If you’re after a holiday in a city that has everything, New York City should be right at the top of your list. From fashion – with its two trendsetting fashion weeks – to sport, culture and music, where NYC leads, others follow.
But, when you’re in town, what do you need to check out? Here’s our guide to some of the top entertainment attractions that will make your trip go off in style.
Skyline looking south towards Lower Manhattan at sunset, One World Trade Center in view, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States of America, North America
Bars
Whether you like a crisp cool craft ale or classy colorful cocktail, New York’s got something for you. Head for a rooftop bar so that you can get a great view of the Manhattan skyline while you enjoy your drinks
Three to try
- St Cloud Social bar, The Knickerbocker Hotel – from here you can gaze across to the colorful chaos of Times Square while enjoying cocktails themed to match the season. In spring, you can get a rose petal–topped Iris and Ivy (Elyx vodka, strawberry-infused Lillet, St. Germain, and Aperol), for example, while the summer brings a Brazilian Orchard (cachaça, green apple and cucumber) and piña colada popsicles to the menu.
- Top of The Strand, Strand Hotel, 33 W 37th St – a rooftop bar from the Sex and the City set designer, you get a great view of the Empire State Building from here.
- Berry Park, 4 Berry Street – you can gaze across the East River at the Manhattan skyline from this 3,000 square-foot roof deck. Its 15 taps serve imported European beers, the food is distinctly beer friendly (bratwurst and sauerkraut anyone?) while the venue also features a 13-foot-wide screen to show soccer games.
Clubs
If you want to keep the party going well into the early hours of the morning, you’ll need to search out one of New York’s famous clubs. With vast dance floors and world class DJs, you won’t be disappointed.
Three to try
- Good Room, 98 Meserole Ave – redesigned by Steve Lewis in 2014, it’s home to a host of cult favourite DJs with reasonably priced drinks to enjoy.
- Bossa Nova Civic Club, 1271 Myrtle Ave – underground house and techno DJs man the decks at this Bushwick ‘tropical fantasy dance club’.
- Output, 74 Wythe Ave – this features a sound system that is probably the best in the world – perfect for the array of top-class DJs that you’ll find here.
Live entertainment
Sure, the drinking and the partying is fun, but what about a bit of live entertainment to make your evenings memorable? Music, theatre, sport…. the city has it all.
Three to try
- Broadway – from serious plays with a message to Disney adventures, Broadway has it all. Fancy a laugh? Get yourself to The Play That Goes Wrong.
- Forest Hills Stadium, 1 Tennis Place, Queens – a famous old tennis venue for 60 years this has hosted the Beatles and Stones and re-opened, after a revamp, with a Mumford & Sons gig in 2013.
- Madison Square Garden – this is the most famous sporting venue in the world for good reason. As CBS points out, it’s home to ‘New York Rangers, New York Knicks, New York Liberty, St. John’s men’s basketball, the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, and some of the most memorable entertainment performances ever’. That’s some list right?
Check out these bars, clubs and venues and you won’t go home from the Big Apple disappointed.
