Continental taste, Coney Island budget.
With the cost of traveling to Europe soaring as “record numbers” of travelers flock overseas, even as the dollar weakens, the traditional summer destination could be out of reach for a lot of New Yorkers in 2024.
“There’s been such a huge demand for travel in the past three years, and lots of places are pushing up prices,” Graham Carter, director of Unforgettable Travel, told CNN. “People are wondering, ‘Is Europe worth it?'”
For many, the answer appears to be no.
Tito’s Staycation US Trend Report found that 55% of respondents plan to staycation at or near their homes this summer, blaming the cost of travel, tight budgets, pet accommodations and “having just as much fun in their area.”
Fortunately for Gothamites, hanging around the neighborhood puts a world of entertainment, history and culture at their fingertips — more than enough to dupe a dream European vacation.
“There are so many places to go, things to see, that even travel writers … barely scratch the surface because it’s just so big,” Matthew Kepnes, a travel blogger and bestselling author, told The Post. “There’s a lot of opportunities to be a traveler in New York.”
With a staycation, he added, “you want to replicate the emotions and experience of travel in your own town” — no flight costs required.
Check into London or Paris — without leaving town
“The first major rule of any staycation is always break out of your routine and get out of your house,” said NYC-based Kepnes, better known online as Nomadic Matt. “Because if you staycation in your home, you’re just going to end up doing things like errands and stuff like that.”
To distract yourself from the mountain of laundry and pile of dishes you need to clean, booking a hotel allows you to escape your daily routine and feel like a traveler, even if you’re down the block from your apartment.
So, take the money you might have spent on airfare and splurge on one of the opulent NYC hotels recently awarded 3 Keys — the highest honor — by the Michelin guide.
Sample some of London’s finest hospitality by checking into Soho’s stellar Crosby Street Hotel, part of the British capital’s beloved Firmdale group, or find comfort in a quaint suite at Tribeca’s Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s, sister to the Paris original.
You might even leave New York altogether — book accommodations inside of a castle, such as the Oheka Castle on Long Island, where Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” music video was filmed — or venture the short distance to Tarrytown’s Castle Hotel & Spa, constructed to look like a British Isles fortress.
Europe’s where you find it
Sightseeing-wise, art is always a great place to start, and while you might catch the latest installments at The Met or the MoMA, there are more than 100 museums to explore across the boroughs.
“You want to go feel like you’re doing new stuff, you’re somewhere new,” said Kepnes.
“If you’re not feeling like you’re traveling, you’re going to end up, doing stuff you normally would.”
There are plenty of places in the Big Apple that can transport you to Europe without ever leaving the city and environs, although they might be in a neighborhood you’ve never been to before.
When in doubt, make the trek to another borough — or even further, Kepnes said.
The quaint cul-de-sacs of Forest Hills Gardens might trick you into thinking you’re in the English countryside, while the Bronx’s Villa Charlotte Brontë is a near-perfect dupe for an ocean-view townhouse in Italy.
To feel like you’re in Paris’ Jardin des Plantes, there’s the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, while the Met Cloisters’ cool stone passageways and sun-dappled courtyards are a dead ringer for France or Italy.
For an experience akin to a thermal bath in Budapest, visit QC Spa on Governor’s Island, an opulent oasis with outdoor pools overlooking the city skyscrapers. And a quick trip to Tibet is just a ferry ride away on Staten Island at the one-of-a-kind Jacques Marchais Museum. (Though in Tibet, you probably can’t go for sfogliatelle or lobster tails afterward, at one of the borough’s many fine Italian bakeries.)
The city is also home to a plethora of food options — from Jose Andres’ LIttle Spain food hall at Hudson Yards to the Portuguese joints in Newark’s busy Ironbound — that allow New Yorkers to get a taste for cultures around the world.
There’s a strip of Parisian eats and shops, known as “Little Paris,” on Manhattan’s Centre Street and a slew of Greek restaurants in Astoria, such as Taverna Kyclades or the Souvlaki Lady.
Missing Germany? Hit the Heidelberg on the Upper East Side, and pick up all the wurst you can carry next door at Schaller & Weber.
Not into trekking to Copenhagen for a meal at the fabled Noma? Co-founder Mads Refslund has his own place, Ilis, just over the East River in Greenpoint.
In the Bronx, the vibrant Arthur Avenue neighborhood is still packed with Italian storefronts — look for the Calabria Pork Store, featuring a robust sausage chandelier, and shellfish vendors selling oysters on the street on weekend mornings.
And, of course, there are always the authentic pubs of Woodside, Queens — or cobbled Stone Street in Lower Manhattan — for those who have a hankering for a visit to Ireland. Sláinte!
