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From The Times

October 23, 2004

Finding lullabies on and off Broadway

Sarah Turner saves her money for shopping by staying on a budget in the Big Apple

Map of New York

IT’S that time of year when thoughts turn to shopping in New York. If, of course, you need an excuse to visit the city.

Whatever your reason for visiting, the demand is always for a special, exciting place to stay — preferably within a budget. The savings can then naturally go on shopping.

So here it is - ten of the best places to stay in NYC.

Inn on 23rd Street

THE Inn is dedicated to a more gracious style of living, and offers plenty of frills for the price, from complimentary wine and cheese at the weekends to an honour bar, a library of guidebooks and a fridge and microwave for guests.

It has just 14 rooms, decorated with antiques, nice bed linen, plus spacious bathrooms. The homeless shelter next door goes some way to explaining the low cost, although security is good. Breakfast is made by the cookery school downstairs.

Inn on 23rd Street. Doubles from £120.

Harlem Flophouse

WITH just four rooms, this B&B has made formerly no-go Harlem a great place to stay, without erasing the house’s history (the building has been a boarding house since 1917). Bathrooms are shared, the tin ceilings remain and the owner Rene Calvo has filled the rooms with retro furnishings and guests who are excited by Harlem’s heritage, soul food restaurants and historic architecture, and don’t mind the friendly resident cat.

The location is great if you want to museum-crawl along the Upper East Side; the M2 bus goes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim in less than ten minutes. The ground floor sitting room hosts art exhibitions. A Southern breakfast, including grits, sausage, eggs and pancakes costs £8.25 per person.

The Harlem Flophouse. Doubles from £57, singles from £41.

Cosmopolitan Hotel

“THE cleanest and cheapest hotel in New York,” says the manager Larry Bader. While the city offers plenty of competition on this front, this is a great location on the edge of Tribeca. One of New York’s oldest hotels, with 321 beds, the cheapest rooms — the miniloft rooms — are also the most fun. There’s a bathroom and sitting area on one level, while a staircase leads up to the bed area.