STAYING IN BROOKLYN VS. NYC

Makes more sense to me to stay in Union Square area of Manhattan and just hit the L train to Williamsburg when you feel like going to Brooklyn. It's easy to get anywhere from Union Square. Just my opinion.

Is the L train still running BTW?

If you are looking for ease of travel then I would consider in or around DUMBO / Columbia Heights, three main trains cross the east river near there and you would be able to walk to anyone of them. Columbia Heights is a beautiful, quiet and family oriented neighborhood with a lot of history and things to do while DUMBO is a younger crowd with more restaurants/bars. Williamsburg and Park Slope are excellent options if you want a sea of bars/restaurants and both are awesome neighborhoods. Williamsburg is the epitome of a Brooklyn hipster neighborhood while Park Slope is an older more established neighborhood but has a great vibe to it. I would also consider Cobble Hill, Smith and Court street are great. It just depends on what you want to do and what you want to get out of where you stay.

Brooklyn just doesn't have many hotel options and the few that do exist are crazy expensive.

You have the New York Marriott at Brooklyn Bridge, the William Vale and the Wythe off the top of my head.

If you want to airbnb, Williamsburg will give you the best access to bars and restaurants. Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights will give you the nicest version of quintessential walk up brownstone, tree lined streets. Cobble Hill,Carroll Gardens and Park Slope (where I live) will give you a combination of the above.

I think Brooklyn is the best part of NYC but most people visiting want to do stupid tourist shite which is a good 30-45min train ride from most of Brooklyn. With that said, there is a surprising amount of stupid tourist shite to do in Brooklyn and if food is your thing, you can find the best that NYC offers in Brooklyn.

Also, not that I don't understand you OP but really it should be "STAYING IN BROOKLYN VS MANHATTAN" both are in nyc

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Is the L train still running BTW?

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L train is still running. They had been shutting it down after Union Sq stop on the weekends, but they haven't done that for the last few weeks.

Staying in Union Sq gives easy access to Brooklyn, but if you want the Brooklyn experience, stay near the Bedford L stop in Williamsburg. Tons of interesting bars/restaurants to give you a feel of the local version of NYC. Definitely a hipster haven, but that's not always a negative, just depends on what you enjoy. It's also easy access to Manhattan on the L train.

If you do go that route, I'd suggest air bnb over a hotel. There are tons of air bnb's available in the area, and I've known people to get fairly cheap rooms in some real nice air bnb's in the area.

ETA: I should clarify that they had been shutting it down after Union Sq heading toward 8th ave, NOT going into Brooklyn.

Having been to NYC 3 times before and always staying in Times Square, I decided to change and stayed in Williamsburg and I loved it. I enjoyed it so much more .