New York

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Quick Facts

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Demonym

New Yorker

Population

8,310,212^[1] (City); 18,815,988 (Metro)

Coordinates

• Latitude: 40.757929
• Longitude: -73.985506

On Travellerspoint

• 17 New York Apartments
• 9 New York Guesthouses
• 51 New York Hostels
• 11 New York Hotels

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Introduction

US-NY 4 - Manhattan financial district

© All Rights Reserved AC Frieden

New York, New York, the city so great they named it twice, goes by many other names as well. Probably most interesting to the traveller is the unofficial declaration of being the "world's capital." New York is the largest city in the USA, the fourth largest city in the world, and one of the most ethnically diverse cities on earth. The city is made up of five boroughs: Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx and Staten Island.

New York is the largest city in the state of New York and with a lively atmosphere it is a city worth visiting. The city is packed with museums, theatres, top class restaurants and shops.

Boroughs

Manhattan

The island borough of Manhattan is one of the most important financial and business centers in the USA and major center for international business. It is home to the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, as well as numerous skyscrapers in the southern end of the city (called "downtown") and the Midtown centered around Times Square at 42nd Street and Broadway. One of the reasons New York is called the "World's Capital" is the presence of the United Nations headquarters, in addition to the ethnically diverse neighbourhoods like Chinatown and Washington Heights. Newly hip areas like SoHo, TriBeCa mix with old money in the Upper East Side. The high rents of the Upper West Side eventually meld into Harlem, the once off-limits area of New York that is slowly becoming a tourist attraction. In the middle of it all is Central Park, a large natural oasis in the otherwise concrete jungle of Manhattan.

Rockefeller Place, New York

© All Rights Reserved GregW

Queens

The most ethnically diverse of the 5 boroughs, Queens offers the traveller a chance for great ethnic cuisine. It is also home to the New York Mets baseball team, the US Open Tennis tournament and the Aquaduct horse racing track. As the location for both John F. Kennedy International Airport and La Guardia Airport, it is also a likely arrival point for most travellers.

The Bronx

The Bronx (officially just Bronx, but locals will always use "The Bronx") is the northernmost borough in New York City. The local people are known for there strong identity and is is a great place to spend a few hours.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn, the largest of the five boroughs is separated from Manhattan by the East River, over which the Brooklyn Bridge spans. Coney Island is home to amusement parks, beaches and hotdogs, including the famous 4th of July Hotdog eating contest held every year at the original Nathan's Hotdogs. Brooklyn also contains a botantical garden and a world-class museum.

Staten Island

Staten Island is the southern most borough in New York, and the only borough not served by the expansive New York Subway system. Ferries crossing from the southern tip of Manhattan to Staten Island provide excellent (and free) views of the both Ellis Island the the Statue of Liberty. The Staten Island ferry runs 24 hours a day and is every half an hour from 8 am to 9 pm.

Suburbs

The sprawl around New York is impressive. It expands into an area covering 3 states and just keeps going!

Sights and Activities

Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

© All Rights Reserved twokiwis

One the most famous statues in the world is the Statue of Liberty, officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World. It is not only an icon for New York but also the entire country. The statue was a gift from the French people to celibrate the centennial of the Independence of the United States. The statue was constructed in France, and after completion shipped to the USA, where it was stored for 11 months, to await the completion of the pedestal. The 46-metre-high statue was finally unveiled in November 1886.

Liberty Island was closed after the attacks of 9-11, and only reopened in 2004. The statue interior and the crown was opened to the public again since July 2009, but limited to only 3000 people a day. Two smaller statues predates the statue that is placed in New York. One stands in Paris in the Jardin de Luxembourg, and a second stands in front of the city hall in Maceió, Brazil. After the success of these statues, it was decided to go huge. Nowadays there are several copies of the statue of liberty to be found all over the world.

Ellis Island

Ellis Island - Immigration Facility

© All Rights Reserved BEAST

Close to the Statue of Liberty and actualy a part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island is the place where millions of new Americans entered the country. From 1892 until 1954, around 12 million immigrants arrived at the Ellis Island Immigration Station, of which 2% were denied entry to the country. Some of the notable people who started their new lives in the USA here were: writer Isaac Asimov, gangster Lucky Luciano, actor Rudolph Valentino, Olympic swimming champion, actor Johnny Weissmüller (Tarzan) and comedian Bob Hope, after whom the library of Ellis Island has been named. Nowadays the island is home to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, which is visited by millions of people, usualy in combination with a visit to the Statue of Liberty.

To reach Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty you need to take the boat service with the Circle Line, which is the only company that has services to the Islands. The ferry leaves from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey and from the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City.

Empire State Building

Empire State

© All Rights Reserved monkyhands

The Empire State Building is, at 381 metres (or 448.7 metres if you include the antenna), the tallest building in New York City, located at the junction of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Built in a typical art deco style, that was in fashion before World War II, it was the heighest in the world from the opening in 1932 until it was surpassed by the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 1972. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it again became the tallest building in the New York skyline. Visitors primarily come to the tower to have a look at the panorama over New York from the observation deck, which is located on the 86th floor. Most tourists tend to forget that in the building, around a thousand offices are located, employing about 21,000 people.

The building has been a site of many films, most notable is King Kong, and maybe the least know is the film Empire by Andy Warhol, which is 8 hours and 5 minutes long, showing the Empire State building from July 25-26, 1964 from 8:06 p.m. to 2:42 a.m. (the difference in the time, is because of the speed at which the film is projected.)

Central Park

Central Park

© All Rights Reserved libenka

Central Park is the best known park in New York, and maybe even in the United States. It was the first urban landscaped park in the United States. An icon of New York and a great place to settle down from the hustle and bustle. It is located between 59th Street and 110th Street and from Fifth Avenue to Eighth Avenue. In the park there are several lakes, sporting facilities, and a couple of famous buildings including the Metropolitan Museum. The Great Lawn in summer also acts as a field for open air concerts. Another famous part of the park is Strawberry Fields, which was created in honour of John Lennon, who was murdered at the steps of the Dakota building, near to the Central Park. Furthermore you can find Belvedere Castle and a Zoo in the Park.

The High Line

The High Line is a 2,5 kilometre long part of the former elevated freight railroad of the West Side Line. Located along the lower west side of Manhattan, it has been redesigned and planted as a greenway. The original High Line was built in the early 1930's to prevent fatal accidents that occurred along street level and to offer direct warehouse-to-freight car service. It was in use until 1980. The new High Line opened up with the southernmost section as a city park on June 8, 2009. The "Lenape Edible Estate: Manhattan" will officially open to the public on Monday, September 14th and there will also be festivities to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Henry Hudson to the island of Manhattan.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the largest and most famous museums in the world is located on the eastside of Central Park. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or in short just the Met, houses a collection of paintings and sculptures from old over the world and from the old masters to modern artists. It also has a huge collection of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Egyptian, African, Asiatic, Oceanic and Islamic pieces of art in the collection. There is also a collection of musical instruments on display. In a separate wing of the museum you can find the Robert Lehman Collection, which was a private collection passed on to the museum after his death. It contains several works of famous artists like El Greco, Goya, Botticelli and Rembrandt.

At the Hudson river there is a dependance on 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park, called the Cloisters. The branch of the Met, focusses on the Middle Ages in Europe. If you want to explore the entire collection of the Met, make sure that your visit to New York is a long one.

Guggenheim

The Guggenheim is another great art museum. The Guggenheim museum is a museum that focuses on art from the 20th and the 21st Century. The collection was brought together by combining several smaller privately owned collections. the collections of Solomon R. Guggenheim and his niece Peggy Guggenheim together with the collections of Justin K. Thannhauser and Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo form the focal point of the Guggenheim. Nowadays there are also two dependances of the Guggenheim, one in Berlin, Germany, and the other one in Bilbao, Spain.

Chrysler Building

The Chrysler building, located at 405 Lexington Ave, and 42nd Street, was built between 1928 and 1930, and with 319 metres (the height of the antenna), it was for one year the heighest building in the world. It was built in the Art-Deco style that was fashionable during the twenties and early thirties. The Chrysler boss at that moment, instructed the architect, William van Alen to make some references to the Chrysler cars. Van Alen did this and on the building you can find gargoyles that are modeled after Chrysler automobiles, and other references to Chrysler cars. The most distinctive part of the skyscraper is the crown that is made out of stainless steel and small triangular windows. When it is dark the illumination of the crown, makes it to one of New York's most recognisable sights.

Museums and Galleries

• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an amazing modern art museum with leading artists showing their work.
• American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, has great dinosaurs and other exhibits on natural history.
• Lower East Side Tenement Museum.
• Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street.
• Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Corner of 91st Street and Fifth Avenue.
• New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street.
• American Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue at 36th Street.
• Museum Of Sex, 233 Fifth Avenue at 27th street, is a nice museum completely devoted to every aspect of sex future, past, and present.

Other Sights and Activities

• Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, is the world's largest cathedral.
• New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, is a stunning structure with great public art.
• New York Stock Exchange, 20 Broad Street between Wall St. and Exchange Pl., see were all the money is made and lost!
• Rockefeller Center, Between 5th and 6th Avenues, and between 49th and 50th Streets, is an amazing plaza that has ice skating in the winter and performances in the summer.
• Staten Island Ferry is a great way to see the city by water, and the Statue of Liberty, for FREE!
• Theater District is a great place to catch a play and enjoy an evening.
• Times Square, shopping, theatres, restaurants where over 30 million tourists visit each year!
• Madison Square Garden maybe the most famous venue in the world, and home of the Knicks and the Rangers.
• Ground Zero go see the where the tragic events of September 11th 2001 took place.

Events and Festivals

• New York's Village Halloween Parade is a yearly event which kicks off at 7 pm on Halloween Day (October 31).
• NYC LGBT Gay Pride-Rally is a large parade celebrating and support the rights of the LGBT community in New York City.

Weather

New York City has warm summers and relatively mild winters, although temperatures occasionally drop to below -20 degrees Celsius. Averages are around 4 degrees though, with light frost at night. Summers are around 27 or 28 degrees Celsius dropping to around 18 degrees at night, but highs of well over 35 degrees Celsius are measured regularly. Precipition is quite evenly distributed throughout the year, most of it falls in the form of rain, although sometimes decent amounts of snow leave the city with a white blanket. Spring and autumn are good times to visit the capital.

Getting There

By Plane

There are three major airports in the New York City Area.

John F. Kennedy International
John F. Kennedy International Airport (airport code: JFK) is located in Jamaica, Queens. For terminal information and options for getting from JFK to Manhattan, see the detailed JFK Airport page

La Guardia Airport
La Guardia Airport (airport code: LGA) is located in Flushing, Queens. For terminal information and options for getting from LGA to Manhattan, see the detailed La Guardia Airport page

Newark Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport (airport code: EWR) is located in Newark, New Jersey, just across the Hudson river from New York City. For terminal information and options for getting from Newark to Manhattan, see the detailed Newark Airport page

By Train

All trains going to New York are operated by Amtrak. Most intercity trains will arrive at Pennsylvania Station, located at 7th Avenue and 34th Street. Others (mostly from northern suburbs and Connecticut) will arrive at the Grand Central Terminal.

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

Driving around in New York is not only unnecessary but also not advisable. Finding a car park is hard and street parking is non-existent in tourist attractions or crowded areas. If car park is available, charges are very high and paying $40 a day is not at all uncommon. The entire city is a Tow Away zone and you can expect your car to be gone when you return if you leave your car parked illegally. Car rentals are generally more expensive than the rest of the country and a high deposit of up to $500 is required if you do not have a credit card. Driving in the city can be intimidating for the timid. Many city cab drivers are aggressive drivers, while traffic in the city centre and during rush hours can be overwhelming for the inexperienced.

In other words, don't get a car unless really necessary. Public transportation is the best choice for visitors to get around New York City.

By Public Transport

New York has one of the most expansive subway systems in the world, and especially for travellers is an ideal option, with many of the main tourist sites covered by the subway system, though with 422 stations and 26 different lines, the subway can be confusing, but free maps of the system are available at most hotels, or online in both interactive and PDF format.

MTA NYC Transit
The Metropolitian Transit Authority (MTA) is the organization that runs the NYC Transit, an extensive subway and bus system in New York City and the surrounding area.

Rides on the subways cost $2.00. To pay your fare, the subway system uses the MetroCard, a yellow paper card that has a "stored" value of money on it. For $10.00, riders get $12.00 deposited on their MetroCard (in essence, a free ride). Riders swipe the card when entering the subway station, and $2.00 for the ride is deducted. MetroCards can also be used on the MTA buses, as well as PATH trains, JFK AirTrain and the Roosevelt Island Tram.

In addition the subway system, there is an extensive network of bus routes running above ground at street level.

Use the MTA NYC Transit Trip Planner to plan your itinerary get detailed information on routes to take, schedules and fares for your journey. Be warned that most repair work that reroutes subways occurs on nights and weekends. You can have the MTA site email you weekend advisories.

PATH
The PATH Rapid-Transit System is run by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and connects Manhattan with New Jersey. The PATH system runs 24 hours, and makes staying in Jersey City, Hoboken or Newark an option for travellers wanting to see Manhattan and looking for cheaper accomodations.

There are 4 different lines in the PATH system, connecting Mid-town Manhattan (33rd Street) and the World Trade Center to Newark, New Jersey and Hoboken, New Jersey. The cost of service is $1.75 one way. PATH fares can be paid using the following options:

• Cash - $1.75 for a single ride.
• MTA MetroCards (obtained at NYC Transit subway stations).
• PATH QuickCard/SmartLink ($13 for 10 trips; $26 for 20 trips; $52 for 40 trips).
• SmartLink Card unlimited ride pass ($6 for 1-day pass, $18 for 7-day pass, $54 for 30-day pass).

New Jersey Transit Trains and Buses
NJ Transit connects Manhattan with the cities and towns across the Hudson River in New Jersey. Bus service runs from the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 8th Avenue and 42nd Street through the Lincoln tunnel into New Jersey. Train service runs into Pennsylvania Station at 7th Avenue and 34th Street.

Use the NJ Transit Trip Planner to plan your itenerary get detailed information on routes to take, schedules and fares for your journey.

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)
Running from Manhattan and Brooklyn out to the communities on Long Island, the LIRR is mostly a commuter service for workers living in the suburbs and working in New York City.

For travellers the LIRR can provide easy access to areas in Queens, specifically the US Open Tennis tournament or Shea Stadium for a NY Met's baseball game. The LIRR can also be used in commuting from the New York area airports.

By Taxis

Taxi cabs in New York City are bright yellow. They can be found at taxi stands, or hailed off the street (generally by raising your hand and whistling or yelling). Available taxis can be identified by the numbers on the roof of the cab. If they are lit, the taxi is available.

All yellow taxi cabs in New York City use a meter to determine the rate to be paid. Rates for taxi cabs are as follows:

• Initial fare: $2.00.
• Each 1/5 mile (4 blocks): $0.30.
• Each 1 minute idle: $0.20.
• Night surcharge: $0.50 (from 8pm until 6am).
• Additional riders: FREE.

There may be additional charges for tolls if you cross a bridge or tunnel. It is generally expected to tip the driver an additional 10% - 20% of the amount on the meter.

Many of the taxis to the airports are flat fee.

Taxi costs sound a bit confusing so here is a list of a few standard taxi fares, these are only approximate and can vary due to traffic and other factors outside of the driver's control.

• Across Manhattan, 1st Ave. to West End: about $15.
• 70's (East Side) to South Street Seaport: about $18.
• 100's (West Side) to Port Authority: about $12.

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Ruby Foo's Broadway has the best Dim Sum and rolls around. Near the theater district, it's a great fun place to go for lunch, dinner or drinks and sushi. Don't miss the "Ruby Foo"; specialty of the house.

Drink

New York has one of the best Nightlife's in the entire world! If you want dingy dive bars, underground clubs, giant discos, swanky lounges or just a bohemian arty hang out there are 1000s to choose from no mater where you are in the city! Smoking has been banned in all New York bars and this has helped change there image. No trip to New York is complete with out a night on the town. But be prepared the drinks are not cheap anywhere!

West Village

Fat Cat Billiards is a great basement bar with live jazz, pool, table tennis and chess to keep you entertained. Remember that once you get the pool balls from the bar you start paying for them.

Sleep

New York City can be expensive for the budget traveller. Hostels generally cost about $25 to $35 per night for shared, dorm accomodations. Hotels start at $70 and run upwards, though location, time of year and day of week will change the rates.

A unique compromise between hotel and dorm hostel is Bowery's Whitehouse of New York, providing single or double accomodations in miniscule rooms with open, lattice ceilings, offering the security of an enclosed, locked room with the space of a dorm room. Rates are around $30 per person, plus taxes, depending on time of year. Reservations are highly recommended as far in advance as possible, as the Whitehouse fills up quickly. Reservations and rates can be found at the Bowery's Whitehouse of New York website.

Brooklyn and Queens, both well serviced by the subway system are good alternatives to staying in Manhattan. As well, the PATH system running 24 hours means that travellers could also look at staying in Jersey City, Newark or Hoboken and still have great access to Manhattan.

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep connected

Internet

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

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