Zoochatters that have been to New York City – Where did you stay?

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Baldur

Well-Known Member
I have decided to let a lifelong dream come true and visit the Bronx Zoo this autumn. And being the zoo aficionado I am, I decided to throw in 20 other famous US zoos in the 30 days I have planned:

East Coast - New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore
Texas - San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth
Colorado - Denver, Colorado Springs
North Central - Saint Louis, Omaha, Minneapolis, Saint Paul

Sadly I don't have time for Kansas City or Wichita in the North Central but as long as I get to see the Bronx and Omaha, I think I will leave the USA most satisfied :)

I will arrive in New York City on September 2 and leave for Philadelphia on September 7. I have been gently browsing for a hotel on booking.com and other such websites, but I realise that I will have to book in May so I can get a hotel without having to file for bankruptcy afterwards. Hotel prices in New York are incredible, and staying in Manhattan already seems out of the question. You can get reasonable rooms if you have a car and want to stay in the motels and roadside hotels across the river in New Jersey, but that is not an option for me. I would love to find a nice inexpensive hotel in a reasonably safe part of the city, from where I could get to the Bronx Zoo and other NYC zoos by public transit easily.

The problem is the size of the city. Staying in the wrong part can mean valuable time taken away from zoos and used for transport instead. Thus I would appreciate if Zoochatters who live in New York could recommend where I should look for accommodation. And Zoochatters that don't live in New York but have been there, could you recall where you stayed and if it was all right to get to the zoos? I can use Google for further information if only you can recall the location, remembering names of hotels is not easy.

I might ask for accommodation advise in the other cities as well (although in Dallas I will stay with friends) but New York City is the priority for now.
 
@Baldur: As you know my wife and I went on a 30 zoo/aquarium tour in the summer of 2008, and we spent 5 nights in New York City. We actually stayed in the Bronx, near Yankee Stadium in a Howard Johnson motel for about $130 per night, and so we were about 10 minutes from the famous zoo. It was probably the most expensive 5 nights of our entire 8 week trip, but $130 is cheap compared to the absolutely outrageous prices found throughout Manhattan. We saw the Bronx Zoo (which I recommend seeing over 2 days due to the short hours of operation), Central Park Zoo, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, 2 Broadway shows (50% tickets), Empire State Building, Natural History Museum, the Met, etc, as there are a ton of attractions in one of the world's greatest cities.

Your upcoming trip sounds amazing!!!:) Have you considered the "Great Lakes" part of the U.S.A.? In that area are these zoos: Brookfield, Lincoln Park, Detroit, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, etc.
 
The Howard Johnson chain I had heard about. They seem to have two hotels in the Bronx, the cheaper one is closer to the Zoo but doesn't get good reviews. The one you stayed at gets better reviews but is not as close to the zoo and is also more expensive. But I'm not so obsessed with reviews (I work in a hotel myself and know that guests can let even the smallest things ruin their entire stay!) so I might take it, unless a better suggestion comes along from someone else! :)

I could spend a month in NYC with all its attractions, but money and time is limited so I can only allow myself 5-6 days. My current plan has 11/2 days on Manhattan, the whole day of which connected to Central Park Zoo. And of course I will see the Bronx on two days ;) It might be a business decision only to have the zoo open for 7 hours (10-5) as it kind of forces the more dedicated visitors to spend two days there. We'll see how much I can do.

Actually my only visit to the States so far was to California and the Great Lakes (2003) and then I saw all the zoos you mentioned except Fort Wayne (had to choose between it and Indianapolis) but I sure would love to visit them again, particulary Cincinnati and Columbus. But money and time is limited so instead of seeing zoos which I have seen before (although I know they have changed a lot) I choose to see new zoos.
 
What are you looking to travel to get to the zoo? If you're looking for a 10 to 15 minutes travel, you'll need to take snowleopard up on Howard Johnson. There aren't many hotels within that distance. However, if the $$$ is what you're more interesting in saving, there are plenty of hotels in Queens that are within a ~45 bus ride away from the zoo and ~30 from the city. If you're willing to spend $130 or so though, you can get a hotel in the very heart of Manhattan--you'll just be farther from the zoo .
 
Baldur said:
East Coast - New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore
Texas - San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth
Colorado - Denver, Colorado Springs
North Central - Saint Louis, Omaha, Minneapolis, Saint Paul
Click to expand...

If your only goal is to visit zoos (and not see scenery or mountains), then I would strongly advise you to drop Colorado from your itinerary. I have been recently to both of those zoos and they are only mediocre. (I realize everyone else on ZooChat seems to love Denver, but I stand by my word. My cousin was with me, he is also an avid zoo photographer, and he said he would never go back to Denver for the rest of his life). However, I am not sure when their new Asia area is going to open, and if it is open by the time of your visit then it will probably be worthwhile. If it is not, I think you are wasting a flight since Colorado is not near anywhere else on your itinerary. (Washington state or Florida would be better choices IMO).

As for New York City, I did stay in Manhattan and it was not too expensive. It was a small hotel, I think a Best Western, near the Brooklyn Bridge and easy subway to Bronx or airport or anywhere. Unfortunately, I have no way of remembering exactly which one it was, but perhaps if you try expedia.com you might find something.
 
Well, I must have gotten a good deal, because I think I found the hotel and it is very expensive - around $270 US for a summer night. So sorry for the misinformation. Here is the link anyway, but expedia.com may be your best bet. Anywhere near a subway line is probably fine (except parts of the Bronx, which as I recall from walking from the subway to the Bronx Zoo entrance is a very rough neighborhood. No problem walking to the zoo during the day, but I would not want to spend the night there).

Bestwestern.com, the World's Largest Hotel Chain
 
There is a hotel right in Manhattan that has gotten good press here. The rooms are tiny, though:

The Jane

Reservations and rates:

https://www.myfidelio.net/webui/AvailabilitySearch.aspx?chain=IQ&property=USTJ

Not your normal hotel experience, but I have seen it reviewed well (except by those who really wanted to be in a Mariott :D )

Baldur - realize that September 4-6 is a national holiday long weekend in the US so get your hotel for that period reserved as soon as you can!
 
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@Arizona Docent: I realize that you strongly dislike the Denver Zoo, but you are a cat love and the feline enclosures there are atrocious. Also, when you visited the zoo you didn't even see all of it...:)

Denver Zoo is ranked as the #2 zoo in the United States for primates, and the #2 zoo in the U.S. for hoofstock. Both of those rankings come courtesy of the travel guidebook "America's Best Zoos", where Denver is ranked in the top 10 American zoos in 8 different categories! "Asian Tropics" opens in 2012, and that eagerly anticipated 10-acre complex will probably cement Denver's status as perhaps one of the top 10-15 zoos in North America.

The most active and engaging group of animals to be exhibited in zoos are primates, and with around 30 species in naturalistic habitats Denver should be #1 on anyone's list who loves lemurs, monkeys and apes. The 5-acre "Primate Panorama" is excellent; the 3-acre "Northern Shores" has its impressive moments (seals, sea lions, wolves and polar bears); "Predator Ridge" is an award-winning, fantastic set of exhibits; "Tropical Discovery" is excellent; and "Bird World" has 3 walk-through aviaries and contains a vast bird collection. The downside is that the pachyderm building and bear grottoes are badly outdated (and historic in the case of "Bear Mountain") and the feline house is abysmal. However, the vast majority of the zoo is beloved by many and with 2 million visitors per year it is one of the most popular zoos in the western hemisphere.
 
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Tigertiger: For me it is both important to save some money and be able to reach a zoo within 30 minutes or so if I'm in the city already. So if I can find a hotel at a reasonable price, close to a subway line, I will take it, regardless of which part of NYC it is in, I will take it. The Bronx Zoo opens at 10.00 daily so if I leave the hotel at say 08.30 I reckon I should be able to stand outside the gate when it opens. But there are loads of things I want to see in NYC as well so easy acess to all, not just the Bronx Zoo, is vital.

Arizona Docent: I respect your opinion and thank you for your assistance. But frankly this is the first time ever that I hear anyone say anything bad about Denver Zoo and Colorado Springs Zoo. As Snowleopard pointed out, Denver has its shortcomings with outdated exhibits in part for Pacyderms, Bears and Felines; but that seems to be it. There are two reasons why I would like to go there: 1) I've wanted to since I saw it featured on 'Zoo Life with Jack Hanna' as a child and 2) It's a high scorer in Allen and Jon's book, as Snowleopard pointed out.

I was 'only' going to do the East Coast, South Central and the North Central on the trip. Accordingly it would seem more sensible to do Oklahoma City in the South Central and/or Kansas City and Whichita in the North Central. But I heard about Denver Zoo long before I heard of these three, I've wanted to go there for almost 20 years. So as I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to visit the States, now is the time. I know it is far from the other zoos and I know I'll return to Iceland tired as hell from a lot of travel, but I know that when I'll look back, I won't regret it :)
 
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