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New York City
Sights
NEW YORK HARBOR
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
New York's most famous landmark is the massive sculpture by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was presented as a gift to the United States by France in 1886. The statue is 46.5m tall statue (with the pedestal adding another 47m) sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. Visitors have access to the observation deck on the 47m-high pedestal, but there is no access to the statue.
The ferry to Liberty Island includes a free stopover at Ellis Island, where millions of immigrants to the United States were processed between 1897 and 1938. The island is also home to an excellent museum detailing the journeys of immigrants who had passed through Ellis Island.
Liberty Island, New York Harbor
Subway Bowling Green, Whitehall Street, South Ferry, then ferry Liberty Island/Ellis Island Ferry (website www.statuecruises.com)
Tel (212) 363 3200; ferry tickets 1 866 STATUE4
Website www.nps.gov/stli/; www.statueofliberty.org
Admission free, but ferry costs $12
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
New York City's Financial District lies at the bottom tip of Downtown Manhattan. This is the first area of New York to be settled and the narrow streets below Wall Street were once known as New Amsterdam. The Financial District is home to a tight cluster of towering skyscrapers and its attractions include the Ne York Stock Exchange, Wall Street, the South Street Seaport and the memorial site at Ground Zero where the twin towers of the World Trade Centre once stood.
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange was founded in 1792 and is the Financial District's raison d'être. Unfortunately it is no longer open to the public.
20 Broad Street, New York, NY 10005
Subway Broad Street (J, M, Z), Wall Street (2, 3, 4, 5)
World Trade Center Memorial (Ground Zero)
A moving memorial to the victims of the terriorist attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center stands on the spot where the towers once stood. The site - commonly known as Ground Zero - is also a construction site for six new towers (one already complete) that will include the 108-storey (541m) Freedom Tower.
Corner Fulton & Church Streets, New York, NY 10007
Subway Courtlandt Street (R, W); PATH World Trade Center
Admission free
Open 9am-8pm daily
South Street Seaport
This historic waterfront area near Wall Street features 12 blocks of restored buildings as well as historic sailing ships in an attempt to recreate the port's heday in the 19th century when New York City was the country's most important port.
12 Fulton Street, New York, NY 10038
Bus M9, M15 Subway Fulton Street (2, 3)
Tel (212) 748 8600 (212 SEA PORT)
Website www.southstseaport.org
Admission free; museums $8
Open shops Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 11am-8pm; museum Jan-Mar 10am-5pm, Apr-Oct Tue-Sun 10am-6pm, Nov-Dec 10am-5pm
LOWER EAST SIDE
This low-rent (by New York standards) area east of Chinatown and Little Italy has traditionally been a working class neighbourhood that was home to recent immigrants who generally would move out when they could afford it to make room for the next wave of immigrants. Although becoming gentrified and no longer New York's most densely populated neighbourhood - as it was when most immigrants arrived via Ellis Island - the area retains some interesting sights.
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
This small museum features restored apartments showing how recent immigrants once lived. Admission is by tour only.
108 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002
Subway Essex Street-Delancey Street (F, J, M, Z)
Tel (212) 431 0233
Website www.tenement.org
Admission $17, students $13
Open Mon 11am-5.30pm, Tue-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat-Sun 10.45am-6pm
GREENWICH VILLAGE & EAST VILLAGE
Greenwich Village is one of Manhattan's trendiest neighbourhoods. The focal point of Greenwich Village is Washington Square, which is typified by the Washington Memorial Arch. New York's gay communiity is clustered around Sheridan Square and Christopher Street in the western end of Greenwich Village, while the grittier East Village is home to those who aspire to live in Greenwich Village but who can't afford the rent.
MIDTOWN MANHATTAN
New York City's most central and most visited area extrends from the Chelsea neighbourhood north of 14th Street in Lower Midtown right up to Central Park around 58th Street. This area includes most of the big shops as well as iconic buildings including the Empire State Building, the Flatiron Building, the Chrysler Building and the Rockefeller Center as well as Times Square and the main transport termini such as Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Chrysler Building
This 77-storey (309m) art deco building is considered by many to be New York's most beautiful skyscraper. It was built in 1930 and was New York's tallest building until the Empire State Building opened a year later. Not open to the public.
405 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Subway Grand Central (7), Grand Central-42nd Street (4, 5, 6, S) Train Grand Central
Empire State Building
The 443m-high (102 storey) Empire State Building was the tallest building for over 40 years and after the tragic events of 11 September 2001, it is once again the city's tallest building. The view from the observatories at the 86th and 102nd floors is one of the highlights of a visit to New York.
350 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10118
Subway 34th Street-Herald Square (B, D, R, V, W), 33rd Street (6) PATH 33rd Street
Tel (212) 736 3100
Website www.esbnyc.com
Admission 86th floor $19, 102nd floor $34; Express Pass (gets you to the front of the long queue) 86th floor $45, 102nd floor $60
Open 8am-2am daily, last lift 1.15am
Flatiron Building
This Chelsea landmark is one of the city's most photographed buildings. The wedge-shaped building is notable as New York's first iron-framed building. Not open to the public.
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Subway 23rd Street (R, W), 23rd Street (F, V), 23rd Street (6) PATH 23rd Street
Grand Central Terminal
This opulent train station is one of the world's most famous having starred in countless movies. It is the largest station in the world by number of platforms (44), but it only handles suburban traffic to New York's northern suburbs and Connecticut.
105 E 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017
Subway Grand Central-42nd Street (4, 5, 6, 7, S)
Tel (212) 340 2345
Website www.grandcentralterminal.com
Admission free
Open 5.30am-1.30am; free tours Wed 12.30pm, Fri 12.30pm
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
This world-class art museum focuses mainly on works from the late 19th to the 20th century. It features Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans as well as Vincent Van Gogh's the Starry Night.
11 W 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
Subway 5th Avenue-53rd Street (E, V)
Tel(212) 708 9400
Website www.moma.org
Admission $20, students $12
Open Mon 10.30am-5.30pm, Wed-Thu 10.30am-5.30pm, Fri 10.30am-8pm, Sat-Sun 10.30am-5.30pm
New York Public Library
This massive classical building houses the world's seventh-largest research library and it features an enornmous reading room.
498 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10018
Tel (212) 930 0830
Website www.nypl.org
Admission free
Open Mon 11am-6pm, Tue-Wed 11am-7.30pm, Thu-Sat 11am-6pm, Sun 1pm-5pm
Rockefeller Center
This complex of 19 office buildings houses NBC's television studios and Radio City Music Hall. During winter it is home to New York's most famous ice skating rink.
Fifth Avenue (between 48th & 51st Streets, New York
Subway 47th-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center (B, D, F, V)
Radio City Music Hall
The art deco Radio City Music Hall - in the Rockefeller Center - is home to massive theatres that feature two-tonne chandeliers. With 5,933 seats this was the world's largest cinema when it opened in 1933 but it now plays host mostly to live shows although film premieres are sometimes held here. The awards ceremonies for the Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and Tony Awards have been held here.
1260 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Subway 47th-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center (B, D, F, V)
Tel (212) 247 4777
Website www.radiocity.com
Times Square
What was once a centre for sleaze has been cleaned up to become a tourist-friendly area of bright neon and 9m-high TV screens. Times Square is near the heart of the Broadway theatre district.
Times Square, New York, NY 10036
Subway Times Square-42nd Street (1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, S, W)
UPTOWN MANHATTAN & HARLEM
This large area of Manhattan starts at Central Park and continues right up to the tip of Manhattan. The areas either side of Central Park are known as the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side. The areas between 82nd Street and 104th Street on the ritzy Upper East Side is home to many of New York City's top museums including the Frick Collection, the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Harlem is the large, mostly African-American, neighbourhood north of Central Park.
American Museum of Natural History
This huge science museum on the Upper West Side is noted for its excellent dinosaur hall, its exhibits on human evolution and the brillian Hayden Planetarium.
200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024
Subway 81st Street-Museum of Natural History (B, C) Bus M10, M79
Tel (212) 769 5200
Website www.amnh.org
Admission $15, students $11
Open 10am-5.45pm daily
The Cloisters
This branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art focuses on medieval European art and architecture.
Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park, New York, NY 10040
Bus M4 Subway Dyckman Street (A)
Tel (212) 923 3700
Website www.metmuseum.org
Admission $20, students $10
Open Jan-Feb Tue-Sun 9.30am-4.45pm; Mar-Oct Tue-Sun 9.30am-5.15pm; Nov-Dec Tue-Sun 9.30am-4.45pm
Frick Collection
This elegant mansion houses an impressive art collection that includes works by El Greco, Rembrandt, Titian and Velázquez.
1 E 70th Street, New York, NY 10021
Subway 68th Street-Hunter College (6) Bus M1, M2, M3, M4, M30, M72
Tel (212) 288 0700
Website www.frick.org
Admission $15, students $5
Open Tue-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm
New-York Historical Society
Thus Upper West Side museum was founded in 1804 making it the city's oldest museum. It features exhibits on New York's history.
170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024
Subway 81st Street-Museum of Natural History (B, C) Bus M10
Tel (212) 873 3400
Website www.nyhistory.org
Admission $10, students $6, free Fri 6pm-8pm
Open Tue-Thu 10am-6pm, Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met is the Western Hemisphere's largest art museum with an impressive collection that includes over two million works documenting over 5000 years of art history. It features extensive collection of American and European paintings plus over 75,000 costumes and an excellent Egyptian exhibit that includes a reconstructed temple.
1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028
Bus M1, M2, M3, M4 Subway 77th Street (6)
Tel (212) 535 7710
Website www.metmuseum.org
Admission $20, students $10
Open Tue-Thu 9.30am-5.30pm, Fri-Sat 9.30am-9pm, Sun 9.30am-5.30pm
Museum of the City of New York
The fascinating Museum of the City of New York has an interesting colleciton of exhibits cronicling the city's history and culture.
1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029
Subway 103rd Street (6) Bus M1, M2, M3, M4, M106
Tel (212) 534 1672
Website www.mcny.org
Admission $9, students $5
Open Tue-Sun 10am-5pm
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museum is noted mostly for the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building and its focus is on contemporary art with abstract, cubist and surrealist art on display.
1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128
Bus M1, M2, M3, M4 Subway 86th Street (4, 5, 6)
Tel (212) 423 3500
Website www.guggenheim.org/new_york_index.html
Admission $18, students $15
Open Mon-Wed 10am-5.45pm, Fri 10am-7.45pm, Sat-Sun 10am-5.45pm
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum focuses on 20th and 21st century American Art. The museum's collection of over 12,000 works includes art by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jackson Pollock.
945 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Bus M1, M2, M3, M4 Subway 77th Street (6)
Tel 1800 WHITNEY
Website www.whitney.org
Admission $15, students $10
Open Wed-Thu 11am-6pm, Fri 1pm-9pm, Sat-Sun 11am-6pm
BROOKLYN
New York City's most populous borough with 2.5 million inhabitants. Although it is an easy walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, Brooklyn has its own cultural identity and a bustling downtown area as well as gentrified neighbourhoods noted for their brownstone terraces.
Brooklyn Historical Society
This museum has displays relating to Brooklyn's diverse culture and its 400 year old history.
128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Subway Court Street-Borough Hall (M, R), Borough Hall (2, 3, 4, 5), Clark Street (2, 3)
Tel (718) 222 4111
Website www.brooklynhistory.org
Admission $6, students $4
Open Wed-Sun noon-5pm
Brooklyn Museum
This large art museum has a vast collection of over 1.5 million works ranging from ancient Egyptian artefacts to contemporary art.
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Subway Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum (2, 3)
Tel (718) 638 5000
Website www.brooklynmuseum.org
Admission $8, students $4
Open Wed-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat-Sun 11am-6pm
New York Transit Museum
This museum located in an unused subway station in Brooklyn Heights has exhibits on public transport in New York. The main focus is the subway, but there are also exhibits on Metro North and Long Island Railroad suburban trains as well as tunnels and bridges in the New York area. The museum has a smaller annex inside Grand Central Terminal.
Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Subway Borough Hall (2, 3, 4, 5), Jay Street-Borough Hall (A, C, F) Bus B25, B26, B37, B38, B41, B45, B52, B57, B61, B65, B67, B75
Tel (718) 694 1600
Website www.mta.info/mta/museum/
Admission $5
Open Tue-Fri 10am-4pm
BRONX
For the most part, the northernmost borough of New York City has one of the worst reputations in New York. The South Bronx is the most densely populated part of the borough and is the home to Yankee Stadium and is noted as the birthplace of break dancing and hip hop music. Despite the Bronx's downmarket image, it is a diverse borough and it even has some upperclass neighbourhoods like Riverdale.
Bronx Zoo
The largest city zoo in the United States is home to over 4000 animals. It is famous for the 6.5 acrea Congo Gorilla Forest http://www.congogorillaforest.com/ that is home to more than 300 animals including lowland gorillas. Other highlights of the Bronz Zoo include the Himalayan Highlands habitat with its snow leopards and red pandas and JungleWorld, an indoor Asian rainforest with ebony langurs, white-cheeked gibbons, the Malayan tapir and black leopards.
Fordham Road & Bronx River Parkway, Bronx, NY
Bus BxM11 Subway East Tremont Ave/West Farms Square (2, 5)
Tel (718) 367 1010
Website www.bronxzoo.com
Admission $14
Open 10am-4.30pm daily
