Jet Blue's £399 flight from Edinburgh to JFK is the best way to see New York on a budget - Scotland on Sunday Travel

With the launch of low-fare North American airline’s JetBlue’s daily direct flights between Edinburgh Airport and JFK until the end of September, affordable luxury and a trip to the city that never sleeps just got a whole lot easier this summer. With round trip fares starting at £399 ($499) in Core class and £1,999 ($2,999) in Mint, with lie-flat seat/bed and superior meals, and accommodation at their partner hotel YOTEL New York Times Square, a break in the Big Apple needn’t break the bank.

From Edinburgh, the flight was smooth with online wifi, choice of TV and films, help-yourself snack pantry and hot meals and we landed around seven hours later, refreshed and ready to take Manhattan from our base at YOTEL New York Times Square on the intersection of Tenth Avenue and 42nd Street, a short walk from Times Square, the non-stop beating and blinking heart of the city.

Founded on the principles of airline travel, YOTEL bills its hotels (including its Edinburgh address) as the pit stop for the non-stop - contactless check-in, space-saving rooms with extending day beds, illuminating mirrors for glow ups, rainfall showers, fast wifi, HD Smart TV you can synch with devices and even a robot to store your luggage.

The Brooklyn Bridge, which joins Manhattan with Brooklyn, on New York's East River. Pic: S Rafferty

From my 25th floor eyrie, one of 713 rooms in 12 types, the floor-to-ceiling window gave a perfect Manhattan skyline view with the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings among a forest of skyscrapers glinting in daytime and dazzling at night.

But you won’t be in your room much as you’re well placed to explore the grit and glamour, armed with a 2024 New York CityPASS (citypass.com) which saves you 40% on entry to five top attractions.

After our morning flight it was just a block’s walk to experience crowds and lights of Times Square, then on to Broadway favourite Joe Allen’s, for American comfort food like my classic tuna nicoise in a room decorated with posters celebrating Broadway flops.

Movie set memories crowded our crosstown walk next morning to the trendy Hudson Yards neighbourhood where we hit the dizzying heights of Edge, a skycraper with the highest outdoor skydeck in the Western Hemisphere up on the 100th floor at 1,131ft and a CityPASS attraction. On a glass platform protruding from the tower you float in mid-air and gawp at 360-degree views of the city and Hudson River, while far below toy cars stream along urban canyons. Angled glass walls invite you to lean back over the chasm and if you’re an adrenaline junkie, head up several floors to Edge’s City Climb where you can don a harness and dangle over the edge, at the highest open-air building ascent in the world.

Janet Christie looks down on Manhattan from the 100th floor sky deck which gives the impression of floating in the clouds, at Edge, Hudson Yards, New York. Pic: H Adam

With feet back on solid ground, we joined the 1.45mile-long High Line for a walk along this former elevated rail line turned urban oasis, where over 500 species of plants flourish among art installations, working up an appetite for lunch at Chelsea Market and a hearty mozzarella, pesto and roasted pepper ciabatta in Friedmans, one of the multiple eateries in the old biscuit factory.

A short subway journey saw us emerge at Ground Zero and the 9/11 memorial where the first thing you notice is the quiet. A sombre mood envelops the site of the Twin Towers, complemented by the dignified simplicity of the monument - victims’ names carved in the parapet above cascading walls of water that provide a soundtrack to quiet contemplation.

After dinner at the upmarket 44 & X HELL’S KITCHEN where it was impossible to resist mac ‘n‘ cheese - a mahoosive portion of perfect pasta smothered in punchy Vermont cheddar sauce that was a turophile’s dream - back at YOTEL we lounged on one of New York City's largest hotel rooftop bar terraces before hitting the on-site cabaret club, Green Room 42, where up and coming Broadway stars put on a show-stopping performance.

With a heatwave making the city sizzle, next day we headed for the cool of Central Park with a breakfast stop en route for freshly baked bagels and coffee at Pick A Bagel). Here the classic New York ‘lox bagel’ (cream cheese and salmon) was surpassed only by the entertainment of a neighbourhood bagel house in full swing and the choreography of a syncopated exchange between fast-moving queue of regulars shouting orders and staff working at full tilt. After bringing this to a juddering halt by dithering over a bewildering choice of handrolled, kettle boiled bagels and multiple fillings, a stammered ‘just give me a New York bagel please”, won a plain bagel filled with cream cheese, salmon, onion, tomato and pickles. Result.

Gazing at the bright lights in Times Square, the beating heart of New York, at night. Pic: H Adam

The hubbub of traffic faded as we wandered deep along the Park’s tree-lined pathways past a lake where turtles sunned on rocks at the shore. At Strawberry Fields in front of the Dakota building where John and Yoko lived, tourists took selfies astride a mozaic of the word Imagine while a busker belted out Beatles classics and a black New Yorker seated next to me on a bench spun stories of his city, how ‘his people’ had lived here in ‘Tent City’ before being moved out to Harlem and about the day after John Lennon’s death when he’d seen George Harrison in purple pants and Ringo Star in maroon velvet jacket, Ringo’s hand resting in sympathy on George’s shoulder, at the rear entrance of the Dakota while crowds thronged at the front. Imagine.

With the temperature rising, we escaped the heat again on a brilliant boat trip with Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, another CityPASS attraction, down the Hudson River, passing the One World Trade center, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and up the East River under the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges. With expert guide Andy Sydor providing a dryly witty and informative commentary, we sailed past the sights and soaked up the classic views.

We’d packed a lot in but with time almost up we flew into Joe’s Pizza Broadway as featured in Spider-Man, to pick up a slice. Never mind the hype, the pizza’s worth queuing for. Then like Peter Parker, who was sacked as delivery boy - speedy, but lacked focus with the world to save - it was time to take to the skies once more as JetBlue flew us home in style, and it was Mint.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

YOTEL has one of New York City's largest hotel rooftop bar terraces. YOTEL, Times Square, New York. Pic: S Rafferty

JetBlue Edinburgh to New York operates daily flights until 30 September 2024. Limited roundtrip fares start at £399 and $499 in Core and £1,999 and $2,999 in Mint, (www.jetblue.com)

YOTEL New York Times Square, rooms start from $139/£108 (low season), and $249/£194 (high season). A TrueBlue loyalty program gives access to discounted room rates, complimentary upgrades and late check-out. YOTEL New York Times Square, 570 Tenth Avenue, W 42nd St At, New York, NY 10036, (www.yotel.com/en/hotels/yotel-new-york)2024

New York CityPASS – save 40% on entry to five top attractions ($146, adults; $124 youth 6-17, valid for nine consecutive days). Includes prepaid admission to Empire State Building Observatory, American Museum of Natural History, Plus, choice of any three from Top of the Rock® Observation Deck, Ferry access to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, Intrepid Museum, Guggenheim Museum. citypass.com

FOOD

Joe Allen 326 W 46th Street, New York, NY 10036, Phone: [phone] (joeallenrestaurant.com)

Friedmans, Chelsea Market, 75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011 (www.friedmansrestaurant.com)

Janet Christie escapes the heat of the city with Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, another CityPASS attraction, down the Hudson River, passing the Statue of Liberty, and up the East River. Pic: S Rafferty

44 & X HELL’S KITCHEN, 622 Tenth Avenue at the corner of 44th Street, New York, NY 10036 (212-977-1170, www.44andx.com

Pick A Bagel, 891 Eighth Avenue, NY 10019 (anne4712.wixsite.com/pick-a-bagel)

Joe’s Pizza Broadway, 1435 Broadway, (www.joespizzanyc.com)

https://www.nyctourism.com/

With thanks to Stephen Rafferty for video footage and images.