Getting around New York City

The subway

One flat fare takes you anywhere in the system, however far. You tap a contactless bank card or phone directly at the turnstile — there is no need to buy a MetroCard, and tapping the same card all week automatically caps your spend after a set number of rides.

The critical distinction is express versus local. Express trains skip most stops and can halve a journey. On the numbered lines the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 run express at various times; on the letters, the A, D and E are the ones to know. A hotel on an express stop is meaningfully better connected than one two blocks away on a local.

From the airports

• ▸JFK — AirTrain to Jamaica, then the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station in about 20 minutes, or the E train more cheaply and slowly. A taxi to Manhattan is a flat fare plus tolls and tip.
• ▸LaGuardia — no rail link. The Q70 bus to Jackson Heights connects to the E, F, M, R and 7. A taxi is metered and usually the fastest option at 30 to 45 minutes.
• ▸Newark — AirTrain to Newark Liberty station, then New Jersey Transit to Penn Station in around 30 minutes. Frequently the cheapest flights and a perfectly reasonable arrival.

Walking

Twenty north-south blocks make a mile in Manhattan. Cross-town blocks are roughly three times longer, so ten blocks east to west is a comparable walk to thirty blocks north to south — a distinction that catches out most first-time visitors.

Manhattan below 14th Street abandons the grid entirely. West Village streets intersect at angles that appear to break geometry; West 4th Street crosses West 10th. Allow extra time and expect to be lost.

Taxis, rideshare and the congestion charge

Yellow cabs can be hailed anywhere and are often cheaper than rideshare at peak times. Both are subject to a congestion surcharge in Manhattan below 60th Street. In heavy traffic the subway will beat a car almost every time between any two points in Manhattan.

What this means for choosing a hotel

The address matters far less than the walk to the nearest express stop. A hotel in Long Island City one stop from Grand Central is more convenient than one in the Upper East Side ten minutes from the nearest train, and it will cost considerably less. Every hotel page here lists the specific lines and stations nearest to it.