New York Travel Guide
The Manhattan skyline. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
New York City needs no introduction: the skyline, Broadway, the museums, the neighbourhoods. But the state beyond the five boroughs is a destination in its own right. The Hudson Valley's mansions and art towns, the Finger Lakes wine country, the Adirondack wilderness, and Niagara Falls, the most famous waterfall in North America.
Upstate runs on small cities with real character: Buffalo's architecture, Rochester's museums, Syracuse's college-town energy, and the Thousand Islands where the St. Lawrence begins. In autumn, the whole state turns, and leaf-peeping season fills the Catskills and Adirondacks.
Destinations in New York
Statue of Liberty and Ellis IslandThe 1886 icon and the immigration museum; crown tickets sell out months ahead.
Central Park843 acres of designed wilderness in the middle of Manhattan.
The Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe largest art museum in the Americas; the rooftop has skyline views.
9/11 Memorial and MuseumThe twin reflecting pools and the deeply moving museum.
Niagara FallsMaid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds put you inside the falls.
Brooklyn BridgeWalked at sunset from Brooklyn to Manhattan for the skyline reveal.- The Adirondacks6 million acres of mountains, lakes and the High Peaks wilderness.
Times Square and BroadwayThe neon crossroads; a Broadway show is the essential evening.- Hudson ValleyDia Beacon, Storm King, Vanderbilt mansions and Rhinebeck's small-town charm.
- Finger LakesWine trails, Watkins Glen gorge and the college town of Ithaca.
Hover a state to explore it. Click a city pin to open its guide.
Top Cities & towns in New York
Regional food
- New York-style pizza (thin, foldable slice; the city's defining food)
- Bagel with lox (the classic New York breakfast)
- Buffalo wings (invented in Buffalo in 1964)
- Cheesecake (New York style, dense and plain)
Getting there
New York JFK and Newark (EWR) are the international gateways; LaGuardia (LGA) handles domestic. Amtrak runs up the Hudson to Albany and west to Niagara Falls. The NYC subway runs 24 hours; upstate needs a car.