Best Place to Book a Holiday to the US

[mikey]

My only advice is about New York and that would be to not stay in a hostel. They're very expensive and very insecure. I couldn't find one which had lockers and, as a result, I slept in these places abysmally before I found out about Hotwire and saw a reasonably expensive holiday become ridiculous. Conversely, in SF, there's like five or six really excellent, secure hostels all at very reasonable prices, including one in the beautiful Fort Mason. I stayed in North Beach twice and had the time of my freaking life. One of my best friends is somebody who recalls my first words as "hey, do you guys want to come to the pub?", said on the stairs of a hostel before they even had checked in.

[Big Rob]

My only advice is about New York and that would be to not stay in a hostel. They're very expensive and very insecure. I couldn't find one which had lockers and, as a result, I slept in these places abysmally before I found out about Hotwire and saw a reasonably expensive holiday become ridiculous.

HI New York City has lockers, and rooms were $40 a night, which I thought was reasonable. I never had any worry about my possessions in the room.

[Halitosis Romantic]

If you are willing to take your life in your hands, you could always stay here in NYC

 

Location. Fantastic.

Ambience. Impeccable.

Restaurants. Abundant.

Prostitutes. Yes.

[Zebra Kid Mark]

I echo the HI New York comments being great, very clean and very safe.

 

Only problem with Chicago is there are no other decent places around that area so you will either have to fly some where or take a long train journey, please correct me if I am wrong if there are nice places worth seeing....I can only think of Milwaukee.

 

I also have done a long trip to the US. Cities I visited were...New York, Boston, Newport Rhode Island, Providence Rhode Island, Some where in Connecticut, DC, Charlotte and Raleigh NC, Chicago, San Fran, San Diego, LA, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and Tijuana.

 

Driving down Highway 1 from San Fran to San Diego is a worth while trip and also the all the cities in New England and New York which have already been mentioned.

[mikey]

When I was there, I couldn't get anywhere near HI New York. Completely booked out all the time.

 

I started out in a hostel in Harlem. Excellent Jamaican food, round the corner from the awesome Amy Ruth's (though I chickened out of Chicken and Waffles) and the position wasn't as bad as you'd think but it was an utter zoo. 14 to a dorm, no lockers and they wanted $60 per night.

 

EDIT: Worked out what the hostel was now. It was called L Hostel and it's now closed because of an order from the City of New York. It wasn't even a hostel but a condo building which had its permits removed and the only thing they could do with it was open a backpacker's hostel.

[rhyswynne]

I echo the "Don't Stay in Hostels in NYC", but for different reasons.

 

The City of New York are introducing a "Bed tax", so that any room that has a bed has to pay it. However, whilst Hotels have increased slightly due to this ruling, Hostels have (unsurprisingly) increased a LOT more. When I booked my hostel in New York, I paid $40/night (which was in Manhattan). When I arrived in the hostel, they were charging $75/night due to the tax.

 

Probably could've got a hotel cheaper, but meh

[Zebra Kid Mark]

I echo the "Don't Stay in Hostels in NYC", but for different reasons.

 

The City of New York are introducing a "Bed tax", so that any room that has a bed has to pay it. However, whilst Hotels have increased slightly due to this ruling, Hostels have (unsurprisingly) increased a LOT more. When I booked my hostel in New York, I paid $40/night (which was in Manhattan). When I arrived in the hostel, they were charging $75/night due to the tax.

 

Probably could've got a hotel cheaper, but meh

How recent is that? I was there 10 weeks ago and there was no such tax. That sucks if true.