Two railways, one station, end of the street
Into Manhattan
The reason to stay in Woodside rather than in Midtown is that Midtown is eighteen minutes away and a room here costs a third of what one there does. This page is about which of the two trains to take, because they are good at different things.
The rail road, for the east side and for speed
The Long Island Rail Road platform is directly above the subway platform at the same station. Trains run to Grand Central Madison in about eighteen minutes and to Penn Station in about twenty, every fifteen to thirty minutes through the day. It is the fastest way into Manhattan from here by a clear margin.
Two things to know. It costs more than the subway, and it costs more again if you buy the ticket on the train rather than before you board — buy it on the platform or on your phone. And it stops running in the small hours, so it is not the way home from a late evening.
The 7, for the west side and for everything after midnight
The 7 runs on the elevated line above Roosevelt Avenue and reaches Times Square in about twenty-five minutes. It runs all night, every night, which makes it the answer to "how do I get back at two in the morning" — a question the rail road cannot answer at all.
Outside rush hour take the local rather than the express; the express does not always stop at 61st Street. If you are heading for Grand Central rather than the west side, change at 42nd Street or take the rail road instead.
A rule of thumb
- Going in for a fixed time — a show, a booking, a meeting: take the rail road and add ten minutes.
- Going in to wander: take the 7. It costs a fraction and it puts you on the west side, where most of what a visitor wants is.
- Coming back after eleven: the 7, always.
- Two of you with luggage, going to a station: a car is often no dearer than two rail road tickets and takes about thirty-five minutes into Midtown, traffic permitting, which it frequently does not.
Fifteen rooms · breakfast included · no lift
Check availability
Give the form the night you arrive, the morning you leave and how many of you there are. It checks every night of the range rather than the first one, prices each night on its own and shows you the arithmetic before you type a name. If a night in the middle is full it says so and offers you the ranges nearby that do work.