Amanda Statham - Brit Guide to New York 2012

Welcome to the 2012 edition of the Brit Guide to New York, the guidebook that aims to be your very own personal tour guide to this amazing city.

We hope the guide will inspire you to want to visit the Big Apple again and again, for this is a city that really does capture the heart. Very few people visit once and don't return, simply because they're always left with the feeling that there's so much more to see and do.

Once you've ticked the major sights off your list - such as the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Central Park - you can start investigating the cosmopolitan neighbourhoods of the likes of SoHo, Greenwich Village and Chelsea and, in each new place you venture into, you'll discover a veritable treasure of shops, cafs, hotels and bars and witness the 'zoo' of residents going about their daily business.

48.7 million visitors from around the world visited the city in 2010, a major step towards New York City's Mayor Bloomberg's goal of attracting 50 million tourists by 2015. Of the visitors, 9.8 million hailed from overseas, with the UK as the Big Apple's biggest market. So what is it that makes us love this city so much?

One of the reasons is that we see it so often on television programmes and films like Sex & The City 2, that it already feels familiar to us. When you consider that there are around 40,000 location shoots per year in the city, including 100-plus TV shows and more than 250 feature films, it's little wonder that we feel an affinity with New York.

Another reason for its magnetism is that it is a relatively new city that is in a constant process of renewal, regeneration and regrowth. Quite simply, there's always something new to see and do. This year there is set to be a dizzying array of new hotel rooms, global cuisine, blockbuster Broadway shows, exceptional exhibitions and incomparable shopping. The record number of visitors flocking to the city proves that the insatiable demand for all things New York continues to climb, despite the recent and ongoing recession.

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If you do want to pay your respects at Ground Zero, this is also an ideal place from which to visit Wall Street and the Statue of Liberty, so give yourself time to explore Lower Manhattan.

It's typical of the spirit of this vibrant, beautiful city that it has come back stronger than ever before; foreign visitors from all over the world continue to pour into the Big Apple, trade is booming and it's brimming with life and excitement whichever neighbourhood you venture into. In 2009, the city became the number one destination in terms of tourism spending in the United States, with more than $30 billion spent.

While New York is undoubtedly a melting pot of cultures and religions (Italians, Chinese, Jews, Africans, Irish and French to name but a few) there is one thing that unites everyone living in this cosmopolitan city: attitude. Resident New Yorkers are a breed unto themselves, unlike other American states where you're constantly instructed to 'have a nice day', they're not prone to saccharine sweetness.

Here's how to spot a genuine New Yorker: on face value, they tend to have a sort of totally cheesed-off-with-the-world, don't-mess-with-me look. They also speak incredibly quickly as if they were eating their own words, so it can be hard to understand them.

Scratch the surface, though, and you just have your ordinary, everyday kind of person with the same kind of worries, fears and doubts as the rest of us. We've discovered two things that work a treat: firstly, smiling like mad and being genuinely polite; secondly, the British accent.

You can see them looking at you askance when you smile (smile? Who on earth does that in New York?), but then deciding that you must be one of those British eccentrics they've heard about. It does the trick, though, because more often than not they'll respond in a helpful way.

And don't go thinking that all New Yorkers will tell you to f*** off if you ask for directions. Many are happy to help and we've even had people stop to help us work out where we're going when they've spotted us studying a map.

This heady mix of rudeness and helpfulness is no better demonstrated than in the following anecdote from New York author Douglas Kennedy:

'On a crosstown bus I noticed two visitors from Japan having difficulty with the exact change for the fare,' he recounts. 'The driver, an overweight guy with a scowl, started giving them a hard time. ''Like can't you read English or what?'' he said loudly. ''It says a buck-fifty. Surely they teach you how to count in Japan.''

'The Japanese looked as if they wanted to commit hara-kiri on the spot until an elegantly dressed woman in her late sixties seated opposite the door came to their defence. Out of nowhere she turned to the driver and said: ''Hey asshole, be polite.'''

One of New York's greatest charms is its cosmopolitan nature, its hugely diverse ethnic mix. In this city you will find any type of cuisine, often available at any time of the day or night. Where music is concerned, everything from jazz and R&B to techno and rap is out there on any night of the week and the many nightclubs are among the hottest and most stylish of any in the world.

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If you really want to get an insight into how a New Yorker thinks, log on to The New York Times website www.nytimes.com, and read the Metropolitan Diaries, stories of city life supplied by the locals.

The drawback is that it may seem a bit overwhelming and it doesn't help that everyone gives the impression of being in the biggest hurry. But beneath their ice-cool veneer, you'll find people willing to answer questions or offer help.

In this book, we hope not only to provide all the information you need about the sights, sounds and attractions, but also to give an insight into what makes the city tick and how to get the most out of it. The book is filled with tips and insider information, but we are always happy to receive new suggestions by email at .

Once you have decided to go to New York, you need to work out what you want to do there, otherwise you could end up wasting a lot of valuable time. The city is so big and diverse and everyone's tastes are so different that each visit to New York is a unique experience. Are you a museum buff? Want to see a great Broadway show and some of the outstanding sights of the city?

Your priorities will reflect not only your tastes, but also whether it is your first visit to the Big Apple, or whether you are becoming an old friend, as well as the time you have available. Whatever the case, the key to making the most of your time is in the planning.

The thing we emphasise most is the importance of location. When you fly into New York, seeing all the skyscrapers from your lofty perch makes Manhattan look pretty small, but do not be fooled by this. It is a narrow island, but it's longer than it looks from the air - 21km/13mls in fact - so don't be duped into believing it is easy to walk from Downtown to the Upper East Side. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It's also the case that the city's subway is nowhere near as fast as our much-maligned London underground, nor is it that good for getting from east to west or vice versa. That means using buses is often the better option and they, like taxis, can get stuck in heavy traffic. So, when planning your activities for the day, it is a good idea to stick to one particular area so that walking everywhere - the best way to see the city - won't be so tiring.