Staten Island
This small island feels more suburban than the rest of New York City’s boroughs. Getting to Staten Island is easy – just take the free ferry from Lower Manhattan for this 25-minute crossing. Top sights include the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, Historic Richmond Town (a Colonial Williamsburg-like living history museum), Snug Harbor Cultural Center, and the Staten Island Zoo.
Broadway - Times Square
Let the West Coast have Hollywood; Broadway’s lights are just as bright, and many screen actors come to the Great White Way to gain acting credibility. Area attractions include Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, and the Museum of Modern Art. Resplendent St. Patrick’s Cathedral takes up a block at Fifth and 50th. Once seedy, Times Square now hosts ABC, MTV, and NASDAQ.
Brooklyn
The landmark Brooklyn Bridge links Manhattan with the city’s most populous borough. Waterfront Brooklyn Heights offers superb views of Lower Manhattan. Renowned for its brownstones and leafy neighborhoods, Brooklyn embodies America’s “melting pot.” Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Jewish communities add to the cultural mix. Highlights include Coney Island, Prospect Park, and Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Central Park
Buildings crane above one another to claim views of Central Park, a piece of real estate valued at more than $528 billion. Surprises abound in its 843 acres. The grounds include a castle, a zoo, several lakes, and an Egyptian obelisk. A city that never sleeps needs its quiet time, too: Central Park has six designated “quiet zones,” including Strawberry Fields, the monument to John Lennon.
Chelsea - East and West Villages
Washington Square, surrounded by NYU, divides the Villages. On one side, Greenwich and West villages lure writers and artists with its bohemian ethos, best experienced at a coffeehouse or jazz bar. The other side—the ethnically mixed East Village—is known for live music. For its string of nightclubs, Chelsea’s West 27th Street is known as Club Row. Chelsea is also the city’s main gay neighborhood.
Jersey City
Across the Hudson River, Jersey City has its own thriving downtown and share of attractions. The waterfront Liberty Walk offers a panoramic postcard view of Manhattan. Nearby, ferries leave Liberty State Park—with its Liberty Science Center—for Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty. Nearby, India Square’s South Asian restaurants are a popular uptown draw.
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Subway and rail lines connect John F. Kennedy International Airport with Manhattan and Long Island. JFK is home to a well-known modernist landmark designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen. Completed in 1962, the TWA Flight Center is a National Historic Landmark that serves as Jet Blue’s terminal. Nearby, two popular beach towns—Atlantic Beach and Long Beach—are a short drive from JFK.
LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
LaGuardia Airport is the closest airport to Midtown Manhattan. This airport is located in north Queens, bordering Flushing and Bowery bays. North Beach and Elmhurst neighborhoods hem the airport’s south side. Immigrants from more than 100 nations live in this ethnically diverse area, once exclusively Jewish and Italian.
Long Island City
In Queens’ western edge, Long Island City hosts a vibrant art scene, on display at PS1. Immigrants make up nearly half of the population of this New York borough. Jackson Heights is home to Little India. Jamaica has long welcomed African Americans and West Indians. Corona is the resting place of trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and Astoria has one of the largest Greek populations outside of Greece.
Midtown
Some of NYC’s best-known landmarks are north of 14th and south of 59th—or Midtown Manhattan. Here, couples kiss atop the Empire State Building. Grand Central Station’s opal-faced clock is a famed meeting spot. While fortunes are made on Wall Street, fortunes are spent at Fifth Avenue’s shops. Other highlights include Madison Square Garden, the United Nations, and the Garment and Diamond districts.
Newark Liberty International Airport
The Holland Tunnel, a network of freeways, and rail service to Manhattan make Newark Liberty International Airport a convenient alternative to LaGuardia and JFK airports. Although overshadowed by New York City’s institutions, The Newark Museum has a noted collection of Tibetan Art, including an altar consecrated by the Dalai Lama. The museum’s Mini Zoo features 50 exotic species.
SoHo - Tribeca - Lower East Side
Starving artists revitalized SoHo and TriBeCa, two former industrial centers. Although the factories are long gone, their cast iron and mason buildings remain, now housing art galleries, high-end retail, and some of the city’s best restaurants. Robert De Niro’s TriBeCa Film Festival helped reestablish the area as a cultural zone after the 9/11 attacks. Nearby, Chinatown expands into Little Italy.
Upper East Side
Of all the superlatives used to describe the Upper East Side, one word is apt: richest. Some of the city’s wealthiest residents live in the high rises that line Fifth Avenue. Be prepared to spend an entire day at the Museum of Metropolitan Art. Both a physical and art-world behemoth, the Met is home to several masterworks, from an intact ancient Nubian temple to post-modern color studies.
Upper West Side
Some bemoan that the Upper West Side has become a version of the Upper East Side. Case in point: Columbus Circle’s Time Warner Center, one of New York’s priciest real estate. The Upper West Side includes the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the American Museum of Natural History, and Columbia University. Harlem, the legendary African American neighborhood, lies north and caps Manhattan.
Wall Street - Financial District
Wall Street comes to life before dawn as traders rush to Lower Manhattan to make and break deals. But finance is just one aspect of Lower Manhattan, where colonial churches stand next to skyscrapers. Within the district, rebuilding continues at Ground Zero. At Battery Park, ferries depart for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, America’s beacon of freedom.
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