". : New York City : ." a New York City Travel Page by Christophe_Ons

New York City has to be the world's greatest, coolest, craziest and certainly most tempting city. On top of that it's the most diverse ethnic/cultural melting pot imaginable. NYC has everything for everyone : architecture, arts, cuisine, entertainment, shopping,... It's all here. While it can be an overwhelming place initially, chances are you'll feel right at home in no time, and as you're "settling in" you may even find yourself falling madly in love with this exciting city ... I know I did !

New York is made up of five distinct boroughs : Manhattan (where the vast majority of the sights are located), the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. Even if you only visit the Manhattan island, the hard part is to fit everything you want to see / do in one visit. If you are short on time, you could restrict your sightseeing to one or two areas in Manhattan.
Many of New York's oldest and newest buildings rub shoulders in lower Manhattan. From here you can take the Staten Island Ferry for breathtaking views of the famous skyline and the Statue of Liberty. Downtown you'll also find Battery Park City, TheFinancial District with Wall Street, South Street Seaport and The Civic Center - from the latter, the Brooklyn Bridge connects Manhattan to Brooklyn. More to the north but still in the area around and below Canal St are TriBeCa, Chinatown, Little Italy and The Lower East Side - each of these neighborhoods has its own, distinct vibe. Still further u pnorth (but still in the lower half of the island) are SoHo, Greenwich Village and The East Village. 14th Street is generally considered the division line where the area of the Downtown neighborhoods ends, and Midtown begins - way up to 59th St / Central Park.

The Heart of the city pulses 24 hours a day to the beat of corporate America, but there's plenty of culture here, too. From 14th St upwards the neighborhoods Chelsea, Flatiron District and Gramercy are packed with some of the most stunning architecture. In the center of Midtown, around Herald Square / The Garment District, you'll find the Empire State Building. Further up north you have the Theater District with Broadway and Times Square, and north from the Empire State Building on Fifth Ave, along the stretch between 50th St and Central Park, the rents are among the highest in the world. This part of town is practically all skyscrapers, including another landmark in East Midtown : The Chrysler Building.
Alongside Central Park are the Upper West and East sides, havens of culture, museums and the NY University neighborhood Columbia. Here you'll also find some of the most expensive residential areas in NYC. North of Central Park you have Harlem, Hamilton Heights and El Barrio (East Harlem). Few tourists make it here and to the more northern parts of Manhattan : Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights and Inwood, home to the medieval "Cloisters" Museum. But that doesn't mean these parts of the city have to be dismissed.