Skip to main content

Where to Stay in NYC: An Honest Guide to Picking Your Neighborhood

Photo: Rhododendrites , CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Every week, someone books a hotel "in New York" that turns out to be a shuttle ride from an airport runway, and their whole trip inherits the mistake. Where you sleep in this city shapes everything: what you see out the window, where you eat breakfast, how much of your vacation you spend underground on the subway. The good news is that there's no single right answer — there's a right answer for you. Let's find it. First trip? Stay central, but not that central Midtown makes sense for first-timers: you can walk to Times Square, Broadway theaters, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park, and every train line in creation passes underneath. The trade-off is soul. Much of Midtown empties after office hours and the blocks immediately around Times Square never stop being Times Square. My compromise pick: stay south of the chaos, in the 20s and 30s — NoMad, Flatiron, Chelsea. You're fifteen minutes from ev...
Post a Comment

NYC Tipping Calculator: How Much to Tip in New York City

Tipping in the United States can be one of the most confusing parts of a trip to New York, especially for visitors from countries where it is not customary. In NYC, tipping is not optional in most situations — service workers rely on it as a core part of their income. Use the calculator below to work out the right amount for restaurants, bars, taxis, hotels and more, then read on for a plain-English guide to who you tip and how much.

NYC Tip Calculator

Estimates for guidance only. Standard NYC practice is shown; adjust up for excellent service or large groups (many restaurants add an automatic gratuity for parties of 6 or more).

How Much to Tip in NYC: A Quick Guide

At sit-down restaurants, the long-standing standard is 18 to 20 percent of the pre-tax total, and 20 percent is now the norm for good service. A fast way to estimate it is to double the New York sales tax shown on your check, which runs at 8.875 percent, giving you roughly 18 percent. For bars, a dollar or two per drink, or 15 to 20 percent on a tab, is expected.

For taxis and rideshares, 15 to 20 percent is typical, and the in-cab payment screens will usually suggest amounts. Hotel housekeeping is commonly 3 to 5 dollars per night left daily, and a bellhop who carries bags gets a dollar or two per bag. At nail salons, barbers, and spas, plan on 15 to 20 percent.

Who You Don't Need to Tip

You generally do not tip at fast-food or self-service counters, though a tip jar is always optional. There is no obligation to tip the staff at a coffee counter where you order and carry your own cup, although many people round up or drop in their change. Government and transit workers, including subway staff, are never tipped.

Why Tipping Matters in New York

In New York State, tipped workers can be paid a lower base wage on the understanding that tips make up the difference. That means your tip is not a bonus for exceptional service in the way it might be elsewhere — it is a meaningful part of how servers, bartenders, and many other workers are paid. Tipping well is simply part of participating in the city's hospitality culture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is tipping mandatory in NYC?

Tipping is not a legal requirement, but it is a strong social expectation at restaurants, bars, taxis, and personal-care services. Leaving nothing is considered rude unless the service was genuinely poor.

Do I tip on the pre-tax or post-tax amount?

Customary practice is to tip on the pre-tax subtotal, though many people simply tip on the total for convenience. Either is acceptable; this calculator uses the amount you enter.

What is an automatic gratuity?

Many NYC restaurants automatically add a gratuity, often 18 to 20 percent, for larger parties (commonly six or more). Check your bill before adding more so you do not tip twice.

How much should I tip a taxi driver in New York?

Around 15 to 20 percent of the fare is standard. For a short ride, rounding up to the nearest few dollars is perfectly acceptable.

Related guides

Put together by our editorial team to help visitors navigate New York with confidence. Tipping customs evolve, so treat these figures as a practical guide rather than a fixed rule. Questions? Reach us through our contact page.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Times Square and the Theater District: A Guide to the Heart of NYC

Photo via Unsplash Plenty of New Yorkers will tell you to skip Times Square, and we understand the impulse. But after years of walking visitors through Midtown, we have come to think of the area a little differently. Times Square is not really a destination so much as a doorway: cross 42nd Street and you are standing in the densest concentration of working theaters anywhere in the country. This is a guide to seeing the spectacle, catching a show, and getting in and out without losing your patience or your wallet. Why Times Square Looks the Way It Does The blinding wall of light is not an accident. Zoning rules adopted in the 1980s actually require buildings in the Times Square district to carry illuminated signage, which is why even a bank branch here glows like a video arcade. Times Square earned its name in 1904, when The New York Times moved its headquarters to the tower at One Times Square, the same building that now drops the New Year's Eve ball. Come at two different hou...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Best Times to Visit NYC's Top Attractions (and How to Skip the Longest Lines)

Photo: Terabass , CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Most NYC guides tell you where to go. Almost none tell you exactly when — and in a city where showing up at the wrong hour can cost you two hours in line, timing is the difference between a great day and a frustrating one. We pulled together opening hours, ticketing systems and typical crowd patterns for the city's most-visited attractions and turned them into a practical schedule. Empire State Building: the first or the last hour The Empire State Building opens daily at 9:00 AM and stays open late, with the final elevator usually running around 1:00 AM. The quietest windows are right at opening and after about 10:00 PM. If you want sunset, book an online time slot roughly 45 minutes before sunset — those slots often sell out days ahead in peak season. Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island: take the first ferry Only Statue City Cruises, leaving from Battery Park in Manhattan and Liberty State Park in New Jersey, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

NYC's Classic Diners: Where to Find the City's Best Old-School Breakfast

There is a particular kind of New York morning that no trendy brunch spot can replicate: a vinyl booth, a laminated menu the length of a short novel, a bottomless cup of coffee poured before you have finished saying hello, and a short-order cook working a griddle that has not cooled down in decades. The classic NYC diner is an endangered species — rents are brutal and the old Greek-American families who ran so many of them are aging out — but the great ones are still here. This is our guide to finding them and ordering well. Photo via Unsplash What Makes a Real New York Diner A true diner is not defined by its food alone but by a whole atmosphere: the round-the-clock hours, the encyclopedic menu that runs from matzo ball soup to a club sandwich to a full Greek dinner, and the unhurried welcome that lets you nurse a coffee for an hour without anyone rushing you toward the door. Many of the city’s classics were built mid-century by Greek immigrant families, and that heritage still sh...
Post a Comment
Read more