Take Low-Budget Bite of the Big Apple

If you are planning a trip to New York City, Hostelling International-New York City has economical rates and features not common in other hostels.

One is a free 16-hour walking tour of the city on Saturdays, which includes a one-hour ride on the Staten Island Ferry. If the tour seems too long, don’t worry: The group stops for meals and snacks.

The HI-NYC “Grand Tour” was created and is led by Jerry Balch, a retired high school science teacher from Brooklyn. The tour begins at 8:30 a.m. at HI-NYC, 891 Amsterdam Ave. (at 103rd Street).

Sights include the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall, South Street Seaport, Battery Park, Wall Street, the Financial District, Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Little India, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Fifth Avenue.

The 624-bed HI-NYC is in a century-old Victorian Gothic-style building on the city’s Upper West Side, near Central Park and Columbia University. Beds in rooms shared by four to 12 travelers cost $27 to $31 per night. There are no age restrictions, but guests must be members of Hostelling International. (An HI-American Youth Hostel membership costs $25 a year for adults; for information, call [310] 393-3413.)

Residents of New York City may not stay there.

Neighborhood volunteers, who can help with sightseeing information, tours and discounted event tickets, staff the hostel’s hospitality desk. The hostel has a self-serve kitchen, a cafeteria and a bar in the lobby for snacks. Guests can use a large backyard garden, lounge, game room, coin-operated laundry and baggage storage.

Airport transfers and other travel-related services are available. For more information on HI-NYC, call (212) 932-2300, www.hinewyork.org.

For general visitor information on New York City, including special hotel packages, log on to the NYC & Company Web site, www.nycvisit.com.

A ticket to the recently opened World Trade Center viewing platform is free, but demand has been high. For information, call (212) SEAPORT (732-7678), www.southstreetseaport.com.

Another of the city’s budget accommodations, the YMCA’s Y’s Way International, is offering special rates at its Vanderbilt and West Side locations. Until March 31, single and twin rooms are $60 to $80 per night. The 370-room Vanderbilt is on Manhattan’s East Side near the United Nations and Grand Central Station. Expect shared bathrooms, air-conditioning and televisions in the rooms. Facilities include a restaurant, health and fitness center, two swimming pools, sauna and steam rooms.

The West Side YMCA is just off Central Park West close to Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History and Broadway. It has 500 rooms with shared bathrooms, air-conditioning and in-room televisions. Facilities include a restaurant, health and fitness center, swimming pool and racquetball and handball courts.

You can make reservations, get information or obtain a copy of Y’s Way 2002 catalog, which outlines multi-day packages that include sightseeing, from (212) 308-2899, www.ymcanyc.org.

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer and author of “Izon’s Backpacker Journal.” Internet www.izon.com.