New York City advice please (Inwood, Boston: sublet, hotel, neighborhood)

[bigdaz]

I'm a guy in my early 40's from Sydney Australia planning my first trip to NYC. I'm planning to stay on the Lower East Side or the East Village. I'd like some advice from locals about a few questions.
Is this a good location for ease of access to other areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx?
What other parts of Manhattan should I consider when planning accomodation?
I'm planning on visiting areas such as Coney Island, Bed-Stuy, Inwood, Harlem, as well as the usual tourist spots.
What other neighbourhoods would locals recommend visiting?
What local bars would people recommend? (i'm a bit old for the nightclub scene)
What local restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner would you recommend?

I'm sure I'll come up wih more questions as I'm planning a late August/early September visit.
I appreciate any advice on these questions or just advice in general, thanks in advance.

[tpk-nyc]

I live in the East Village. It's an amazing neighborhood with lots of great restaurants, shops, bars, theaters, etc.

However, it doesn't have the best transportation, especially as you go further east. The subways were originally designed by private, for-profit companies to get bankers to the Financial District and Midtown. The Lower East Side (in those days the East Village/Alphabet City was still considered part of the Lower East Side) was very working class and not well served by subways.

If you plan on taking the subway a lot and want to stay in the East Village, I would suggest staying as far west (near Broadway) as possible. That's where the trains are.

[bigdaz]

Thanks so much for your help and advice

[Chava61]

I would suggest you take a look at the NYC subway map: mta.info | Subway Map and this will give you an idea about the ease of access to various parts of the city.

[theberserkergang]

Remember that you can google street view your potential accommodations. It'll give you a much better idea of the neighborhood. L.E.S. and E village are both areas where you'll find no shortage of food and bar options.

Also, check out yelp.com for restaurant and bar recommendations. We can give you our favorites here, but we all have different tastes. Yelp will give you a better idea of what the foodie masses like. That being said, I still love Artisanal in Murray Hill. But I'm a sucker for all things cheese.

I'm curious what draws you to places like Bed Sty though? I've never thought of it as a touristy area.

[G.Costanza]

Originally Posted by bigdaz

I'm a guy in my early 40's from Sydney Australia planning my first trip to NYC. I'm planning to stay on the Lower East Side or the East Village.

Are you staying with friends, getting a sublet or staying at a hotel?

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by bigdaz

I'm a guy in my early 40's from Sydney Australia planning my first trip to NYC. I'm planning to stay on the Lower East Side or the East Village. I'd like some advice from locals about a few questions.
Is this a good location for ease of access to other areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx?
What other parts of Manhattan should I consider when planning accomodation?
I'm planning on visiting areas such as Coney Island, Bed-Stuy, Inwood, Harlem, as well as the usual tourist spots.
What other neighbourhoods would locals recommend visiting?
What local bars would people recommend? (i'm a bit old for the nightclub scene)
What local restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner would you recommend?

I'm sure I'll come up wih more questions as I'm planning a late August/early September visit.
I appreciate any advice on these questions or just advice in general, thanks in advance.

If you are going to do the tourist thing the East Village is a little more convenient for getting around all the boroughs but LES is not too bad either. The LES actually has a number of Aussie hang outs.

Just a few things that you should think of doing (on a budget at least).
- Take the Staten Island Ferry (its free, leaves from South Ferry which you can take the M15 to).
- Go for a ride around Manhattan and across one of the East River bridges.
- Go to a concert at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Centre (both are in Midtown).
- As for the pub scene - not really anything particularly special - I like the Australian the best - its on West 38th Street and very close to the Empire State Building
- Make sure you get an MTA map which has both the subway and bus routes.

Some things to consider - if you are spending a couple of weeks in August/September you might want to consider going out to Long Island, up to Cape Cod and even to Boston.

[NYChistorygal]

How long do you plan to visit us?

[bigdaz]

Originally Posted by theberserkergang

Remember that you can google street view your potential accommodations. It'll give you a much better idea of the neighborhood. L.E.S. and E village are both areas where you'll find no shortage of food and bar options.

Also, check out yelp.com for restaurant and bar recommendations. We can give you our favorites here, but we all have different tastes. Yelp will give you a better idea of what the foodie masses like. That being said, I still love Artisanal in Murray Hill. But I'm a sucker for all things cheese.

I'm curious what draws you to places like Bed Sty though? I've never thought of it as a touristy area.

Bed Stuy is an area that I've heard about, been warned about etc I just want to experience how locals live, explore the street life etc, even if its just for a stroll through. Being thousands of miles away I've heard of so many areas of NYC in popular culture via film, TV, music etc and I want to see them first hand.

[bigdaz]

Originally Posted by G.Costanza

Are you staying with friends, getting a sublet or staying at a hotel?

I know 2 people in the whole of the USA, both in San Diego so I'm planning on going with the sublet option. I've been looking at the following website http://www.airbnb.com/travel/new-york/ (broken link) and there seem to be plenty of options in all price ranges and areas.
I don't really fancy seeing New York from the perspective of a hotel guest.
What are your thoughts?