We'll Take Manhattan -- for Less Than $200 a Night

8 HOTEL NEWTON

2528 Broadway between 94th and 95th streets

Price we found: From $163 (SideStep) to $174 (Hotels.com, Expedia)

Details: A comfortable home base for those more interested in staying in the heart of a real neighborhood than being right next to tourist attractions, the nine-floor, 105-room Hotel Newton attracts Columbia University parents, visitors with family on the Upper West Side and lots of repeats. "That one? I know her kids, I've met her grandkids, they've done bat mitzvahs here," said the manager about a guest waiting in the lobby. There's nothing fancy going on -- the bedspreads and wall decorations have that generic floral motif so popular with hotels the world over -- but the staff is friendly, many of the rooms have microwaves and fridges, the bathrooms have recently been redone, and the 1, 2 and 3 subways, just a block away, can whisk you downtown in minutes.

Info: 800-643-5553, http://www.thehotelnewton.com .

9 HOTEL ROGER WILLIAMS

131 Madison Ave. at East 31st Street

Price we found: $199 (SideStep, Hotels.com, Expedia)

Details: Doormen in hip coats lead the way into an atrium-style lobby; from the minute you walk into this Murray Hill hotel, everything here feels fun and crisp and very boutique. The 192 rooms on 16 floors trade in bold colors, featuring white quilts with blocks of red, yellow and pink, and lamps atop tall blue geometric bases. The padded bench that doubles as a luggage rack might be apple red; the chairs might be orange or lime green. Flat-screen wall-mounted TV screens and wireless Internet will keep you connected. The amenities are playful, with jelly beans, Cheez-Its, gummy bears and pretzels rounding out the minibar, and thoughtful, too (a deck of cards and a full-size corkscrew are standard, and the in-house stationery is pretty enough to want to hold on to). No sad complimentary continental breakfast here: It'll cost you $12.95 per person, but fresh fruit, H&H bagels and croissants from Balthazar are among the staples served in the Breakfast Pantry overlooking the lobby. (You can work it all off at the on-site fitness center.)

Info: 888-448-7788, http://www.hotelrogerwilliams.com .

10 LA QUINTA MANHATTAN MIDTOWN

17 W. 32nd St. between Broadway and Fifth Avenue

Price we found: $190 (SideStep)

Details: The 182-room, 14-floor La Quinta is the most boutiquelike of the Apple Core Hotels, a group of five properties that took mixed-use buildings in midtown Manhattan and turned them into franchises of limited-service hotels. Start your stay at this Beaux-Arts building with complimentary breakfast and free Wi-Fi; end your evening with a trip to the glass-enclosed, greenhouse-like rooftop bar, where a look overhead is rewarded with a stunning view of the Empire State Building. The rooms are tasteful but rather snug, as is the fitness center; in terms of noise, you might want to try for a room that doesn't face 32nd Street. Just blocks from Penn Station, La Quinta is in the heart of Manhattan's busy Korean enclave.

Info: 800-551-2303, http://www.applecorehotels.com .

11 MILLENNIUM UN PLAZA HOTEL

One United Nations Plaza, 44th Street between First and Second avenues

Price we found: $199 (Quikbook, Hotels.com, Expedia)

Details: A room here practically comes with a guaranteed spotting of a foreign head of state. This upscale hotel, with its shiny black-and-white lobby decor and magnificent fresh floral displays, is within spitting distance of the United Nations. You're also in for amazing views, with 427 guest rooms between the 28th and 40th floors. Once you've seen your room's vantage point, slip into your swimsuit and head to the 27th floor, then walk down the vertigo-inducing, glass-walled hallway to the lap pool for an incredible up-against-the-glass look at the United Nations, Roosevelt Island and the East River. Bring your racquet, too: The Millennium is the only hotel in town with its own indoor tennis court. New this year, Sunday brunch at the on-site Ambassador Grill features bottomless champagne and an international menu ($54 for adults, $19 for children).

Info: 866-866-8086, http://www.millenniumhotels.com .

12 PARK CENTRAL NEW YORK

870 Seventh Ave. at West 56th Street

Price we found: $199 (Quikbook, Hotels.com, Expedia).

Details: One of the best things about the 25-floor Park Central is its midtown location, across the street from Carnegie Hall and near the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue shopping and (duh) Central Park. True, with 934 guest rooms, quaint it ain't. But it's clean, safe, spacious and amenity-packed, with a lobby lounge, business center and on-site bistro-style restaurant, the Cafe New York. In short, at this price, a find. Guest rooms are larger than usual for New York and feature high-speed Internet access ($11.87 per day), dual-line speakerphones, flat-screen cable TVs with on-demand movies and Nintendo, irons and ironing boards, hair dryers and coffee set-ups. And there's none of that tacky hotel-room art -- our room had a snazzy art print of Times Square. The fitness center was being refurbished when we visited, but it's back in action now with treadmills, bikes, free weights and weight machines.

Info: 800-346-1359, http://www.parkcentralny.com .

13 PARK SOUTH HOTEL

122 E. 28th St. between Park and Lexington avenues

Price we found: $199 (Quikbook)

Details: Housed in a building that dates to 1906, this eight-floor hotel has 143 rooms (no suites), a complimentary DVD and book library for guests, and a snug but serviceable fitness room and business center. Free newspaper and Internet access are offered, and breakfast (included in the rate) is served in the Black Duck, through a curtain off the lobby in an adjacent 18th-century brownstone. Crisp white linens, blue accents, comfortable armchairs and black-and-white prints of New York scenes are hallmarks of this Murray Hill hotel, where about 90 percent of the clientele are business travelers.

Info: 800-315-4642, http://www.parksouthhotel.com .

14 RAMADA PLAZA NEW YORKER

481 Eighth Avenue at West 34th Street

Price we found: $169 (SideStep, Hotels.com, Expedia)

Details: When the New Yorker was built in 1929, it was the city's largest hotel. It closed in 1972, reopened in 1994 and became a Ramada property in 2000, now with 845 rooms. True, the 40-floor art deco hotel has a somewhat dingy exterior (well-known to anyone who has taken the $20 buses from D.C. to New York), but the location (near Madison Square Garden, Penn Station and Macy's) and the views (maximized by having guest rooms from the 19th floor up) belie the first impression. The massive lobby is set for renovation. The rooms come in 28 configurations and are offered as standard doubles, plaza suites (with fridge) and tower suites (fridge, wet bar and a phone in the bathroom). If you get nibbly on your way in for the night, the Tick Tock Diner on the first floor never closes.

Info: 800-764-4680, http://www.newyorkerhotel.com .

15 WALL STREET INN

9 S. William St.

Price we found: $159 (Hotels.com, Expedia)

Details: See story, Page P10.

Info: 877-747-1500, http://www.thewallstreetinn.com .

Washington Post staff writers Andrea Sachs and K.C. Summers contributed to this story. For an interactive hotel map, go to www.washingtonpost.com/travel. Got a hotel find of your own? E-mail travel@washpost.com.