Lower East Side, East Village, Chinatown and Little Italy

Between Houston Street and 14th Street, Manhattan becomes more intimate. The streets abandon the grid pattern, trees shade brick houses, and a café sits on almost every corner. For decades, Greenwich Village was home to artists, musicians, and counterculture, and even though rents are high today, you still sense that in the jazz cellars and comedy clubs.The heart of the neighborhood is Washington Square Park with its marble arch. Beneath the park presumably lie the remains of over 20,000 people, as it was a pauper's cemetery here from 1789 to 1823. Today, chess players gather here, street musicians perform, and New York University students flock to the fountain.A few blocks west, the Stonewall Uprising erupted in 1969 from the eponymous bar, a turning point for the LGBTQ movement. South of Houston Street begins SoHo, short for South of Houston. From the 1960s, artists moved into the empty factory lofts; today, boutiques fill the ground floors of the cast-iron facades.Come in the late afternoon: Stroll through SoHo, wander in the evening light through the side streets of West Village, and reserve a spot for later at a jazz club or comedy show. On weekends, SoHo's shopping streets are very crowded.

New York City, in the eponymous state, is divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. You come for its skyline, large museums, and numerous neighborhoods, each with its own distinct character, home to around 8.8 million people.In the heart of Manhattan lies Central Park, 341 hectares in size and publicly accessible since 1858. On the West Side, the High Line runs, a park on a former elevated railway line, stretching approximately 2.3 kilometers through the Meatpacking District and Chelsea. The Brooklyn Bridge, opened in 1883, leads across the East River to Brooklyn. The Statue of Liberty was inaugurated in 1886.The subway operates 24/7, a ride costs 3 dollars. You pay contactlessly with credit card or smartphone directly at the turnstile. JFK and LaGuardia airports are located in Queens.

Manhattan's southern tip holds the city's oldest part. Just west of Castle Clinton, Fort Amsterdam was established in 1626, and by 1658, Stone Street became Nieuw Amsterdam's first cobblestoned road. Today, the Financial District's office towers rise among them, with suit-clad commuters dictating the weekday tempo.The World Trade Center is the emotional heart of the area. The two basins of the 9/11 Memorial are located precisely within the footprints of the Twin Towers, and along their edges are inscribed the names of 2,977 victims from September 11, 2001, and six victims from the 1993 attack. Right next to it, the One World Trade Center rises 541 meters with its antenna, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. From the 100th-floor observation deck, you can see the entire harbor.Battery Park begins down by the water. Inside the circular Fort Castle Clinton, built between 1808 and 1811, you'll find today's ticket office for the Statue of Liberty. If you just want a view of Lady Liberty, take the Staten Island Ferry: it's free, runs around the clock, and takes 25 minutes for the trip.It's best to come early in the morning; then the Memorial is still quiet and security lines at the Battery are shorter. In the evening, a round-trip ferry ride is worthwhile when the skyline begins to glow. On weekends, the streets between the skyscrapers seem almost empty.

The West Side, between Gansevoort Street and 34th Street, shows how New York reinvents itself. Where slaughterhouses, warehouses, and a freight railway once stood, you'll now find galleries, designer shops, and glass residential towers.Everything is connected by the High Line. On the 2.3-kilometer elevated railway track, freight trains ran from 1933; since 2009, sections of it have been a park with grasses and perennials by Dutchman Piet Oudolf. You stroll at third-story height between the buildings, with views into street canyons and of the Hudson.At the south end stands the Whitney Museum; a few blocks further, the Chelsea Market, located in the former Nabisco factory where the Oreo cookie was invented. In West Chelsea, between 10th and 11th Avenue, are more than 200 art galleries. Further north rise the towers of Hudson Yards, featuring the honeycomb-like Vessel and the Edge observation deck. Also in the Hudson is Little Island, a park opened in 2021, built on 132 tulip-shaped concrete stilts.It's best to walk the High Line in the morning before it gets crowded, or just before sunset, from south to north. Check the galleries' opening hours beforehand; many aren't open every day.

Across the East River, Brooklyn has long held its own appeal. The most beautiful way over is on foot via the Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883 and was then the world's longest suspension bridge. Since 2021, the pedestrian path is exclusively for walkers; cyclists have their own dedicated lane.At the other end lies DUMBO, short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Its old warehouses, which once produced machinery, spices, and Brillo pads, now host offices and shops. In front of it, Brooklyn Bridge Park stretches along the East River. Just south is Brooklyn Heights, the city's first historic district (1965), featuring brownstones and a promenade above the expressway. Within the park, Jane's Carousel from 1922 spins inside a glass pavilion.Further north, Williamsburg is the district for bars, concerts, and Domino Park, located on the site of an old sugar refinery. To the south lies Prospect Park, also designed by Olmsted and Vaux, with the Brooklyn Museum right next door.Combine DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights for an afternoon and stay until sunset, when Manhattan's skyline across the water begins to glow. For Williamsburg or Prospect Park, it's best to dedicate a separate day.