How to See NYC

By Mark Loehrke
Appears in the June 2024 issue.

New York City lives up to the hype

Go ahead—be a tourist. That should be the No. 1 piece of advice for anyone visiting the Big Apple. Sure, you might feel a bit self-conscious embracing the most popular spots like a stereotypical Midwesterner, but it’ll be worth it. Riding the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, taking in the view from the top of the Empire State Building, catching a Broadway show (Water for Elephants is one of the hottest tickets in town), grabbing an overpriced sweet treat from Empire Cake, and strolling the High Line, or the spectacle of Times Square—these and dozens of other expected endeavors are exactly what have helped make New York New York.

Of course, you’ll never be able to see or do it all in just a weekend or even a week, but you’ll get a big bite in. One piece of advice: Walk as much as you’re able. Between the scale of the city and the ubiquity of Uber, you may be tempted to zip from one place to the next in the back of a car (as much as one can realistically “zip” in Manhattan traffic), but you can’t feel New York from a back seat. You can only do that by walking its streets.

Jazz it Up

While New Yorkers like to claim their hometown offers the best of just about everything, when it comes to jazz music, they’re not wrong. Clubs and concert halls all over the city featuring an embarrassment of world-class talent every night of the week. Hardcore jazzheads will, of course, head down to the tightly packed, bare-bones, subterranean Village Vanguard (villagevanguard.com) to get their fix at one of the world’s most renowned jazz clubs. But even jazz newbies who wouldn’t know a bebop from a blues will appreciate a visit to Dizzy’s Club (jazz.org/dizzys) at the impressive Jazz at Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side, where the consistently great music making is rivaled only by the splendor of the fifth-floor room itself, which features a stage backed by floor-to-ceiling windows that showcase jaw-dropping nighttime views of Columbus Circle and Central Park.

Historic Eats

In a city with five boroughs—with literally hundreds of dining options spread across each—it can be difficult to narrow things down for dinner. For a taste of old New York, it’s hard to top Barbetta, which has been serving up classic Italian fare in Hell’s Kitchen since 1906. The elegant trappings of plush chairs, an enormous dining room chandelier, and a charming attached garden have helped the restaurant earn cameos in everything from Woody Allen films to a Mad Men episode, but its real claim to fame lies in what’s coming out of the kitchen, including a wide array of scrumptious handmade pastas and several masterful risottos. In a nod to its deep roots, every dish at Barbetta includes the date it was added to the menu, but come dessert time, don’t let relative recency bias (1998) put you off the killer lemon-pistachio tart. barbettarestaurant.com

Where to Stay?

For a city that offers up so many amazing sights and spaces, the typical New York hotel experience for many visitors is often something of a letdown. Outside of the very priciest accommodations, many lodging options are uninspired at best and downright depressing at worst—and even these hardly come cheap. Flipping the script on this narrative in the Financial District, however, is The Beekman, a lovingly restored 19th-century jewel box that impresses with its soaring nine-story atrium as well as its gorgeous terraces. It offers easy access to popular spots like One World Trade Center, the Seaport District, and the Brooklyn Bridge. thebeekman.com

Park It

Given how difficult it would be to miss an 843-acre expanse of green space tucked right in the middle of the dense cityscape, singling out Central Park as a don’t-miss destination may seem stunningly obvious. But what’s actually stunning is how many visitors to NYC do, in fact, miss the experience of the park while bustling to other attractions instead of taking the time to get a true feel for this vibrant urban oasis. Especially on a beautiful summer day, slow down and stroll, bike, boat and, yes, maybe even just sit and relax amid iconic points of interest like Belvedere Castle, Umpire Rock, Gapstow Bridge, and Bethesda Fountain. centralparknyc.org

Photos: Gilberto Tadday/Jazz at Lincoln Center (Dizzy’s); Dan Reardon (Barbetta); The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel; iStock