Days Inn by Wyndham North Bergen

The quiet lobby of the Holiday Inn Express North Bergen - Lincoln Tunnel is bright and colorful, with multiple seating areas and a fireplace. Guests can help themselves to free coffee and there are ample tourist brochures and newspapers to peruse. Adjacent to the lobby is the hotel’s breakfast room, a dark, cavernous kind of place with a large buffet station and plenty of seating. There’s also a meeting room with audiovisual equipment, and a small computer station, convenient for making restaurant reservations or printing boarding passes, or for business travelers looking for a quiet space. 

Anyone traveling to New Jersey for fantastic views of New York won’t find them here, as the hotel is located in an industrial area overlooking a mishmash of New Jersey highways. Besides other similar budget hotels, a few gas stations, and fast food restaurants, there isn’t much to see or do in the immediate area. However, (provided it isn’t rush hour), guests can reach Manhattan in minutes via the nearby Lincoln Tunnel. For a fee, guests can arrange for a shuttle to take them into the city. The hotel is also about a 10-minute drive from New Jersey’s Meadowlands Sports Complex.  

As far as decor is concerned, rooms at the Holiday Inn Express North Bergen -Lincoln Tunnel are exactly what one might expect to find at a hotel of this caliber: standard white bed spreads, lower quality furniture, and some haphazardly hung wall art. Minor wear and tear is evident and past guests have occasionally complained about cleanliness. But, there are a few surprisingly nice features, like iPod docks, flat-screen TVs with free HBO, free Wi-Fi, full-length mirrors, and two types of pillow options on each bed -- soft or firm. Each room also has a coffeemaker, mini-fridge, and microwave. Bathrooms are small, but clean and functional with ample towels and essential toiletries.

The Holiday Inn Express North Bergen - Lincoln Tunnel has some excellent features, especially for a budget hotel. For starters, there’s a seasonal outdoor pool, which you’ll be hard pressed to find in this price range anywhere in Manhattan. There’s a small and cramped fitness center -- another commodity not often found at this price point. The hotel also offers tons of freebies: Wi-Fi, HBO, a continental breakfast buffet, and parking for cars are all included in the nightly room rate, though parking motor coaches and busses will incur an extra fee. Though there are no on-site dining options besides the free daily breakfast and some vending machine goodies, there is an unaffiliated bar and restaurant on the same property as the hotel.