I've been and it must be close to 20 times in the last 20 years. I usually go on VS9 or VS45 and from my experience I've found VS9 to be much better for jet-lag. Whilst many like to come in on the earlier flights and use the rest of the day I usually find that it ends up being waste because of jet lag. Even on VS45 arriving in mid afternoon I find it a struggle to stay awake until very late. An evening arrival 8/9pm has been really good for me in adjusting to the time difference and actually I hardly struggle with jet lag on those later flights.

GOOD LUCK!

I'm off there myself on Saturday, so I'll have plenty of tips afterwards

Personally like the VS1 into EWR, and hotel wise the Westin Times Square

I like the VS3 &VS26 staying at the Langham Place Fifth Avenue.

Thanks

[honey lamb]

Personally like the VS1 into EWR, and hotel wise the Westin Times Square

Except that the time of the VS1 has changed to a much earlier time

Personally like the VS1 into EWR, and hotel wise the Westin Times Square

Except that the time of the VS1 has changed to a much earlier time

Really? Didn't realise that!! I was fond of the 16:00 departure!

[honey lamb]

Personally like the VS1 into EWR, and hotel wise the Westin Times Square

Except that the time of the VS1 has changed to a much earlier time

Really? Didn't realise that!! I was fond of the 16:00 departure!

Sorry, I should have said it's changing when the summer schedules come in to a 9.45am departure.

Glad it hasn't changed yet , my favourite flight to New York I think .

Flight times:

I don't mind too much. The early VS3 works well if you have a rest on arrival or en route (long day otherwise) and then stay awake until 10-11 pm. The VS45 is good if you want a meal on arrival and then relatively early to bed (although you may then wake quite early). The VS9/VS1 are I think the best -- dinner on the plane, something light to eat and a drink when you arrive, and then straight to bed and I am more or less fine the following morning. The later flights (17/25) are harder because the temptation to fall asleep on them is greater and then I would struggle to sleep on arrival.

Hotels:

What budget and what type of place are you after?

Thanks for the replies so far, def not interested in getting to NY to late in the day so early flight would be a must then, and yea want to do some touristy stuff as it will be my first time to NY, I would like to know somewhere where I can go and get a good steak or something specialish as it will be my birthday while I am out there as well .

http://www.peterluger.com/brooklyn.cfm

If you're staying in midtown--steak at Sparks!