If you like Rick Steves for Europe, what book would you use for New York

I have had good luck with Lonely Planet. I have used them for many areas in the United States, including NYC. I don't remember specifically how helpful it was for NYC, since it has been several years. But, generally speaking, they are my first choice for travel outside of Europe.

For hotels, I'd go online to Tripadvisor. Sort by neighborhood and price. Then you'll see numerous reviews of each property.

We don't really use guidebooks for accommodations. Personal recommendations, booking.com and tripadvisor work better for us (I gave up after I had checked over 20 accommodations in RS book and NONE of them worked for us). But we still use guidebooks for many other aspects of travelling. One of my favourite series is DK Eyewitness Travel. They have the best visuals and maps for walking tours.

Gerry Frank's book, Gerry Frank's Where to Find it, Buy it, Eat it in New York 2008-2009 (Gerry Frank's Where to Find It, Buy It, Eat It in New York (Regular Edition)) (Paperback)

Gerry Frank is from Oregon, a family member of the Meier and Frank Deparmtne store family and was chief aid for Senator Mark Hatfield. He is a very generous, well traveled man, who loves NYC and Oregon. Please check it out. Available at Amazon.

Thanks for the help, everyone. I have a book that maps out the musuems but I found researching a decent affordable hotel to be so stressful I booked a week in Paris instead. I'll continue to research with the idea of staying outside the city. I think I'll like that better & the commute is short enough.

Thanks, everyone, for the tips. I'm interested in art museums, so will first learn where they're located & then try tripadvisor + books to find a hotel. I figured that NYC would not be a place to skimp on a hotel. In my mind, it's a rather brutal place as opposed to Paris which is easy to be in. Hope I'm wrong.

As a born and bred New Yorker, who has sadly left the city but goes back regularly for a fix.....I can say that finding a decent, reasonably priced hotel in Manhattan is more difficult than anywhere in Europe.

Use Tripadvisor and other sites such as Yahoo Travel for tips on hotels. NYC hotels are having a problem with bedbugs so you want to make sure the one you choose is bedbug free. There have been a few hotels recently built in Brooklyn that are more reasonabley priced than Manhattan and a very quick trip into "the city" by subway. (When New Yorkers refer to "the city" they mean "Manhattan" even though the four other boroughs are part of NYC.)

I would suggest writing to the NYC Convention & Visitors Bureau (or going to their website.) They have so much information to offer.

Museaums are spread throughout the city. Most are easily accessible by subway.

NY is a walking city so make sure you pack comfortable shoes. Contrary to popular belief, the people are friendly but the pace is very fast.

And make sure you stop by the half price ticket booth near Times Square for discounted tickets to Broadway shows.

We try Priceline for deals on hotel rooms in larger U.S. cities. The www.biddingfortravel.com website provides tips on how and what price to bid. Others post the deals that they have gotten on that site so you can see what's a reasonable price to bid.

I quit buying travel guides 12 years ago. I do all my research on the net. Do a google search by the city name plus "accomodations" or "sights" or hotels. or restaurants or whatever catagory you chose.

You will find far more information (plus pictures) than you will find in a guide book. Try it.

If you are staying for a few days, you might want to look into a nice bed and breakfast rather then a hotel. Most bed and breakfast require at least a 2 or 3 day stay in NYC. I do a lot of my research using google. Get a good street, subway, and bus map, if you don't mind subways. Taxi's are plentyful and have a their prices posted in the back seat area. When do you plan to go? If you are there between Thanksgiving and New Years you will probably want to book tickets in advance to see the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall so you can get good seats.

I used DK Eyewitness Travel and Lonely Planet for my first few NYC trips.

That being said, I also stopped actually staying 'in NYC'. I found I preferred to stay in Greenwich or Stamford, Connecticut, and take the train in each day -- but I wasn't doing 'night life'. I wanted 'art by day / quiet by night'. Train + Connecticut hotel is still cheaper than Manhattan hotel.

If one wants to commute into NYC each day, downtown Newark is a better option. There are train departures every ten minutes, journey time 20 minutes. Business class hotels are only fraction of what is charged in Manhattan.

I know this is not a NYC forum, but I stumbled upon a lodging suggestion that you may want to look in to. There is no elevator and you share a bathroom with one other room but it looks great in my mind.

It's the Chelsea Lodge (West 20th street).

Fodors and Lonely Planet message boards routinely field questions about relatively affordable NYC hotels--there are tons of suggestions there if you search. As already mentioned Priceline and Hotwire can also work great. Sorry to hear you gave up--I love NYC only slightly less than I love Paris and think it is worth the high hotel prices and the planning time!