We are three girlfriends in our mid 30's, planning a shopping weekend in New York. We prefer to stay in an apartment style place, which could accommodate all of us, and with some sort of kitchen. Can you please help? Jayne Hutchinson, Brighton

Sunday Times travel expert, Richard Green, responds: You're spoilt for choice for hotels in New York, but unearthing a decent apartment is another matter. However, find the right one and you've landed your own pad ­ away from the bonhomie of a B&B and the corporate buffets brunches that you find in many hotels. Here are some great addresses where you can stay together and live like New Yorkers too.

Manhattan Lodgings has a large range of apartments in the city, but its 3,000 square feet West 58th street apartment (near to Carnegie Hall) is the perfect pad for a glamorous shopping weekend.

It partly overlooks Central Park and Fifth Avenue's shops, has high-beamed ceilings, antique furniture, a fireplace, several chandeliers, and a fully equipped kitchen. It costs £236 a night.

Or to splurge on some contemporary styling, the Alex Hotel (205 East 45th Street, 001 212 867 5100) is a new luxury 203 apartments complex in Midtown Manhattan within walking distance of Madison and Fifth Avenues. It's high tech'ed to the hilt; with flat screen TVs in the living room, bedrooms, and bath, and with fully equipped Poggen Pohl Kitchens, with smart cooking utensils and tableware. A two-bedroom suite costs from £399 a night.

The Radio City Apartments (142 West, 49th Street, 001 212 730 0728) are a short stroll from Times Square and the shops on 5th Avenue. It feels like a hotel, but rooms come with a combined lounge/dining area and a well-equipped kitchenette. A two-bedroom apartment, with a pullout bed in the living room, is from £184.

Another place that rents out individual apartments is Metro Home (001 212 813 2244). The two bedroom and two bathroom apartment on East 39th Street is perfectly located for shopping and costs £199 a night.

Again, there's a pull down bed in the lounge, plus a proper kitchen and dining area, and there's a 24-hour doorman on the block.

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