DK Travel : New York

With its skyscrapers, great museums, and bright lights of Broadway, New York is a city of superlatives. There are countless sights that have to be seen, but a handful are truly definitive of the city. These highlights illustrate the very best.

69th Regiment Armory

This Beaux Arts building was used as the drill hall and offices of a military unit privately formed in 1848. In 1913, the controversial exhibition of modern art known as the Armory Show was held here, including works by Van Gogh, Duchamp, and Brancusi. The show was widely panned in the press, but it brought modern art to New York on a large scale and had a profound and lasting effect on American art.
6th Avenue Shopping

Anchored by Macy’s, which opened in 1858, this was once a popular district known as “Fashion Row”. The 1876 cast-iron façade of the Hugh O’Neill Dry Goods Store at Nos. 655–71 exemplifies the era, when the arrival of the 6th Avenue elevated line provided easy access to the area. As Manhattan’s commercial center moved northward, these cast-iron palaces were left deserted until recently, when they found new life as bargain fashion outlets and superstores.
6th Avenue Superstores

Between 18th and 23rd streets, the cast-iron buildings that comprised the late-1800s “Fashion Row” are another shopping mecca. Current occupants include superstores like Bed, Bath, and Beyond for homewares, Old Navy for casual clothing, and bargain fashion outlets such as T.J. Maxx and Filene’s Basement.
70 Park Avenue

A small, sophisticated haven, with smart decor of Neo-Classical furnishings and a rich, gold and green color scheme. Other features include guest privileges at the well-equipped nearby fitness center.
74th Street, Jackson Heights

New York’s Indian community’s shop windows are filled with ornate gold jewelry and rich saris. Food stores are redolent with spices.
75 1 2 Bedford Street

Ever quirky, New York’s narrowest home, just 9.5 ft (3 m) wide, was built in 1893 in a passageway in the Village. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay lived here, as did actors John Barrymore and, later, Cary Grant. No. 77 Bedford Street is the oldest house in the Village, dating from around 1799, and at No. 103 is the house known as “Twin Peaks,” an 1830 structure remodeled in 1925 by Clifford Reed Daily to house artists and writers, who would presumably be inspired by the whimsical architecture.
9th Avenue Food Festival

New York’s biggest food extravaganza began in 1974. Vendors come from all over and more than a million people jam the streets to sample a United Nations of food from burritos to samosas.
A Day Around Chelsea

Morning

Wind your way through Chelsea, starting with the megastores now occupying former “Fashion Row,” on 6th Avenue (see 6th Avenue Shopping) between 18th and 23rd streets. Walk west on 16th Street to 9th Avenue and Chelsea Market, a one-time Nabisco factory where the first Oreo cookies were made, now a block-long line of stalls offering all manner of food. The Food Network tapes its TV shows in a street-level studio here.

Continue up 9th Avenue to 20th Street, for the Chelsea Historic District and General Theological Seminary. Then head for the ever-expanding “Gallery Row,” from 21st to 24th streets, 10th to 11th avenues. A good lunch bet in the neighborhood is The Red Cat , offering Mediterranean fare.

Afternoon

Walk east on 23rd Street to the Chelsea Hotel (see Chelsea Hotel), and when you get to 6th Avenue, turn uptown for the big antiques market and the colorful Flower District . A stroll for one block further west on 27th brings you to the Fashion Institute of Technology, where the gallery usually has interesting displays.

Head for one of the great hidden treasures in this area, St. John the Baptist Church, at 210 East 31st Street, whose dingy façade belies a glowing Gothic interior. Continue to 34th Street for Herald Square and Macy’s.
A Day Exploring Lower Manhattan

Morning

Begin at Battery Park for a view of the waterfront, and look into Castle Clinton (see Castle Clinton National Monument), an 1807 fort, to see dioramas of a changing New York. Then visit the Museum of the American Indian at the U.S. Custom House. Cross to Bowling Green, the city’s first park, then turn right on Whitehall, and left on Pearl Street for the Fraunces Tavern Museum, a restoration of the 1719 building where George Washington bade farewell to his troops.

Continue on Pearl Street and turn left to Broad Street to join Wall Street denizens at a favorite lunching spot, the impeccably French 14 Wall Street .

Head up Broad Street to Wall Street to the New York Stock Exchange, where there is chaos on the trading floor. Close by is Federal Hallp73), where the country’s first president took his oath of office. Join Wall Street denizens at a favorite lunching spot, the impeccably French 14 Wall Street (see 14 Wall Street), between Broad Street and Broadway.

Afternoon

Continue uptown on Nassau Street (a continuation of Broad Street) to see Chase Plaza and its famous sculptures. At the end of the Plaza on Liberty Street is the ornate Federal Reserve Bank and then Louise Nevelson Square, featuring the artist’s Shadows and Flags .

Go back on Liberty and turn downtown on Broadway to find Trinity Church and the Cunard Building. End the day with dinner at the Ritz-Carlton’s restaurant, 2 West @ Battery Park Place (see Battery Gardens).
A Day Exploring Midtown

Morning

Start at the Morgan Library , and see Morgan’s opulent study, then proceed to 42nd Street and turn east for a tour through Grand Central Terminal . Continue east on 42nd Street, stopping to look at the outstanding lobbies of the Chrysler Building , the Daily News Building, and the Ford Foundation, and climbing the stairs to see the Tudor City complex.

End the morning with a tour of the United Nations HQ. If you reserve ahead, you can have lunch in the very special U.N. delegate’s dining room (212 963 7625).

Afternoon

Take the 42nd Street crosstown bus back to Fifth Avenue and visit the New York Public Library. Walk uptown to 47th Street and turn west for the Diamond District, then pay a quick visit to the Museum of Television and Radio on 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Pop in to the new home of the American Museum of Folk Art (see Upper West Side) and stop for a coffee in the museum’s café before taking in the exhibits of traditional art.

Return to 5th Avenue where the uptown shops include Tiffany and Company ’swindows of jewels, Bergdorf Goodman’s stylish displays, and F.A.O. Schwarz. Round the day off at the Plaza Hotel at 59th Street, perfect for a refreshing cocktail in a landmark setting.

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Hotel price categories

For a standard, double room per night (with breakfast if included), taxes and extra charges.
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