New York City Travel Guide: What to Know Before You Go

New York City is five boroughs, eight million people, and an argument that never ends about which neighborhood is best. Manhattan is the default (the skyline, the museums, the density of ambition) but Brooklyn has become essential in a way that would have been unthinkable twenty years ago. Queens is the most ethnically diverse urban county in the United States and the best place in the city to eat. The Bronx has the New York Botanical Garden and Yankee Stadium. Staten Island has the ferry, which is free and offers one of the best views of the Manhattan skyline available anywhere. Most visitors spend their time in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and that is a reasonable choice, but the city rewards those who venture further. Manhattan is not one place; it is a series of distinct neighborhoods stacked on a narrow island, each with its own energy and reason to visit. Midtown is where the skyline lives: the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Museum of Modern Art, the theater district, Times Square. It is the most visited part of the city and, for many New Yorkers, the least interesting to actually spend time in. The West Village is the opposite, cobblestone streets, Federal-style townhouses, restaurants on every corner, the most beautiful blocks in Manhattan. SoHo has the cast-iron architecture and the shopping and the brunch crowds. The Lower East Side has the immigrant history and the food and the nightlife. Tribeca has the money and the restaurants and the quiet. Harlem has the culture and the food and the history that most visitors miss entirely. Central Park is 843 acres in the middle of Manhattan, and it is the best free experience in New York. The Ramble is a 36-acre woodland in the middle of the park; the best birding in the city, and one of the few places in Manhattan where you can lose the skyline entirely. Bethesda Fountain and Terrace is the architectural heart of the park, the most photographed spot, and worth seeing even when it is crowded. The Conservatory Garden on the northeast side is the only formal garden in the park and one of the most peaceful places in the city. In summer, the park hosts free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater, tickets are distributed by lottery and the productions are consistently excellent. The subway is the fastest way to move through New York, and understanding it is the difference between a frustrating trip and an efficient one. The system runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week; the only major subway system in the world that does. OMNY tap-to-pay works on every subway turnstile and bus, so a contactless credit card or phone is all you need. The distinction between express and local trains matters: express trains skip stations, local trains stop at every one. The A, C, and E run along the west side of Manhattan; the 4, 5, and 6 run along the east side; the L connects Manhattan to Williamsburg and Bushwick. The 7 train is the international express; it runs through the most diverse corridor in Queens and is worth riding for the neighborhoods alone. Brooklyn has become a destination in its own right, not just an alternative to Manhattan. Williamsburg has the best restaurant and bar scene in the outer boroughs; the food is serious, the bars are good, and the waterfront has one of the best views of the Manhattan skyline. DUMBO is the neighborhood under the Manhattan Bridge, with the most photographed street in New York (Washington Street, with the bridge framed perfectly at the end of it) and a growing food and arts scene. Prospect Park is Brooklyn's answer to Central Park, 585 acres, a boathouse, a bandshell, and significantly fewer tourists. The Brooklyn Museum is the second-largest art museum in New York and consistently underrated. Park Slope and Carroll Gardens have the best neighborhood restaurant scenes in Brooklyn. Getting to New York involves a choice between three airports. JFK is the largest and serves the most international flights; it is also the furthest from Manhattan. The AirTrain connects JFK to the A train and the Long Island Rail Road; the LIRR from Jamaica Station to Penn Station takes about 30 minutes and costs significantly less than a taxi. The taxi flat rate from JFK to Manhattan is a fixed price regardless of traffic, which makes it predictable if not fast. LaGuardia is the closest airport to Midtown but has no rail connection; a taxi or rideshare is the only option, and traffic on the Grand Central Parkway can be brutal. Newark is in New Jersey but is often the cheapest option; the AirTrain to Newark Penn Station and then NJ Transit to New York Penn Station takes about 45 minutes on a good day. The best time to visit New York is September through November. The weather is the best of the year; warm days, cool nights, the kind of light that makes the city look like a film set. The fall foliage in Central Park and Prospect Park peaks in late October and early November. December brings the holiday energy (the Rockefeller Center tree, the department store windows, the ice skating rinks) and the cold is manageable if you dress for it. August is the worst month: the heat and humidity are oppressive, the city smells, and many of the people who make New York interesting have left for the Hamptons or Fire Island. January and February are cold and quiet, which has its own appeal if you like the city without the crowds. Tipping in New York is not optional; it is a structural part of how service workers are compensated. Twenty percent is the floor, not the ceiling, at restaurants and bars. The tip screen on a tablet will often start at 20%, 25%, and 30%; this is not aggressive; it reflects the actual cost of living in the city. Tip your hotel housekeeping, your taxi driver, your barista if there is a tip jar. The one place where tipping is not expected is counter service at a fast-casual restaurant, though the tip prompts will appear there too. New York moves at a pace that surprises people who have not been before. Walk on the left, stand on the right on escalators. Do not stop in the middle of the sidewalk to look at your phone, step to the side. Do not block the subway doors. Do not make eye contact on the subway if you do not want a conversation. These are not rules anyone will enforce; they are the unwritten code of a city that runs on density and speed. New Yorkers are not unfriendly; they are efficient. Ask for directions and you will get them, usually with more detail than you expected. Day trips from New York are excellent and underused by visitors. The Hamptons in summer, the beaches at Southampton and East Hampton, the farm stands, the traffic on the Long Island Expressway that is part of the experience; are accessible by the Long Island Rail Road in about two and a half hours. The Hudson Valley in fall is one of the best drives in the Northeast: Rhinebeck, Hudson, the Catskills, the apple orchards. Fire Island in summer is a car-free barrier island off the south shore of Long Island; the beaches are among the best in the region and the ferry from Bay Shore takes 30 minutes. A few things that surprise first-time visitors: the city is safer than its reputation suggests; violent crime has fallen dramatically since the 1990s and the neighborhoods that were dangerous then are now expensive. The food is better than anywhere else in the country, and the standard for what constitutes a good meal is set higher than almost anywhere else on earth. The scale is different from what you expect; the buildings are taller, the distances are longer, the energy is more intense. And the city is loud, always, at every hour. Bring earplugs if you are a light sleeper and your hotel is on a busy street. New York does not apologize for being New York.