New York City On My Mind

From downtown’s Battery Park to uptown’s Harlem, the Big Apple has been dipped in caramel and is more tempting than ever. And visitors are eating it up in record numbers: more than 45 million people were estimated to have visited New York City in 2007 to see what all the buzz is about.

Times Square cleaned up its act more than a decade ago and now has more neon than Las Vegas. Lower Manhattan is a vibrant part of town once again. And there’s no denying the city’s reputation as a cultural mecca. From Broadway shows to Carnegie Hall concerts to Lincoln Center performances to the hundreds of museums and galleries, the city is a giant canvas for the arts. Additionally, some call it the Sporting Capital of the United States, home to the Knicks, Yankees, Mets, Rangers, U.S. Open Tennis and the New York City Marathon.

You’ll find the pace of life energizing and contagious in New York. Type A personalities thrive here, while mellower personalities have no choice but to step it up a notch. And that’s the beauty of it all. Otherwise, New York is just another city.

Where to Start

To get the most out of your stay, a little planning is a good idea, but leave room for flexibility, because things can—and do—change in a New York minute in this city. With that in mind, here are some tips for what to see and where to go.

 

• The New York Stock Exchange.

Jeffrey Keeton

Historic Downtown

Beginning in the Financial District, visit St. Paul’s Chapel, a lovely church that was a staging area for rescue teams on 9/11, and Ground Zero, a humbling site where the World Trade Center Towers once presided over the city. For other free destinations, try Federal Hall National Memorial where George Washington was inaugurated, the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank (hour-long tours available if you reserve ahead). And steal time for the National Museum of the American Indian (also free) in the historic U.S. Custom House, the Skyscraper Museum ($5 adults/$2.50 students and seniors/children free), the Museum of Jewish Heritage ($10 adults/$7 seniors/$5 students/free to children 12 and under) and definitely the South Street Seaport. Kids especially love the festival atmosphere of the Seaport, a thriving community in its own right, with a maritime museum, and myriad shops and restaurants.

Grab the ferry at Clinton Castle at Battery Park and take it to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Rides are $12 for adults, $5 for children, and you can buy tickets in advance online. Or take a ride on the free Staten Island Ferry, which cruises for five miles and runs by Lady Liberty.

The Lower East Side used to be celebrated for its pickles and pastrami (Katz’s Delicatessen on Houston Street is one of the few remaining old-school New York delis), and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum chronicles this transitional neighborhood’s immigrant past. The museum can be seen only via guided tour, so you may want to purchase your tickets in advance ($17 adults/$13 students), either over the phone (tel. 212-982-8420) or online.

 

• Lady Liberty towers over New York Harbor, welcoming visitors from around the world.

Jeff Greenberg

Trendy Downtown

The Lower East Side makes an appearance here too, with its growing number of restaurants, boutiques, hotels, bars and nightclubs favored by the young, artistic and hipster crowds, centering around Ludlow and Rivington Streets.

Tribeca appeals more to individuals with plenty of disposable income to spend on upscale restaurants and shops. If you’re in town in the spring, you can catch the world-renowned Tribeca Film Festival here. Hit Chinatown for dim sum or to shop Canal Street for bargains galore. The Asian neighborhood continues to take over what was once Little Italy, but enough Italian restaurants remain along the two-block stretch of Mulberry Street north of Canal to allow sightseers and shoppers to take a cappuccino break or enjoy an authentic—and lively—traditional Italian meal.

Wander the streets of Greenwich Village, SoHo and NoHo to shop the tony boutiques and to sip a latte in one of the handful of cafés while admiring the passersby. Young children will appreciate the Children’s Museum of the Arts in SoHo (“pay as you wish,” Thurs. 4 to 6 p.m.). And teens seem to especially love these neighborhoods because they feel right at home with the pierced body, spiked hair and ripped-jeans crowd that hangs here.