Pocket Rough Guide New York City (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

Description

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME ON EARTH

Discover the best of New York City with this compact, practical, entertaining Pocket Rough Guide.

This slim, trim treasure trove of trustworthy travel information is ideal for short trip travellers, and covers all the key sights (Central Park, Statue of Liberty, MoMA and the Empire State Building), restaurants, shops, cafes and bars, plus inspired ideas for day-trips, with honest independent recommendations from expert authors.

Features of Pocket Rough Guide New York:

Practical travel tips: what to see and where to sleep, eat, drink and shop - Pocket Rough Guide New York City features specially selected recommendations for every taste and budget.

Honest independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, our expert writers will help you make the most of your trip to New York.

Incisive area-by-area overviews: covering Soho and Tribeca, Chinatown, the Lower East Side, the Meatpacking District, Midtown, Harlem and more, the practical Places section provides all you need to know about must-see sights and the best places to eat, drink, sleep and shop.

Time-saving itineraries: the routes suggested by Rough Guides' expert writers cover top attractions like the city's landmark museums and stores, and hidden gems like the High Line and the Brooklyn Flea.

Day-trips - venture further afield to Queens, the Bronx or Staten Island. This tells you why to go, how to get there, and what to see when you arrive. 

Compact format: packed with pertinent practical information, this is a convenient companion when you're out and about exploring Manhattan.

Attractive user-friendly design: features fresh magazine-style layout, inspirational colour photography and colour-coded maps throughout.

Essentials: includes invaluable background information on how to get to New York City, getting around, health, tourist information, festivals and events, plus an A-Z directory and handy language section and glossary.


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About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides' list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

Sujets

• Middle Atlantic
• Nueva York
• USA
• Northeast
• Travel
• United States
• États-Unis
• US
• New York

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781789195378
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 41 Mo

Extrait

CONTENTS Introduction to New York City What’s new When to visit Where to… Things not to miss Itineraries Places Financial District and the Harbor Islands Soho and Tribeca Chinatown, Little Italy and Nolita The Lower East Side The East Village The West Village Chelsea and the Meatpacking District Union Square, Gramercy Park and the Flatiron District Midtown Times Square and the Theater District Central Park The Upper East Side The Upper West Side Harlem and north Manhattan The outer boroughs Accommodation Essentials Arrival Getting around Directory A-Z Festivals and events Chronology Maps and Small Print
NEW YORK CITY
No superlative, no cliché does New York City justice. It may not serve as the official capital of the US or even of New York State, but it’s the undisputed capital of the world in many regards. High finance, media, art, architecture, food, fashion, popular culture, urban style, street life…it’s all here, in plenitude and peak form. Best of all for visitors (and residents), you don’t have to look too hard for any of it. Often the sights, both big and small, are just staring you right in the face: the money fortresses of Wall Street; the raised torch of the Statue of Liberty; the iconic Empire State Building; the hype and hustle of Times Square; Fifth Avenue’s foot traffic; the proud lions of the Public Library. For energy and dynamism, cultural impact and sheer diversity, New York cannot be beaten.

View over Manhattan with the Empire State Building at its centre
Alamy

Graffiti
Greg Roden/Rough Guides
You could spend weeks here and still barely scratch the surface, but there are some key attractions and pleasures you won’t want to miss. The city is packed with vibrant neighbourhoods of historic cultural importance, like Chinatown and Harlem, and the artsy enclaves of Chelsea, Tribeca and Greenwich Village. Of course, you will find the celebrated modern architecture of corporate Manhattan in Midtown and the Financial District, complemented by row upon row of elegant brownstones in landmarked areas like Brooklyn Heights. Then there are the city’s renowned museums, not just the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Museum of Modern Art, but countless smaller collections – the Old Masters at the Frick, the prints and manuscripts of the Morgan Library – that afford days of happy wandering.
In between sights, you can (and should) eat just about anything, cooked in any style: silky Korean pork buns to pressed sea urchin sandwiches, Jewish deli to Jamaican food cart. You can drink in virtually any company at any time in any type of watering hole imaginable: unmarked cocktail dens that mix up the latest artisanal concoctions or joints where folks will look at you sideways if you order anything but a bottle of beer. You can see comedy or cabaret, hear jazz combos or jug bands, and attend obscure movies. The more established arts – dance, theatre, opera and classical music – are superbly catered for; and New York’s clubs are varied and exciting.
For the avid consumer, the choice of shops is vast, almost numbingly exhaustive, in this heartland of the great capitalist dream. You can spend your dollars at big names like Bloomingdale’s or contemporary designers like Marc Jacobs, and visit boutiques full of vintage garments or thrift stores with clothes priced by the pound.

What’s new

In Downtown Manhattan the former Ground Zero site continues to develop, with the incredible Oculus housing a fancy shopping mall while new digs for the 9/11 Tribute Museum which opened in 2018 . On the Lower East Side, the massive Essex Crossing development is set to transform the area, with new premises for the Essex Street Market and the International Center of Photography Museum. Midtown’s MoMA is finishing a huge expansion while up in Harlem, a major redevelopment of the Studio Museum should be complete in 2020.

When to visit

Pretty much any time is a good time to visit New York. Winter can be bitingly cold but the city can be delightful during the run-up to Christmas, when the trees are lit up, the windows decorated and shops open extra-late. It’s coldest in January and February, coinciding with one of the few times to find bargains on flights and hotels, and in any case New York has some wonderful crisp and clear sunny days even then. Spring, early summer, and the fall are the most appealing times to visit, when temperatures can be comfortably warm. It’s wise to avoid visiting between mid-July and August: the temperatures tend be sweltering and the humidity worse. On the other hand, locals tend to leave town then, so weekends are less crowded.
New York City comprises the central island of Manhattan along with four outer boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. To many, Manhattan is New York, and you’re likely to spend a bulk of your time here – though Brooklyn and, increasingly, Queens demand plenty of visitor attention. The former has the ragged glory of Coney Island and the hip nightlife of Williamsburg and Greenpoint; the latter a number of cool art spaces, including the uplifting Noguchi Museum in Long Island City. Don’t overlook the Bronx either, for baseball at Yankee Stadium and a stunning botanical garden a bit further north. These are just a few of the attractions that make worthy detours, and you’ll find great neighbourhood restaurants and bars along the way. The subway and bus system can take you everywhere, but New York is great to explore on foot too.
< Back to Introduction
Where to…
Shop
For big-ticket retail, look no further than Midtown, specifically Fifth Avenue, where Saks, Bergdorf Goodman and many others congregate. Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side also has its share of famous brands. Somewhat edgier fashion can be found in Soho and Nolita: Prince and Spring streets are crammed with designer boutiques and hip jewellery and shoe shops. Those looking for vintage duds or the avant-garde might find the Lower East Side and Williamsburg more suitable.
OUR FAVOURITES: Beacon’s Closet (Williamsburg) . Academy Records (Flatiron) . Strand (East Village) . Bergdorf Goodman (Midtown) .
EAT
From street food to haute cuisine, it’s here, it’s excellent and it’s in abundance. Chinatown is most accessible for ethnic eats. The Lower East Side, traditional home to Jewish-American food, now teems with fashionable restaurants, while the East Village is the locus for great late-night eats. Continue up to Midtown for powerhouse names like Aquavit and Oyster Bar. Further north, Harlem has fabulous soul food, barbecue and African restaurants. Queens’ Astoria has great international spots, and Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Carroll Gardens are packed with voguish options.
OUR FAVOURITES: Hometown Bar-B-Que (Red Hook) . Oyster Bar (Midtown) . Nom Wah Tea Parlor (Chinatown) . Ivan Ramen (Lower East Side) . Momofuku Noodle Bar (East Village), .
DRINK
Bars are everywhere and come in every stripe: pubs, dives, beer gardens, hidden speakeasies, exclusive hotel lounges. Drinkers descend on the Lower East Side and East Village, especially streets like Ludlow and Avenue A, which can seem like a carnival – but are good destinations nonetheless. Rocker hangouts and swanky wine bars also hover around Union Square, and Ninth Avenue, starting in Chelsea and moving up to Hell’s Kitchen. The most exciting and characterful places are in the outer boroughs, specifically Long Island City and Williamsburg.
OUR FAVOURITES: Dear Irving (Union Square), Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden (Astoria), Angel’s Share (East Village) .
GO OUT
Clubbing hotspots jump around but the East and West Villages always offer a few standbys, and the Meatpacking District can be good if you’re looking to put on your dancing shoes. Keep your ears open, get current listings magazines and aim downtown. Music venues are more established: the West Village and Harlem have historic venues for jazz; Lincoln Center holds top spots for classical music, dance and opera, with Carnegie Hall just a few blocks away; and the coolest rock clubs are mostly in Williamsburg and on the Lower East Side.
OUR FAVOURITES: Village Vanguard (West Village) . Mercury Lounge (Lower East Side), Shrine Bar (Harlem), Terra Blues (West Village) .
< Back to Introduction
15 THINGS NOT TO MISS
It’s not possible to see everything that New York City has to offer in one trip – and we don’t suggest you try. What follows is a selective taste of the city’s highlights, from its world famous skyscrapers to its world-class culinary scene.
iStock
STATUE OF LIBERTY There’s no greater symbol of the American dream than the magnificent statue that graces New York Harbor
Dreamstime.com
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING Still the most original and elegant skyscraper of them all.
Greg Roden/Rough Guides
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART You could easily spend a whole day (or week or month) at the Met, exploring everything from Egyptian artefacts to modern masters.
iStock
9/11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM The pools in the buildings’ footprints and museum artefacts including the “Last Column” can’t help but stir emotion
Alamy
BASEBALL A summertime treat: enjoy a hot dog, a cold beer and America’s pastime in the Yankees’ or Mets’ homes – or for a more intimate experience, see a Cyclones game in Coney Island.
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BROOKLYN BRIDGE Take the less-than-a-mile walk across the bridge to see beautiful views of the downtown skyline and Harbor Islands.
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MUS