Hotel 91 Rating: 2.5 Pearls

Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City

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Hotel 91 is situated between a multitude of very authentic Chinese stores, markets, and restaurants. Yet compared to Canal Street, just two blocks north, where it is impossible to escape vendor after vendor pushing you to by the latest knockoff Prada bag, Hotel 91 is located on a calmer, more hands-off street. Plus, it is just two blocks away from famous Joe's Shanghai -- a must visit for its authentic Chinese dumplings.

Lined with old tenement buildings and a few cobblestoned streets, Chinatown -- and its ever-shrinking neighbor, Little Italy -- offer cultural charm by way of instant immersion -- most restaurants and shops sell imported goods and the great majority of signs and storefronts advertise in Chinese. To most tourists, its biggest draw is the abundance of outdoor vendors and shabby markets, where you can buy name-brand look-alikes for cheap (like a pair of Guccci sunglasses or Nikie flip-flops). Just above Chinatown, in the Lower East Side, there's a bit of a hip bar scene -- and the trendy new Thompson LES -- and some of the nighlife does trickle down into Chinatown, which has a handful of swanky, but discrete, bars and lounges.

But while it's fun to visit, staying in Chinatown can be a bit unpleasent -- constant crowds, traffic, and, in most parts, there's considerable garbage along the streets that draws a large population of rats. Expect to smell hundreds of rotting fish heads.

• Two blocks from the F subway line; five blocks from the B, D lines; six blocks to the J, M, Z lines; 10 blocks to the 6 line -- relatively easy access to Manhattan's young, hip, Lower East Side, Midtown West attractions, and the Upper West Side.
• 35-minute subway ride to Central Park
• 25-minute subway ride to Times Square
• 20-minute subway ride to the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center
• 20-minute bus ride to the ferry terminal to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• 30-minute subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History
• 40-minute subway ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the "Met") and a 25-minute subway ride to the Museum of Modern Art (the "MoMA")

A Double Queen Room

• The cheapest rooms are extreemely small; just enough room for a full-size bed.
• Other rooms include a queen-size bed or two twin-size beds and start at about 200 square feet -- small, but about average for a New York City hotel
• Larger rooms (about 300 square feet) have either two full-size beds or two queen-size beds
• 27-inch flat-screen TV
• Free hard-wired Internet; no Wi-Fi
• Comfortable, pillow-top beds; hypoallergenic pillows and bedding

New York has three nearby airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark (in New Jersey). Getting to town from JFK or LaGuardia is usually more convenient than getting there from Newark, but travel times are heavily dependent on the time of day and traffic conditions. From JFK, a taxi to anywhere in Manhattan costs a flat rate of $45 and takes around an hour in average conditions. From LaGuardia, a metered cab ride to midtown Manhattan costs about $40 and can take 30 minutes if traffic is light, three times that if it's bad. Rides from Newark cost at least $40 (plus tolls) and can take more than 90 minutes. It's customary to tip your driver 15 to 25 percent.

Those looking to save some cash can use the privately run shuttle buses that are available at all three airports for about $14 per person. For more information on the shuttles, go to Super Shuttle or New York Airport Service. Public transit is also available for as little as $7 per person, but travel can take up to two hours and involve a lot of lugging bags up and down stairways.

For mass-transit directions right to the hotel, check out HopStop.com.