Murray Hill Inn

Murray Hill Inn is situated on a quaint, quiet block of Murray Hill among a row of residential brownstones and buildings. Just around the corner, along both 3rd and Lexington Avenues, there are a number of great bars and restaurants -- the kind that draw more locals than tourists.

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 5th Avenue shopping of Midtown East (to the north).

• Three blocks from the 6 subway line; six blocks from the R and W lines; 7 blocks from the B, D, F, N, Q, R, V, and W lines -- fairly easy access to most of Manhattan's neighborhoods, but expect to transfer or walk over five blocks in order to access the westside
• 20-minute subway ride to Central Park
• 20-minute subway ride to Times Square
• 10-minute walk to the Empire State Building and 20-minute subway ride to Rockefeller Center
• 25-minute subway ride to the ferry terminal to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• 30-minute subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History
• 25-minute subway ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the "Met") and a 20-minute subway ride to the Museum of Modern Art (the "MoMA")

• Single or "twin rooms" with just a single, twin-size mattress start at an incredibly cramped 120 square feet -- that's small, even by New York hotel room standards.
• "Regular" rooms -- with either a queen and double-size bed -- start at about 180 square feet, which is still smaller than the average hotel room in New York.
• Deluxe Queen and Deluxe King rooms are a bit brighter (they view the street, rather than the back of the hotel) and have a mini-fridge.
• Old, cheap bedding
• Outdated tube TVs in most guest rooms; deluxe rooms have been upgraded with a small, generic-brand flatscreen.

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 $40 (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 $14 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 per person, but travel can take up to two hours and involve a lot of lugging bags up and down stairways.

For mass-transit directions right to the hotel, check out HopStop.com.