New York Guide
Five boroughs on a grid, where the difference between a great night and a wasted one is ten blocks.
Almost everything worth doing is within a subway ride, so plan by neighbourhood and time of day rather than by distance. Reservations open on a fixed schedule — usually 30 days ahead at 10am — and the good ones are gone in minutes.
New York business directoryManhattan, end to end
Illustrated
Drawn by hand for the KEY2 New York guide
Where to stay
Hotels
The KEY2 list
Happy Hour
Daylight
Hotel Pools & Pool Clubs
Eat
Best Food
Mornings
Breakfast & Brunch
Recover
Health & Wellness
After dark
Nightlife
Arenas
Sports
Tonight
Concerts & Comedy
Say it here
Weddings
Book the room
Event Spaces
Experiences
100 Other Things To Do
New York explained
Hour-by-hour plans drawn by hand — pick one and follow it from first coffee to last call.
24 Hours in New York
A single tight loop through downtown eating, a skyline moment and one great bar to close the night.
48 Hours in New York
Two full days covering downtown food culture, Museum Mile and a night out that runs from cocktails to a club.
New York travel guide
The practical layer: when to come, how to arrive, how to move, where to base yourself and what it costs.
Best time to visit
Late April to June and September to early November bring mild weather and full cultural calendars, avoiding both summer humidity and the coldest winter stretches.
Getting in
John F. Kennedy (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR) all serve Manhattan. The AirTrain plus subway from JFK costs around $10.75 total and takes 60 to 75 minutes; a taxi from JFK to Manhattan is a flat $70 plus tolls and tip. From LGA, rideshare or the Q70 bus to the subway are the practical options; there is no direct rail into Manhattan from LaGuardia.
Getting around
The subway is the fastest and cheapest way around, running 24 hours with a flat $2.90 fare via OMNY tap-to-pay or MetroCard. Manhattan below 96th Street is highly walkable, and yellow cabs or rideshare cover late-night or outer-borough trips. Do not rent a car for a Manhattan-based stay — parking costs more than most hotel rooms.
What it costs
Mid-range hotel: $280 to $420 a night. Dinner for two: $140 to $220. A single subway ride is $2.90; a short taxi hop across Midtown runs $12 to $20 with tolls and tip.
Where to stay
- Midtown
- Central for Broadway and Fifth Avenue shopping, convenient but busy and less residential.
- West Village / Chelsea
- Quieter, tree-lined streets with good restaurants, close to the High Line.
- Lower East Side / SoHo
- Good for nightlife and boutique shopping, walkable to Downtown sights.
- Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- A short subway ride from Manhattan, popular with visitors wanting a local, less touristy base.
Traveller tips
- Reserve dinner at popular restaurants at least a week ahead, and same-day for anything with a chef's tasting menu.
- Tipping is 18 to 20% at restaurants and is not optional in practice; $1 to $2 per bag for porters is standard.
- Broadway show tickets are cheaper via the TKTS booth in Times Square for same-day seats, or through official lotteries for hit shows.
- Sales tax adds 8.875% to most purchases and is not included in listed prices.
- Cross streets on foot with care outside marked intersections; jaywalking is common but drivers do not always yield.
- Winter temperatures regularly drop below freezing with wind off the rivers, so pack accordingly between December and February.
The New York calendar
The dates that actually move prices, crowds and opening hours.
February
NY Fashion Week & Restaurant Week
Fashion Week tightens downtown hotels while Restaurant Week opens up otherwise-hard tables.
April
Cherry blossoms, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Sakura Matsuri weekend and the park's peak bloom; go on a weekday morning.
June
NYC Pride & free park programming
The last Sunday march plus SummerStage and Shakespeare in the Park openings.
August
US Open build-up & quiet Manhattan
Locals leave, restaurants free up, and Flushing Meadows takes over the sports calendar.
November
NYC Marathon & holiday switch-on
Marathon Sunday closes bridges across all five boroughs; the holiday market season begins.
December
Rockefeller tree & New Year's Eve
Midtown is at its most crowded and expensive; book anything below 59th Street early.
Seasonal highlights
- Spring (Apr–May)
- Blossoms, open patios and the best walking weather of the year.
- Summer (Jun–Aug)
- Hot and humid, but rich in free outdoor programming and unusually available reservations in August.
- Autumn (Sep–Nov)
- Peak season: crisp weather, full theatre calendar, highest hotel rates outside the holidays.
- Winter (Dec–Mar)
- December is chaos, January and February are the city at its cheapest and most local.
Off-peak intel
- Late January through early March is the value window — lowest rates and easiest tables of the year.
- August empties the city: book restaurants that are impossible in October.
- Mondays and Tuesdays on Broadway are cheaper; many shows go dark Monday, so check first.
- Stay in Brooklyn or Long Island City for lower rates and a 15-minute ride into Manhattan.