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Home, sweet home: The Tribal Room at Second Home on Second Avenue.

Below 14th Street

Second Home on Second Avenue

Pick your theme: Peruvian, Tribal, Caribbean, 20th-century Modern. Each of the seven cozy rooms ($80-$195) has decorative touches that are intended to evoke a cultural motif thankfully most are too subtle to detect. Staying in five of the quarters does require sharing a bathroom, but the charm of this 19th-century townhouse (and its owner, Carlos) makes that trip across the hall in the middle of the night worth it.

221 Second Ave. between 13th and 14th Sts. 212-677-3161, secondhome.citysearch.com

Howard Johnson Express Inn

Despite the hip address, the accommodations are fairly run-of-the-mill (you can take the HoJo out of suburbia but, well, you know). As a result, this East Village over-nighter is perfect for those who would rather spend their time hitting the streets than hitting the hay. Rates start at $109 for a single and include a continental breakfast.

135 E. Houston St. between First and Second Aves.; 212-358-8844, hojo.com .

Cosmopolitan Hotel

TriBeCa's latest bargain hotel, the Cosmo offers 122 small, clean rooms, ideal for business types looking to stay downtown. If you do want a bit more space, however, they can accommodate book one of their eleven 2-level mini-lofts with a lower-level sitting area and upper-level bedroom area ($129 per night). Other features include newly renovated rooms, all of which have color televisions and private bathrooms. Rates for a single room start at $145.

95 W. Broadway, at Chambers St.; 212-566-1900, cosmohotel.com

East Village Bed and Coffee

Let you inner child out at this funky nine-room B C (sorry, no breakfast here), where room options include the first-floor Treehouse room (which was used as Jennifer Tilly s bedroom in the French film, Happy End ), the relaxing top-floor Zen room, and the top-floor Children s room, which is meant for grown up kids and decorated with the proprietor s childhood artwork, a chalkboard wall, and a desk from the intermediate school down the street. And it won t take too long to save up your allowance to stay here, as rooms start at just $80, with all taxes included.

110 Ave. C, between 7th and 8th Sts.; 212-533-4175; bedandcoffee.com

Union Square Inn

Artists of all kinds flock to this East Village inn, which is patterned after a European pensione and just steps away from lively Union Square, itself reminiscent of an open European plaza. Its 46 rooms are clean, simply furnished, and come with the expected basic amenities, but are also slightly larger than many comparable rooms in the city. Rates start at $109 for a single, or $119 on Friday and Saturday nights.

209 E. 14th St. between Second and Third Aves.; 212-614-0500; unionsquareinn.com

SoHotel

This Broome Street hotel claims to be the oldest in the city, and sometimes it shows the rooms are small and amenities are sparse. But SoHotel has three things going for it: location, location, location. Just steps from Little Italy, Chinatown, and (of course) SoHo, its central downtown position is ideal. Actually, it has a fourth thing going for it, too rooms that start at just $93.07, tax included.

341 Broome St. at Bowery; 212-226-1482; sohotel-ny.com