We had a fantastic stay at Jon’s place. He is a very thoughtful host and provided some bagels and juice in the fridge for us. He met us on our first day to make sure we were settled in comfortably.
I travelled with my two sons aged 10 and 13, and it was plenty of space for them. A much much better value than staying in a cramp hotel room! It’s a beautiful clean space and very big for NY I imagine.
The area itself is really interesting- bustling, growing and very convenient to shops and businesses. We felt quite safe and there seem to be a lot of families living in the area. A few times we got back around 9:00 pm when it was dark but there were still plenty of people around and it felt perfectly safe. It is the same as anywhere you travel- use your common sense when in unfamiliar places.
The apartment is just around the corner from the subway- about a 4-minute walk away to the local C train, so about 20-30 minutes from Manhattan. Just be aware on weekends that the train going back to Brooklyn may not stop at Kingston-Throop Ave., so you would either have to get off at Utica and backtrack on a local train, or just walk from Nostrand Ave stop which is only about a 12 to 15-minute walk, which is what we did. The kids didn’t mind as we are used to walking a lot and we got to see more of interesting Fulton Ave. that way!
All in all, I would recommend staying at Jon’s place and would happily stay again. If you’re planning to stay a week and use public transport, get the unlimited 7- day Metro card for subway and bus.
We got our money’s worth out of it for sure! If you want to see all the major sights you also get great value from the NY CityPass. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to Coney Island and beautiful Brooklyn Heights Promenade to walk along to Brooklyn Bridge.
There is so much to see and do in NY that a week is not enough!