Bay Ridge, Brooklyn may not be the hippest part of New York City but it does have it's charms and it's also very safe. If you are looking to stay in New York City but you don't want to break the bank and you want to get a look at how "normal" people live day in and day out then the Best Western Gregory Hotel in Bay Ridge is a great place to stay.
This hotel is located on 4th avenue between 83rd street and 84th street. This means it's just a few blocks from busy shopping area. Yes, there are places to shop besides in Manhattan!
By NYC standards the rooms are very affordable. In fact, I just checked the rates right now and rooms are available for $160/night. You could easily spend twice that in Manhattan, and they'd call it a good deal!
As someone who knows the Bay Ridge area very well, I must say my favorite thing about the neighborhood is the food. There are some really excellent restaurants with my two favorites being the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant located at 7315 3rd avenue and the Pho Hoai Vietnamese restaurant located at 8616 4th avenue.
If you enjoy Indian and Vietnamese food then you will probably love these restaurants as much as I do. And if you don't love Indian and Vietnamese food then you probably just haven't given it enough of a shot yet. Stop eating at Applebee's and try some real food for a change!
