U Hotel Fifth Avenue

Hotel 373 is located directly on Fifth Avenue (meaning its street-facing rooms are a bit noisier), next to a Starbucks and amid beautiful old buildings and a wide range of shops. Grand Central Terminal, Bryant Park, the Morgan Library & Museum, and the Macy's flagship store are all within walking distance, as are many restaurants and bars. But most of the iconic designer shopping -- Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Tiffany's, and more -- is about 15 to 20 blocks north.Primarily residential, the neighborhoods of Gramercy and Murray Hill don't have the tourist crowds of Times Square or Midtown East. For most visitors, the main draw is that it's a quiet, convenient place to stay, just outside the theaters, funky shops, and restaurants of the East Village (to the south) and the business-focused hub and high-end Fifth Avenue shopping of Midtown East (to the north).- Two blocks from B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, and W subway lines; four blocks from the 6 subway line

• 20-minute bus ride to Central Park
• 10-minute walk to Times Square
• Five-minute walk to the Empire State Building
• 30-minute subway ride to the ferry terminal to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• 15-minute bus or subway ride to Rockefeller Center
• 25-minute subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History
• 30-minute bus or subway ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the "Met") and 20-minute bus ride to the Museum of Modern Art (the "MoMA")

• The standard room -- a tiny room with little space for anything more than a full-size bed -- is significantly smaller than the average New York hotel room.
• King-bed rooms have gigantic beds, but simiarly cramped rooms
• Flat-screen TV
• Alarm clock
• iPod docking station
• Comfortable beds with down comforters
• Marble-tiled bathrooms with bathrobes
• Some king bed rooms have desks
• No smoking rooms

New York has three nearby airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark (in New Jersey). Getting to town from JFK or LaGuardia is usually more convenient than getting there from Newark, but travel times are heavily dependent on the time of day and traffic conditions. From JFK, a taxi to anywhere in Manhattan costs a flat rate of $45 and takes around an hour in average conditions. From LaGuardia, a metered cab ride to midtown Manhattan costs about $40 and can take 30 minutes if traffic is light, three times that if it's bad. Rides from Newark cost at least $50 (plus tolls) and can take more than 90 minutes. It's customary to tip your driver 15 to 25 percent.Those looking to save some cash can use the privately run shuttle buses that are available at all three airports for about $15 per person. For more information on the shuttles, go to Super Shuttle or New York Airport Service. Public transit is also available for as little as $7.5 per person, but travel can take up to two hours and involve a lot of lugging bags up and down stairways.