New York City

The capital of the world: the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and Broadway. Ranked the No. 3 city in the world by Time Out in 2025, and the classic first stop on a North America trip.

New York City sits at the mouth of the Hudson River in the northeastern United States. It is made up of five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island), has a population of 8.5 million, and is the largest city in the US and a global center of finance, art and media. Most visitor activity is concentrated in Manhattan: Downtown (the Statue of Liberty ferry, Wall Street, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, One World Observatory, Chinatown and SoHo), Midtown (Times Square, the Broadway Theater District, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Summit One Vanderbilt and shopping on Fifth Avenue) and Uptown (Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum Mile), plus Brooklyn across the East River (walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, DUMBO and Williamsburg). The climate has four distinct seasons: April–June and September–November bring pleasant temperatures and are the best times to visit, with fall foliage in Central Park from late October to mid-November; July–August is hot and humid (30°C+); December brings the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue window displays and the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square, with a festive atmosphere but cold weather (January averages around 0°C, and heavy snowstorms are possible). Getting around: the city has three airports, John F. Kennedy (JFK), Newark (EWR) and LaGuardia (LGA). From JFK, the AirTrain plus subway takes about 1 hour to reach Manhattan, while a taxi to Manhattan has a flat fare of about US$70 plus tip. The subway runs 24 hours a day; tap in directly with a credit card or phone (OMNY) for US$2.90 per ride, with a weekly fare cap. Manhattan's streets follow a grid, so walking plus the subway is the best combination; avoid driving. We recommend staying 4–6 days. For tickets, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Summit and Broadway shows should all be booked online in advance; a CityPASS or Go City pass suits packed sightseeing schedules, and many museums have "pay what you wish" days or free hours. Tips: restaurants expect an 18–20% tip; the city is generally safe, but avoid empty subway stations and secluded streets late at night; street offers such as "free CDs" or "photos with you" are often scams that end in a demand for money; arrange your ESTA (visa waiver) or B visa well in advance, and expect long immigration lines.

Top sights

• Statue of Liberty – A 93-meter copper statue gifted by France in 1886, a symbol of American liberty and a World Heritage Site. Take a ferry to the island, and…
• Central Park – The 341-hectare green lung at the heart of Manhattan, with the Bow Bridge, Bethesda Fountain, Strawberry Fields, and lakes. It's great for…
• Times Square / Broadway – "The Crossroads of the World," where giant LED screens flash day and night, and the 41 Broadway theaters nearby make it a global hub for mu…
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art – The largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere, with more than 2 million works spanning 5,000 years. Don't miss the Temple of Dendur, the…
• Empire State Building – A 443-meter Art Deco skyscraper completed in 1931. Its open-air observatory on the 86th floor and enclosed deck on the 102nd floor offer vi…
• Brooklyn Bridge – Completed in 1883, the first steel-wire suspension bridge in the world, with Gothic stone towers and a web of cables. Walk from Brooklyn to…
• National September 11 Memorial & Museum – Two square pools where the World Trade Center towers once stood, with waterfalls cascading into deep basins and the names of 2,983 victims…
• Museum of Modern Art – One of the world's most important modern art temples, home to Van Gogh's The Starry Night, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Monet's lar…
• SUMMIT One Vanderbilt – An immersive observation deck that opened in 2021. Its 93rd-floor mirrored rooms and suspended glass box turn the Manhattan skyline into a…
• The High Line – A 2.3 km elevated garden built on a disused freight railway, passing through the Chelsea gallery district and Hudson Yards. It is a world m…
• Rockefeller Center & Top of the Rock – An Art Deco complex. The Top of the Rock observation deck on the 70th floor offers a direct view of the Empire State Building and Central P…
• One World Observatory – One World Trade Center, at 541 meters the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Its observation deck on floors 100 to 102 overlooks L…
• Grand Central Terminal – A Beaux-Arts railway station completed in 1913. The starry ceiling of the main concourse and the four milky-white clocks above the informat…
• Hudson Yards: Edge & Vessel – A new district on Manhattan's west side. The Edge, a cantilevered triangular observation deck, and Vessel, a honeycomb-shaped staircase scu…
• American Museum of Natural History – One of the world's leading natural history museums. Its dinosaur fossil halls and blue whale model are the filming locations of Night at th…
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – Frank Lloyd Wright's white spiral building, where the architecture is itself an exhibit, housing modern art masterpieces.
• Fifth Avenue – New York's most famous shopping avenue, with flagship stores, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Rockefeller Center lining the street.
• St. Patrick's Cathedral – The largest Neo-Gothic Catholic cathedral in the United States, its white marble twin spires contrasting sharply with the skyscrapers of Fi…
• Wall Street & Charging Bull – The global financial center, where the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall National Memorial, and the Charging Bull statue are packed int…
• DUMBO & Brooklyn Bridge Park – The classic shot framing the Empire State Building beneath the Manhattan Bridge at the end of Washington Street, with a riverside park faci…
• Chelsea Market – An indoor food market in a former Oreo cookie factory, packed with lobster shops, taquerias, and dessert stalls, right next to the High Lin…
• Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration – The gateway through which 12 million immigrants entered the United States between 1892 and 1954; the main building is now the National Muse…
• Coney Island – A century-old seaside amusement area at the southern tip of Brooklyn, where the wooden boardwalk, vintage roller coasters, and Nathan's hot…
• New York Public Library Main Branch – A Beaux-Arts library landmark whose Rose Main Reading Room and the pair of stone lions at the entrance are New York icons.
• Flatiron Building – A triangular steel-framed skyscraper completed in 1902, a classic landmark where Fifth Avenue meets Broadway.
• Washington Square Park & Greenwich Village – Street performers gather beneath the marble arch, and the surrounding Greenwich Village is full of jazz bars and charming side streets with…
• SoHo – The world's largest cluster of cast-iron buildings, with former factory lofts now filled with designer boutiques and brand flagships.
• Chinatown, Manhattan – One of the most concentrated Chinese communities in the Western Hemisphere, lined with dim sum parlors, hand-pulled noodle shops, and dried…
• Intrepid Museum – A World War II aircraft carrier museum moored at Pier 86 on the Hudson, displaying a Concorde and the Enterprise space shuttle prototype.
• The Met Cloisters – A medieval art museum in Fort Tryon Park at the northern tip of Manhattan, rebuilt from European monastery cloisters and home to the Unicor…

Where to eat

• Katz's Delicatessen – A legendary Lower East Side deli operating since 1888, whose hand-carved pastrami sandwich is one of New York's most ic…
• Joe's Pizza (Carmine Street) – Established in 1975 in Greenwich Village, its thin, foldable New York-style slices represent the standard taste of the…
• Le Bernardin – A Midtown three-Michelin-starred seafood restaurant helmed by Eric Ripert, known for combining French techniques with g…
• Peter Luger Steak House – An old-school steakhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, whose dry-aged porterhouse steak is a New York classic featured in…
• Nom Wah Tea Parlor – Chinatown's oldest tea parlor, opened in 1920, serving made-to-order Cantonese dim sum all day, with vintage booths pre…
• Sylvia's Restaurant – A famous Harlem soul food restaurant opened in 1962, where fried chicken, smothered ribs, and cornbread offer a home-st…
• Via Carota – One of the hardest Italian trattorias to get a table in the West Village, where the cacio e pepe and green salad make p…
• Los Tacos No. 1 (Chelsea Market) – A taco stand that started in Chelsea Market in 2013, whose spit-roasted pork tacos are a budget-friendly meal loved by…
• Russ & Daughters Cafe – A sit-down cafe opened by a century-old smoked fish shop, where bagels with smoked salmon are a classic Lower East Side…

Itineraries

• New York, Philadelphia & Washington D.C. by Rail – Travel along the Northeast Corridor via Amtrak to connect New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. without renting a…
• New York First Visit Classics – The highlights of three days: Lower Manhattan's Statue of Liberty and 9/11, Central Park and the Met, and the High Line…
• Boston to Washington D.C. & Niagara Falls – Travel south by rail through four historic East Coast cities, then fly to Buffalo to end your trip at Niagara Falls.
• New York Neighborhoods in Depth and the Hudson Valley – Stay in Greenwich Village, wander the old neighborhoods, Midtown landmarks and Uptown museums, plus a day trip to Beaco…
• US & Canada East Grand Loop – A cross-border long-haul route from New York via Washington, D.C., Niagara Falls to Toronto, Ottawa, and Quebec City.
• New York City, Philadelphia and Hudson Valley Day Trips – Five days covering Manhattan's main landmarks, and two days by train to Philadelphia, Sleepy Hollow and Cold Spring.
• Hudson Valley to Adirondacks Loop – Head north from New York along the Hudson River to Lake George and Lake Placid, then return south via the Catskills.
• New York Family Four Days – Dinosaur halls, the Statue of Liberty ferry, the USS Intrepid and Coney Island beach, paced for kids.
• New York Art and Museums – MoMA, the Met, the Guggenheim, the Brooklyn Museum and The Met Cloisters, plus Chelsea galleries; designed purely for a…
• New York to Boston Ivy League & Prestigious Universities Rail Tour – Ditch the car and travel along the Northeast Corridor to visit Columbia, Yale, Brown, Harvard, and MIT.
• Long Island Forks: Wine Country to Montauk – From New York to the eastern tips of Long Island: wine tasting on the North Fork, ferry across Shelter Island, and beac…
• New Jersey to Delmarva Coastal Highway – Head south along the Atlantic from boardwalk towns to Cape May, take the ferry to Delaware, and see wild horses.