Hotels in New York

With its world-renowned theaters and concert venues and some of the most recognisable department stores on the planet, New York is the city which never sleeps. Whether you’re grabbing a hotdog from a street vendor, dragging brown shopping bags into a yellow taxi or lining up to catch the view from the Empire State Building, you’ll feel like you’ve entered the set of a movie in the Big Apple. Add to this the boho chic of Greenwich Village and the clubs in the Meatpacking district and you’ll be hard pressed to find a rival for its crown as the world’s capital city.

Things to see

Times Square is nicknamed The Crossroads of the World, and when you stand among its dazzling neon lights as traffic, and people, whizz by and adverts and stores vie for your attention you won’t need to ask why. New York is the home of theater, thanks to Broadway’s ability to cram some of the most exciting shows into one corner of the city. From the long-running global musical phenomenon to the newly written offbeat dramatic smash, you’ll find something for everyone along The Great White Way. Some of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces queue up to prove their serious credentials on these hallowed boards, and while bagging a ticket to the hottest shows can be tricky, this is a must-visit. As well as watching stars, you can get closer to them on the viewing platform of the iconic Empire State Building, ascending to Observatory a cool 1,250 feet high for an unrivalled bird’s eye view of the city.

Hotels in New York

New York is a place where you can have whatever you like, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that top-end luxury is available throughout the city. World-leaders in the art of catering to fussy customers, elite hotels in New York will offer everything from a pillow menu to ensure maximum snugness to designer décor, MP3 docking stations and filtered windows to make the most of that familiar skyline. Shop around if you’re splashing out, the hotels here will all go the extra mile to welcome you and as well as free WiFi and flat-screen televisions many offer orchids in your room and in-room massages.

Where to stay

One of the busiest tourist hubs anywhere, Broadway and Times Square is a popular choice for visitors as it places them within stumbling distance of the theaters, stores and sights. The hotels, like many of the shops and restaurants, tend to be chains, and while offering peace of mind that doesn’t mean bargains. Midtown East, around Grand Central, is known as Midtown for a reason – convenient for getting around, but it tends to go quiet after the commuters have gone home, and eating out can be pricey. The genteel, cultured area around Central Park and the Upper East Side’s brownstone townhouses is a costly, but lush, alternative.

How to get to

The most likely point of arrival into New York for international visitors is John F Kennedy Airport, in Queens. There are a number of ways to get into the center from Kennedy, with the AirTrain linking it to the Subway proving a popular, inexpensive, option. Travel times by this route into the heart of Manhattan are around one hour. Internal flights tend to come into Laguardia, which is closer to Manhattan at around 8 kilometres from Midtown, and a shuttle service into Grand Central and Penn Stations on the NYC Airporter bus service runs every 30 minutes. An alternative, no further from Manhattan than Kennedy, is Newark Airport in New Jersey.