New York City Vacation Guide

There was a time when Manhattan cabbies refused fares across the Brooklyn Bridge, but now with red double-decker tour buses cruising around it’s obvious that vacationers have discovered New York City across the bridge.

If you don't have one of these stores in the state where you live, take advantage special discounts available by showing a state ID card. Bloomingdale's: Go to the visitor center on the balcony level between the ground and second floors for a 10% discount on all purchases bought that day. Lord & Taylor: Hit the ground-floor information desk to pick up a coupon for 15% off that day's purchases.

New Yorkers in the know hit these fabulous local chains for unique frocks and the best of the city's one-stop-shopping. Calypso. Catch an instant island-vacation vibe from Calypso's colorful silk women's wear, dangly jewelry, and boho housewares. There are multiple branches throughout the city with different themes, as well as an outlet on Broome Street. 935 Madison Ave., between E. 74th and E. 75th Sts., Upper East Side, 10021. PHONE: 212/535-4100.

Many New York hotels go out of their way to accommodate families, with special amenities and family-size rooms. However, a hotel claiming that it's child-friendly doesn't always translate to true kid-welcoming style. Ask if cribs come with ...

As the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh once wrote, "Romance is a love affair in other than domestic surroundings." Indeed, many high-end hotels seem custom-built for romance, with plush feather beds, silky linens, and ultrasoft robes. But ...

Some of the city's most stylish bars and lounges are in hotels. These boîtes occasionally require crossing a velvet-roped entrance, but most extend automatic entry to guests of the hotel. Downtown in the Financial District, the Library Bar on the second floor of Gild Hall looks like the ultimate luxe club room, with tufted leather banquettes, a dartboard, and a surprisingly friendly staff.

What to get from the city that has everything? Major tourist attractions keep their gift shops well stocked with all the standard souvenirs, and dozens of gift shops dot the Times Square area. If you're looking for grungier souvenirs of downtown...

New York's extreme diversity is also what makes it a cinephile's heaven: dozens of festivals for both niche interests and for those just wanting to be at the front end of what's out there. New releases and premieres dominate the festival scene, ...

If you're looking for original or reproduced artwork, the two areas to visit for street vendors are the stretch of 5th Avenue in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (roughly between 81st and 82nd streets) and the SoHo area of West Broadway, ...

Quirky, inclusive, and full of unclaimed treasures—that's Brooklyn in a nutshell, and it also aptly describes the Brooklyn Flea. This little market that could is now one of Brooklyn's most popular shopping attractions, luring locals and ...

Hollywood may be the king of moviemaking now, but in the early days of sound, Queens was where it was at. In the 1920s such stars as Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Claudette Colbert all acted in one of the more than 100 films made at ...

Little Italy can be besieged by slow-moving crowds, touristy shops, and desperate restaurant owners who call at you like shooting-gallery barkers at Coney Island. With its crowded cafés, bakeries, pizza parlors, and old-world merchants, Bleecker Street between 6th and 7th avenues seems more vital as a true Italian neighborhood. For an authentic Italian bakery experience, step into Pasticerria Rocco (No. 243) for wonderful cannoli, cream puffs, and cookies packed up, or order an espresso to linger over the treats.

Apartment Rentals vs. Suite Hotels For your trip to New York, you may want a little more space than the city's typically tiny hotel rooms provide. Some travelers consider apartment rentals, but we tend to recommend hotel suites instead. Why? Unfortunately, apartment-rental scams are prevalent. In some published reports, potential guests have arrived to find that the apartment they rented does not exist, or that they are paying for an illegal sublet.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, holiday markets - rows of wooden stalls, many with red-and-white-stripe awnings - spring up around town. The gifts and goods vary from year to year, but there are some perennial offerings: colorful handmade ...

Manhattan may be known for its fine four-star restaurants, but food lovers know there's one train line to take to some of the best eats in the city. The 7 train snakes its way through the middle of Queens, and conveniently also through some of ...

Good art, bad art, edgy art, downright disturbing art—it's all here waiting to please and provoke in the contemporary art capital of the world. For the uninitiated, the concentration of nearly 300 galleries within a seven-block radius can ...

All things weird and wonderful, all creatures great and squall, all things witty and fantastical, New York City has them all—and on All Hallows' Eve they freak through the streets in New York's Halloween parade. White-sheeted ghouls feel ...

The mosaics, murals, and sculptures that grace Rockefeller Center—many of them considered Art Deco masterpieces—were all part of the plan of John D. Rockefeller Jr. In 1932, as the steel girders on the first of the buildings were ...

For the past decade or so, the popularity of gospel tours, conducted by bus, has greatly increased, especially among Europeans. Some of the tours include only a 20-minute stop at a church to hear some of the sermon and the gospel music. Then you...

How to act like a local in Times Square? Look as if you want to leave. The local art of walking in Times Square involves zigzagging around the slow crowds that gather like obstacles. Avoid looking overtly at the billboards, and whatever you do, ...

For a great meal, around Grand Central, dine at one of these go-to restaurants.

Everyone loves a bargain—including a temporary New Yorker. Scoring a good deal is a rite of passage, and the city offers everything from low-cost department stores like Century 21 to hawkers of pseudo-Rolex watches and Kate Spade bags ...

At night the Empire State Building illuminates the Manhattan skyline with a colorful view as awe-inspiring from a distance as the view from the top. The colors at the top of the building are changed regularly to reflect seasons, events, and ...

If you're looking for a venue other than the shower to bust out your rendition of Queen's "Somebody to Love," you're in good company. Otherwise jaded New Yorkers have become hooked on the goofy, addictive pleasure of karaoke. The K-word means "...

What do tickets sell for, anyway? Not counting the limited "premium seat" category (or discount deals), the top ticket price for Broadway musicals is now hovering at $136; the low end for musicals is in the $50 range. Nonmusical comedies and ...

The cheapest—though chanciest—ticket opportunities are found at participating theater box offices on the day of the performance. These rush tickets, usually about $25, may be distributed by lottery and are usually for front-row (...

Does Central Park make you think, "been there, done that"? Then head to the waterfront. Even New Yorkers are just discovering some of these new green getaways. And with those helpful city bike lanes, doing a tour from one to the next is a great ...

Midtown is the heart of the city during the workday. From every direction, people pour into the city to give it a jolt of energy. That vibrancy is intense, but is also an unmissable aspect of city life worth exploring for the average visitor. ...

If you think everything in New York costs too much, well, you're right—almost. In fact, the city has tons of free attractions and activities; you just need to know where to look for them. Outdoor Fun Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge for a spectacular view of the Financial District, Brooklyn, the seaport, and Manhattan.

Tickets to tapings of TV shows are free, but can be very hard to come by on short notice. Most shows accept advance requests by email, phone, or online—but for the most popular shows, like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the request ...

The phrase "in a New York minute" is clichéd for a reason: in this wonderful, frenetic, and overwhelming city, things really do change in a flash. Even for those of us who live here, keeping up with the latest trends in fashion, art, music...

Though much of New York revolves around the distinctly adult pursuits of making and spending money, it's also a great city for kids. Our top activities include the following:

Metropolitan Museum of Art The largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere, the Met is—naturally—a mecca for art lovers of all stripes. Treasures from all over the world and every era of human creativity make up its expansive collection. It's easy to get dizzy circling all the Dutch master canvases, bronze Rodins, and ancient Greek artifacts—but if you need a breather, you can always retire to the Temple of Dendur or the rooftop café.