New York Cheap Hotels and Shopping

New York may be an expensive city, but you can still find good-value hotels, great restaurants and designer fashions at knock-down prices – all in central Manhattan.

I've just returned from New York, undoubtedly one of my favorite cities but also one of the most expensive. Contrary to popular myth, travel writers are on tight budgets. So I'm happy to report that I found cheap hotels, bargain shopping for designer fashions, and great affordable restaurants, all in central Manhattan.

In fact, the trip presented me with the classic travel writer's dilemma: are you duty-bound to share your best discoveries with your readers? Or do you keep some of them to yourself, in the hopes you'll find them uncrowded and available next time you visit?

In travel writing there's no such thing as a "best-kept secret". So duty wins, and I'll tell you (grudgingly) that I found the perfect budget accommodation at Hotel 17, set in an old brownstone on 17th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues.

You can't beat the location: three blocks from Union Square and several subway lines, five blocks from Gramercy Park, and a stroll from the East Village. There's an Italian restaurant (Mumbles), a pizza joint (Mariella's) and the cozy 24-hour Gramercy Cafe on the nearest corner.

If you're willing to share a bathroom – they're kept spotlessly clean – rooms cost as little as $99-$120. Rooms with private baths start at $150. For central New York, that's a bargain.

The old-fashioned floral wallpaper and ancient radiators are part of its character. And like the notorious Hotel Chelsea, it has its share of resident characters. Madonna lived here briefly in her pre-fame days, and Matt LeBlanc - Joey from Friends - was a resident when he got his big commercial break.

Great fashion bargains are a few blocks away. I brought home a suitcase full of designer labels from Loehmann's and Filene's Basement, at a fraction of the usual price. It's going to be a very merry Christmas!