Anyone have advice for travel to Mannes for D’s audition? I’ve only been to NYC once and just followed everyone else. What’s the best airport to fly into? Hotels? I couldn’t find a link for hotels or transportation for the Mannes audition like the other schools she’s auditioning. Thanks so much!
You can fly into LaGuardia, Liberty (Newark, NJ), or JFK. For us, LGA is usually cheapest. Can take a cab or several busses/subway into Manhattan. I would suggest one of the van services for about $20 each way. They drop at your hotel. For hotel, use a search engine (TripAdvisor? Travelocity?) to search for a hotel using the “map” function to see what’s walkable to Mannes.
Thank you. I knew of the airports just wondering which was the easiest to get to Mannes. We used Newark which wasn’t convenient when I was there before and the cost for ground transportation was high. I guess all three airports are equal distance so we will go with price. I use TA all the time, level 6 contributor-LOL! Just wondered what others have done or are doing. I think I will go on TA and see what they recommend. Thanks for the idea:)
There are shuttle buses that run from LGA, EWR, and JFK into Manhattan (I think it’s about $17-20 one-way), and will drop you off at either Grand Central or Port Authority. JFK is probably the longest trip in, but it should probably take about 30 minutes to an hour to get into the city, depending on traffic, etc. They’re easy to find from the Ground Transportation areas, and you can pay as you board (cash or card).
If you get a hotel near Times Square you can just walk there from Port Authority, and then take a cab or the subway to the audition when it’s time. Otherwise, feel free to PM me when you’ve chosen a hotel, and I can tell you the best way to get to it, as well as to Mannes for the audition. If you can find a hotel close to around 14th Street and 5th Ave., more or less, you’ll be close to the school and in a somewhat less touristy and more interesting part of town!
There are also some nice (and possibly less expensive) hotels around Exchange Place in Jersey City. The PATH train into Manhattan is right there, and will get you just a couple of blocks from the New School (you can take it to 14th Street and 6th Ave.) in about 15 minutes. I know it might sound intimidating to get into the city from Jersey, but it’s super-easy and fast.
Check to see if any local hotels have a special rate for Mannes (they do for Juilliard.) I always use hotels.com to get cheap rates. The rates fluctuate a lot-- a hotel might be $200 a night on one visit and when you check back another time it’s $400; hence, using the website. If you don’t have Uber and Lyft on your phone you might want to download the app.
For what it is worth, I found it was good to call the hotels directly. For both undergraduate and graduate auditions to schools all over the country, I was able to get a better rate when I called directly to hotels near the schools and asked if they had any discounts for auditioning students. For what it is worth, be sure to say The New School and not just Mannes. Several hotels had The New School listed for discounts but not Mannes.
Thank you so much! I’m answering my question in case future parents and students are wondering about hotels to stay for Mannes New School of Music auditions. Walker Hotel Greenwich Village is just across the street from Mannes. They aren’t the cheapest but they do have a discount for Mannes School of Music. This hotel was perfect for us as D could walk across the street without her coat to attend master classes, meet with her accompanist and her audition. Super friendly staff and location can’t be beat. We didn’t have a room facing Mannes. Had I known the school was so close, I would have requested one.
We went with price for flights. We flew into EWR and took the train to Penn Station then taxi to the Walker Hotel. Lesson I learned, give street address not hotel name. Several taxi’s denied us transportation until a nice NYer took pity on us and hailed us a cab. We flew out of JFK and took a car service to airport. I found EWR a cheaper option and less time to get to.