Rough Guides - The Rough Guide to New York City

This Rough Guide is one of a new generation of informative and easy-to-use travel-guide ebooks that guarantees you make the most of your trip. An essential tool for pre-trip planning, it also makes a great travel companion when youre on the road.

From the fills you in on history, books and films.

Detailed area maps feature in the guide chapters and are also listed in the , accessible from the table of contents. Depending on your hardware, you can double-tap on the maps to see larger-scale versions, or select different scales. The screen-lock function on your device is recommended when viewing enlarged maps. Make sure you have the latest software updates, too.

Throughout the guide, weve flagged up our favourite places a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric caf, a special restaurant with the author pick icon . You can select your own favourites and create a personalized itinerary by bookmarking the sights, venues and activities that are of interest, giving you the quickest possible access to everything youll need for your time away.

CENTRAL PARK

For dynamism, cultural impact and sheer diversity, New York City is unbeatable. High finance, art, architecture, music, food... its all here, in plenitude and peak form. You can eat or drink your way through the cuisines of the world, drape yourself in fast fashion or couture, gape at old masters in the Met or subversive art on the street, stumble across a Midtown film set or catch a forgotten movie at a repertory theatre. Icons familiar to the big screen and popular imagination are often staring you in the face, whether thats the raised torch of the Statue of Liberty, the bright lights of Times Square, the illustrious Empire State Building or the waterfront promenade at Brooklyn Heights.

Saying that, the city demands more than just a scratch at a familiar surface. Dig deeper stay a week or two; move past Central Park and the famous museums on the Upper East and West sides, past the historical highlights of downtown and Midtown, and on to lesser-known neighbourhoods, buildings, green spaces and art collections; let yourself be diverted by a tree-lined street or stray path, a glimpse of an Art Deco detail, a hole-in-the-wall serving soul food or fried dumplings and youll start to feel a new rhythm. New York bristles with energy, for certain, but it also emits a slow-burning charm. Find it in hidden gardens next to postmodern skyscrapers; priceless art tucked away in unassuming lobbies, robber barons homes and mock medieval cloisters; a riverside where you can bike, kayak or just stroll along to take in the view; or the late-night vibe in a Harlem jazz joint, underground Brooklyn rock club, even around a street-food cart in Jackson Heights, Queens. Essential to the experience is a sense of adventure exploring is one of the great joys of the city, and every borough has its pleasures. Feel free to linger over individual sights, but when in doubt, get on the move for views of the twinkling cityscape from the Staten Island Ferry, a perfect espresso in a shabby chic Williamsburg caf or a celebratory taco after riding the A to the Rockaways.

from Top central park; West Village