Best Hotels for New York City Marathon Weekend – Where to Stay
by LetsRun.com
October 25, 2019
The 2019 NYC Marathon is next weekend and if you don’t have a place to stay yet, there is no need to panic, we’ve got you covered. There are lots of hotel and lodging options in New York and some that are even affordable for those on a budget. Before LetsRun.com’s Wejo moved to New York, he was coming to the marathon for years and booking things last minute so we’ve got you covered below.
Easiest/ Most Convenient/ Best (?) Place to Stay – Midtown New York
Some first time New York runners are a bit confused on where to stay as the race starts in Staten Island and ends in Manhattan. Should people stay near the start of the race or the finish? To us it’s a no brainer, stay somewhere near the finish. Staten Island is very limited in its hotel options, does not have the attractions most people want on their trip to New York, and is a long way to travel back to after an exhausting 26.2 mile run.
Thus, the easiest and most convenient place to stay for the marathon is in midtown New York, just south of Central Park. There are hundreds of hotels here, you are within walking distance to the finish of the race, and there are lots of tourist attractions near by (Broadway plays, timesquare, etc).
Midtown Options from our partner Stay22, shows you available options for marathon weekend.
Protip: If you want to run into / have some drinks with some running legends, be sure to check out Rosie O’Grady’s at 52nd and 7th avenue. It’s your best bet to run into a pro runner /former pro.
If you don’t want the crowds of midtown, but want to be in Manhattan, zoom out of the map above. You’ll still be likely 20 minutes on subway from Central Park.
Budget Option- Long Island City in Queens -15 minute subway to Central Park South
If you want to save a few dollars, you can search for bargains in the map above (or check out this link for Priceline in Manhattan. You can pick which neighborhood you want to save a ton in), but your best bet to save money is to get out of Manhattan. If you stay in Long Island City just over the river from Manhattan, you can be a a 15 minute subway ride away from all the action in Midtown and the Central Park South finish area.
(the marathon finish/Central Park would be just off the map in the upper left, zoom out to see)
Long Island City Options:
Other options we’ve done before- AirBnB in Jersey
Another thing we’ve done before is get an apartment via AirBnB in New Jersey. AirBnb is essentially outlawed in New York City right now so use it at your own risk in the city, but for outside of New York you are good to go.