The good, bad and ugly sides to being a tourist in New York
A four-season destination, the Big Apple is way more than Manhattan, but let’s start there: Central Park is fabulous, great views mean long queues - so take our tip to dodge them - and the subway system is mind-boggling
The Good
Last year, a record 60 million people visited the world’s second most vertical city. (No prizes for guessing which metropolis is first.)
There’s no “best” time to experience New York – winter can be enchanting, with thick snowfall followed by deep blue skies. Spring is popular, as temperatures start to rise and activity returns to the streets. (Those who know reckon New York’s St Patrick’s Day Parade is better than the one in Dublin.)
Summer sees the most reliable weather, not to mention the nation’s best Fourth of July fireworks display. Drop by in October and you’ll find the leaves in Central Park turning a mesmerising kaleidoscope of colours, or arrive in time for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and stay for Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.
The Big Apple is made up of five boroughs. Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island each have enough charisma to be a city in their own right but, for most visitors, Manhattan is New York. Prior to European contact, Mannahatta (“island of many hills”) was home to the Lenape tribe, who, so the story goes, sold their hunting ground to the Dutch, who renamed it New Amsterdam before surrendering it to the English, who christened it New York.
The 1667 Treaty of Breda affirmed the English as owners, but the Dutch got a far more valuable prize: the Indonesian spice island of Run.