Things to do in New York

New York has five boroughs. Say the name and most people mean one: Manhattan. Streets run numbered avenues north to south and cross streets east to west, so orientation takes one glance at a corner sign.

Manhattan by neighbourhood

Central Park splits the island's upper half. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux laid it out in 1858, across 341 hectares. South of the park, neighbourhoods change mood from block to block.

• Midtown. Times Square, the Empire State Building (1931, 102 floors) and Rockefeller Center, plus Grand Central Terminal's 1913 concourse nearby.
• Lower Manhattan. Wall Street, the 9/11 Memorial's twin pools, and the free ferry past the Statue of Liberty.
• Museum Mile. The Met and the Guggenheim sit on the park's east side, natural history on the west.
• Downtown quarters. SoHo's cast-iron blocks, Greenwich Village's townhouses, Chinatown and Little Italy below Houston Street.

Brooklyn and Harlem

The other boroughs are a short subway ride, not a day trip. Brooklyn and Harlem both reward the crossing.

• Brooklyn. The 1883 Brooklyn Bridge walk ends in Dumbo, skyline framed under its cables; Williamsburg carries the borough's street art.
• Harlem. Sunday gospel still fills its churches, and live jazz still plays in its clubs most nights.

A day in the city

One day here covers plenty. The High Line turns an old rail line into a park above Chelsea, with Chelsea Market's food stalls at its southern end. Evenings lean toward Broadway, dark on Mondays, or a set in one of Harlem's jazz clubs.

Day trips from New York

• Washington D.C. and Philadelphia pair up as one guided day out, door to door in around fourteen and a half hours.
• Dyker Heights in Brooklyn runs an elaborate Christmas lights display each December, covered by its own night tours.
• A Harlem gospel morning is usually sold together with a citywide contrasts tour.

Practical

• Weather. January highs sit around 4C with real cold snaps below that; July regularly clears 29C with humidity that makes shade matter.
• Getting around. The subway runs day and night at a flat fare of about three dollars a ride; a JFK taxi into Manhattan runs a flat fare near seventy dollars.
• Tipping. Fifteen to twenty percent at sit-down restaurants and in taxis; not expected at counters or delis.
• Dinner. Tables fill from seven to nine, later than most of Europe expects.
• Crowds and pockets. Times Square and rush-hour subway cars are where pickpockets actually work; the park after dark is quieter than its reputation.