New York

The most beguiling city in the world, New York is an adrenaline-charged, history-laden place with it’s own unique style flair and romantic appeal. Wandering the streets here, you'll cut between buildings that are icons to the modern age. Whether gazing at the flickering lights of the midtown skyscrapers as you speed across the Brooklyn Bridge, or just wasting the morning on the Staten Island ferry, you really would have to be made of stone not to be moved by it all.

You could spend weeks in New York and still barely scratch the surface, but there are some key attractions and some pleasures that you won't want to miss. There are the different ethnic neighbourhoods, like lower Manhattan's Chinatown and the more artsy concentrations of SoHo, TriBeCa, and the East and West Villages. Of course, there is the celebrated architecture of corporate Manhattan, with the skyscrapers in downtown and midtown forming the most indelible images. There are the museums, not just the Metropolitan and MoMA, but countless other smaller collections that afford weeks of happy wandering.

In between sights, you can eat just about anything, at any time, cooked in any style and you can drink in any kind of company. And for the avid consumer, the choice of shops is vast, almost numbingly exhaustive in this heartland of the great capitalist dream.

Nightlife in New York is legendary, with clubs from each district offering a variety of vespertine delights. From the glitzy uber-clubs in the Meat-Packing District, to the hip dive bars in the East Village, to live music in Brooklyn and Bowery, the possibilities are endless.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
The largest art museum in the western hemisphere, the Met is Mecca for art lovers of all stripes. Treasures from all over the world and every era of human creativity comprise its expansive collection. It's easy to get dizzy circling all the Dutch master canvases, bronze Rodin’s, and ancient Greek artefacts but if you need a breather, you can always retire to the Temple of Dendur or the rooftop café.

Times Square
Times Square is the most frenetic part of New York City a cacophony of flashing lights, honking horns, and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that many New Yorkers studiously avoid. But it is a sensory overload that should be experienced a chaotic mix of huge underwear billboards, flashing digital displays, on-location television broadcasts, and outré street performers.

Empire State Building
From the 86th-floor observatory, which towers above the city, you can see up to 80 miles away on a clear day. The views at night are equally as stunning, with the glittering city lights French architect Le Corbusier once called ‘a Milky Way come down to earth’. If you're afraid of heights, gazing at the building from afar will still deliver a dose of dazzle especially after dark, when colored lights that correspond to different holidays and events illuminate it.

Museum of Modern Art
Described as a modernist dream world after its $425 million face-lift in 2004, MoMA has since become as famous for its architecture as for its collections. Yoshio Taniguchi, the Japanese architect responsible for the redesign, created newly spacious, soaring-ceiling galleries suffused with natural light, where masterpieces like Monet's Water Lilies, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, and van Gogh's Starry Night can get the oohs and aahs they deserve. The museum's restaurant next door, the Modern, is nearly as breathtaking.

Brooklyn Bridge
A drive-through cathedral is how critic James Wolcott described this, one of New York's noblest and most recognized landmarks. Spanning the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge connects the island of Manhattan to the borough of Brooklyn (once an independent city, and still worth a visit in its own right). A leisurely hour's stroll on the pedestrian walkway (which you'll share with bicyclists and in-line skaters) is an essential New York experience. Traffic is beneath you, and the views along the East River and of Manhattan's Financial District are some of the best anywhere.

Statue of Liberty
Presented to the United States in 1886 as a gift from France, Lady Liberty is a near-universal symbol of freedom and democracy, standing 152 feet high atop an 89-foot pedestal on Liberty Island. You can get a taste of the thrill millions of immigrants must have experienced as you approach Liberty Island on the ferry from Battery Park to Staten Island.

American Museum of Natural History
The towering, spectacularly reassembled dinosaur skeletons that greet you when you enter this museum are practically worth the price of admission. But there's tons more, including exhibits of ancient civilizations, animals both stuffed and living, a hall of oceanic creatures overlooked by a 94-foot model of a blue whale, and space shows at the adjoining Rose Centre for Earth and Space.

Central Park
The literal and spiritual centre of Manhattan, Central Park has 843 acres of meandering paths, tranquil lakes, ponds, and open meadows. For equestrians, softball and soccer players, strollers, ice- and roller skaters, rock climbers, bird-watchers, boaters, picnickers, and outdoor performers, it's an oasis of fresh air and greenery that lets them forget the hustle and congestion of the city.

Bronx Zoo
Only at the world's largest urban zoo is there room for gorillas to lumber around a 6.5-acre simulated rain forest, or tigers and lions to roam nearly 40 acres of open meadows.

SoHo
The elegant cast-iron buildings, cobblestone streets, art galleries, chic boutiques, and swanky hotels make this a wonderful area in which to shop, drink, and experience the glamorous New York lifestyle.