Lonely Planet - New York City Encounter

Its a mad, mad world in Manhattan, where taxis, pedicabs, commuters, pedestrians even horse-drawn carriages careen around looking for space. The city is heady, frustrating, shocking, almost overwhelming in its intensity and, ultimately, incredibly exhilarating.

And yet its not all chaos and grit. Inside New Yorks pocket-sized parks, like , bluesy buskers blow their horns, delighted toddlers run through sprinklers, chess players frown in fierce concentration, and dogs nip and bark inside their runs.

The bigger green spaces, such as , whisk you away from the grimy streets and set you down alongside flowing rivers, dark, primal ponds and gently tangoing couples, who gather on Saturday nights in summer to flirt with their feet in the shadows of birch trees.

Romance and ruin weave together in New York City, a group of five boroughs offering endless contrasts and captivating diversity. Anchored by back-to-back buildings and more than nine million people, the city is a series of interlocking enclaves, each with its own flavor and appeal. Brooklyn is the domain of writers, artists, young couples and families seeking to live in creative peace without the yoke of Manhattans sky-high rents. Vibrant Queens is a maelstrom of ethnicities and nationalities that live together for the most part in quiet harmony. This sprawling borough, studded with housing projects, alternative museums and galleries, and countless neat, single-family homes, contains some of the tastiest Indian, Korean, Greek and Albanian food anywhere. The boogie-down Bronx is still New York Citys least appreciated borough, but even Manhattanites know theres no better place than Arthur Ave for an authentic Italian dinner not even Staten Island, full of third-generation Napolitanos, can compare.

In the middle of it all is glorious Manhattan, that scintillating sliver of land where anything absolutely anything can happen.

Mural in the pulsing heart of Harlem: 125th St
MARK DAFFEY

Half tourist attraction, half busy industrial byway, the wide, watery mouth of Lower Manhattan is full of things to see and do. Hugging the islands southernmost tip, New Yorks harbor offers stellar views of Brooklyns creaky old waterfront to the east, Staten Island to the south, and a nice chunk of the Jersey coast to the west.

But the best views of all, of course, are of herself: tall, lean and green, and rising up proudly out of the waters. Whether you admire her from afar or take one of the ferries constantly circling the harbor out to her rocky toehold, she is magnificent. Guarding the entrance to Lower Manhattan since 1886, Lady Liberty is positioned to gaze sternly across the waters at unenlightened Europe. Known as the Mother of Exiles, the statue serves as an admonishment to the rigid social structures of the old world. Keep your ancient lands, your storied pomp! says Lady Libertys famous poem. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

When those masses came which they did in droves they most likely ended up behind the statue at Ellis Island, a must-see New York experience. Its moving exhibits include early photos of gaunt, hollow-eyed migrs clutching papers and their worldly goods.

Ferries to and from the islands depart from , which is worth a stroll in its own right. The parks thick green grass leads to an esplanade along the Hudson River, and its studded with outdoor installations and other works of art.

For a less personal but still stellar look at the Old Green Lady, skip the official tour and jump on the Staten , a small strip of land in New York Harbor that used to be an old coast-guard base. Soon it will be completely transformed into public parkland.

Lonely Planet Images

Hard to believe that verdant grasses, dappled forests, rioting wildflowers and cool, meandering streams exist in such a cacophonous, car-heavy city, but praise be they do. The Peoples Park was designed in the 1860s and 70s by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, and it serves as the citys collective backyard.

Stretching from Midtown at 59th St to the beautifully restored Harlem Meer at 110th St, these rolling hills are thronged every morning with in-line skaters, cyclists, walkers, joggers and yoga enthusiasts. Couples, friends and sometimes even strangers meet at the center, Bethesda Tce, recognizable by the famous Angel of the Waters in its middle.

Walkers and joggers gravitate to the ) .

ANGUS OBORN

Rise above it all with a stroll on this grassy gem, a 1.5-mile stretch of old, elevated train track thats been reclaimed as a breezy, flower-filled public park running along the Meatpacking Districts picturesque west side. The sturdy track is blissfully quiet, save for the buzzing of the many honeybees that flock to the sweet wildflowers that flourish along the edges.

The tracks vertically follow a road formerly known as Death Avenue (today Tenth Ave). In the heyday of shipping, cargo was brought from the docks to Midtown rail yards along that road and many a horse, driver and pedestrian who were too slow crossing the busy tracks suffered for it. The city finally elevated the train tracks in 1934, and trains blared along them until 1980. When industry abandoned the city center in 1980, the tracks fell quiet, and wild grasses, birds and urban creatures took over. The tracks were slated for destruction in 2002, until a group of inspired artists and philanthropists convinced city officials to make it a sustainable public park that could also display local artwork. Now its such a hit that it will expand further north in the coming years.

COREY WISE

One of the first things that will greet you as you walk into this Fifth Ave behemoth is the Sackler Wing, home to an ancient Egyptian temple from 15 BC. This 82ft sandstone wonder, saved in 1967 from submersion in the Aswan Dam, doesnt even come close to dwarfing the room thats how big the Met is.