Staying near the airports?

We are going to be in NY for 3 days/ 2nights and I am thinking of staying out near either JFK or LGA. I figure we are coming in on one day and leaving two days later so proximity would be good. It does however leave me with two questions:

1) Is it practical to travel in on the subway each day (I am travelling with my wife and my 5 year old who is a good traveler)?

2) Are there any %26#39;must see%26#39;s%26#39; out in the airport areas?

Thanks for the help!

Staying near the airports?

Unfortunately, the airport hotels in NYC are generally crappy hotels with awful transport links, in dull locations which are difficult to walk to. The hotels around JFK are basically in either an industrial area or a near-slum, and they%26#39;re considered of low standard. The hotels around LGA are nowhere near the subway and unusually difficult to get to and from.

While there are a TON of things to do in Queens, the airports pretty much repel interest. It%26#39;s like they have a ';nothing to do'; field radiating around them for a mile or so. Once you get out of that field into other parts of Queens, you have fabulous international neighborhoods with terrific food, unusual museums of art and artifacts, a great subway system and even relatively affordable hotels. All these things are in Queens. Just not right by the airports.

There is one exception, though - the Pan American Hotel offers shuttles to both airports, and it%26#39;s in a decent location and is decently popular. It actually isn%26#39;t right by the airports, but it has shuttles to both of them.

Staying near the airports?

I also noticed a few in the %26#39;Jamaica%26#39; area near a few of the subway stops and one near flushing meadows at the 7 station. Either of these areas okay? Not looking for high class hotels, just decent ones from which to get into manhattan. I would rather spend the extra $%26#39;s in downtown on some of the things to do than on the hotels downtown.

downtown.

A little geography/nomenclature explanation is needed here.

When Queens County was annexed to New York City more than a century ago, it was not, like Brooklyn, a single city. It was instead a collection of one city, three Towns, and a number of incorporated and unicorporated villages, each with its own name. Because of its size, Queens County did not have a single central postal facility, but instead had three main post offices, each of which had (and still has) its satellite stations. For postal purposes (and postal purposes only) the Post Office considers almost everything in Queens to be one of three places, which are named for the main post offices: Long Island City, Flushing, and Jamaica. The result of this is that lots of places have ';Flushing'; postal addresses when they are not anywhere within the historical boundaries of Flushing; places are called Long Island City that are not really in LIC, and almost everything in the southeastern third of Queens is considered ';Jamaica'; by the Post Office when it is in fact nothing of the kind. You therefore must be careful about what the address says, and where something acutally is.

That being said, you do not want any of the hotels in the Jamaica postal district (that is, any address with a zip code that begins 114__) On the other hand, some (but not all) hotels in the Flushing postal district (113__) and the Long Island City postal district (111__) would be all right.

Almost any hotel with a zip code of 11354 would be in downtown Flushing (even if it calls itself a LGA hotel...) and convenient to the #7 train at Main Street.

Most, but NOT all, hotels with a zip code of 11101 will be handy to Queens Plaza and its outstanding subway connections.

The LaQuinta on Queens Boulevard is also a hotel with good subway access.

What%26#39;s your lodging budget?

I%26#39;m curious about the ';staying at airport'; questions that comes up here every so often, nothing personal against you LikenDSun. This is just a general thought:

Aren%26#39;t airports in most cities located away from everything cool and interesting? I mean, don%26#39;t airports usually get built in the ';middle of nowhere'; (future residential development, notwithstanding)?

(I understand the budget issue. A friend of mine living in San Francisco recently came to visit her family, and she and her kids stayed at a JFK hotel because (a) it was cheap, (b) it had a pool (c) it%26#39;s a 15 minute drive to her parents%26#39; house in Queens.)

So, basically, what I%26#39;m asking the huddled masses is, in which cities is staying near the airport a convenient and fun choice for tourists?

You could try the Sheraton in Flushing Queens close to the #7 train line or Quality inn in Long island city.

No, no, no. Jamaica is not a delightful, sun-kissed island of coconut rum and reggae music. Jamaica is one of the more miserable neighborhoods in NYC. For God%26#39;s sake, don%26#39;t stay in a hotel in Jamaica.

The Sheraton LaGuardia East in Flushing is nice - actually several of the Flushing hotels right by the 7 station are pretty nice, I%26#39;ve been in a bunch of them. Flushing is a fun Asian neighborhood, very bustling, and the 7 train is very frequent and reliable from there.

But I don%26#39;t know if those hotels are necessarily much nearer the airport than other better options in Queens for visiting Manhattan, like the La Quinta in Sunnyside or any of the Long Island City hotels (all of which are in Queens, right near Manhattan, but not by the airports).

I really appreciate the input from all of you, it is quite helpful. So my new question is this:

If you were looking for a hotel in the $200 to $350 per night range with relatively easy access to one of the two major airports which would you pick???

I should qualify by saying that near or with easy access to public transportation to manhattan is a must!

1) Your travel dates will dramatically affect hotel prices

2) Why is being near the airport such a focus? JFK is an hour max from Manhattan. LGA is even less. The only reason not to stay in Manhattan is if it%26#39;s unaffordable. And while we%26#39;re at it, what about Newark airport? There are much nicer hotel options in New Jersey that are near a PATH station (like the subway) that would be convenient to/from EWR like the Hyatt Jersey City, Courtyard Jersey City, Doubletree Club Jersey City. In fact, those hotels are also available on Priceline. You could easily ';win'; one for a 3 night stay for less than $100/night (depending on when this trip is planned).

For more stories about staying outside Manhattan, check out this thread from the FAQ ';sticky'; at the top of this forum:

GET OFF THE ISLAND - LODGING OUTSIDE MANHATTAN: Is it possible to find clean, safe, affordable lodging outside Manhattan? Yes, even with some trade-offs, you can find lodging in Queens, New Jersey and Brooklyn.

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k1338069鈥?/a> Lodging_outside_Manhattan_a_collection_of_posts

Looks like New Jersey and the hotels along the PATH are a great option....anything I am missing?