Colley - Fodors New York City 2016

The phrase in a New York minute is clichd for a reason: in this frenetic city, things really do change in a flash. With the constant ebb and flow, it can be hard to keep up. Here is just some of what New Yorkers are talking about.

A few quick positive economic indicators: New York is experiencing its biggest hotel expansion in a generation, attracting a host of new brandsfrom high-end boutiques to budget chainsall across the city. The city has 122 hotels in the pipeline to open by 2017, with half of these properties slated for the outer boroughsa key indicator of the recent visitor trend to visit, and stay in, boroughs beyond Manhattan. And tourists keep on coming: 2014 had a record number of visitorsover 56 million, up from the previous years 54 million, and the city is expecting to exceed that number by the end of 2015.

While visitors are discovering all things Brooklyn right now, New Yorkers are looking atand raving aboutQueens. With its longstanding residential communities, cheap ethnic eats, established attractions like MoMA PS1, the second-biggest Chinatown in the country, and Long Island Citys skyline views and hop-skip-jump subway ride to Midtown, its no wonder. Add less-expensive-than-Manhattan (and Brooklyn) hotel rooms and rents, the current and projected development boom, and proposed projects like the QueensWay (aka the Queens High Line), and it seems Queens is where its at for 2015 and 2016. That said, its Brooklyn Pope Francis will visit in late 2015, not Queens.

Some of the biggest movers and shakers in the New York art scene will be moving and/or shaking off dust after renovations in 2015 and 2016, perhaps suggesting that the art world will be more focused on exhibition spaces than the exhibitions themselves. In early 2015, the Whitney Museum of American Art debuted its state-of-the-art new space in the Meatpacking District, complete with terraces opening onto the High Line and stunning views of the Hudson. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is leasing the Whitneys old digs to display its growing collection of contemporary art while it refines plans to gut-renovate its Modern Wing. The Tenement Museum is expanding to recreate the life of immigrants in New York postWorld War II. The American Museum of Natural History is planning a six-story addition to improve navigation and add facilities for research and education, while the Frick is battling public disapproval of its plan to build a tower in its gated garden.

If theres something the quintessential New Yorker cant get enough of, its sports, so if youre looking to make small talk with a local, just pick a team. Basketball fans can support the trendy Brooklyn Nets in their digs at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn or the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden (Spike Lee is practically the team mascot). In late 2015, the New York Islanders hockey team moves from their suburban Long Island stadium to their new home at Barclays Center. The Islanders havent won a Stanley Cup since the early 1980s; maybe Brooklyn will help them get their mojo back. The Islanders compete with the New York Rangers for the heartsand ticket salesof New York hockey fans. Baseball lovers can choose between the New York Yankees (Yankee Stadium in the Bronx) or the New York Mets (Citi Field in Queens). New York football fans declare their loyalty to either the New York Giants or the New York Jetsboth teams play at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Soccer fans can choose between the citys two Major League Soccer teams, the New York Red Bulls and the newly formed New York City Football Club, who might sway fairweather fans with their field in the hallowed baseball grounds of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. If you cant pick a team, pick a lesscontentious sport, like tennis; the U.S. Open brings the best in tennis to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens in late summer.

When to Go

New York City weather is a study in extremes. Much of winter brings bone-chilling winds and an occasional traffic-snarling snowfall, but youre just as likely to experience mild afternoons sandwiched by cool temperatures.

In late spring and early summer, streets fill with parades and street fairs, and Central Park has free performances. Late August temperatures sometimes claw skyward, bringing subway station temperatures over 100F (no wonder the Hamptons are so crowded). This is why September brings palpable excitement, with stunning yellow-and-bronze foliage complementing the dawn of a new cultural season. Between October and May, museums mount major exhibitions, most Broadway shows open, and formal opera, ballet, and concert seasons begin.

Getting Around

On Foot. The best way to explore New York is on foot. No matter what neighborhood youre headed to, youll get a better sense of it by wandering around; you can check out the architecture, pop into cool-looking shops and cafs, and observe the walk-and-talk of the locals. And if you get lost, New Yorkers are actually very helpful with directions.

By Bike. Since Citi Bikes bike sharing program rolled out in 2013, there have been glitches but ridership continues to increase and New York Citys program now boasts the largest fleet of bikes in the nation, and there are plans for the system to double in size by 2017. The city is slowly acclimating (its bike lanes and attitudes) to the popular new mode of transportation but its no Copenhagen yet. Ride off-peak if possible, keep out of Midtown, and stay alert!