Just returned last week from a ten day trip to New York. Had a fantastic time and will be returning asap!
We stayed in Radio City Apartments and would highly recommend it. It was clean and comfortable and serviced everyday. What is fantastic about it is the location. It is around the corner from Times Square and just a five minute walk to Rockefeller Centre and Fifth Avenue. The subway is also right next door and u can take that up to Macys. For 9 nights it cost us just over €900 ($125 per night for room). We flew with Delta airlines and our flights were €350 each. Delta were excellent and so attentive. Check out tripadvisor for guest pictures of the rooms.
I had never been to NY before so I was clueless but it is such an easy city to get around and the people are super friendly (but not in a false way)! We packed a lot into our 10 days and it does get tiring but I wanted to see as much as possible. We did all the usual stuff...bus tour, empire state, top of the rock, ground zero, statue of liberty, broadway show, game in madison sq gardens etc etc. You will be hard pushed to get all this done in 5 days! The statue of liberty and ellis island took us five hours so be warned!! Out of all the above the highlight was the Broadway Show-we saw Chicago but I think any show would be amazing. Its a lovely night out.
On the shopping front-for men it is great, my partner bought loads but i was disappointed. American women dress very casually, you really have to go designer if you want anything dressy! I got some nice things for work but that was it! I did however buy a great new camera, ipod, jewellary and make-up so things like that are much cheaper!
We put all our shopping on the credit card and then just used cash for eating out, tours etc. It is good to be able to see the conversion on your card.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!