In my six years living in New York, I can only remember a handful of times spent below Canal street. I worked and played from Soho to Harlem, from Alphabet city to Chelsea, but somehow the Financial District never got much love from my well traveled city feet. Once I moved out of New York I began spending much more time south of Houston visiting friends who had moved downtown. The past two weekends have given me a taste of everything I was missing!
My friend tipped me off to a great new hotel app, Hotel Tonight which I used to book both of my weekends in the city. Download this app for access to discounted prices on rooms that hotels have yet to book. It's extremely helpful and very easy to use. The first weekend we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown for just $99 (a ridiculously cheap price for NYC). We were upgraded at check-in and had a beautiful room with floor to ceiling views of the Freedom Tower. This past weekend I booked a stay at Gild Hall, which was very luxe. We were treated to prosecco upon arrival which we sipped as we unpacked and changed for our evening ahead.
Let's start with the must-knows: Navigating Lower Manhattan can leave you walking in circles; it's a maze down there. I highly recommend that you're familiar with navigating Google Maps, or my personal favorite offline map app Ulmon Pro. None of these streets are numbered, and there is no grid to follow, just a lot of weird intersections and street names like Gold and Fulton. A map is a must!
Read More