New York City is a fascinating mixture of colourful neighbourhoods, many of them shaped by changing immigrant populations and all of them quite easily reachable by public transit. The New York City train and subway system serves the five boroughs in a very practical way and foreigners always notice how easy it is easy to travel in NYC. Enjoy a New York vacation in one of its five unique borough, all of which offer unique destinations for New York City visitors:
•Manhattan:
NY Manhattan consists of a series of neighbourhoods on a longitudinal peninsula that is anchored around Central Park. Lower Manhattan is the heart of NYC’s financial district. It is anchored by Wall Street and the World Trade Center site. Its south side is the location of the South Street Seaport and of Battery Park from where the ferries to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty depart. East Manhattan has several distinct neighbourhoods: Chinatown, the Lower East Side, the East Village, the Gramercy Flatiron area, Midtown, and Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The west side of Manhattan is composed of Tribeca, Soho, Greenwich Village, the Chelsea Garment District, the Theatre District and the Upper West Side. Manhattan’s Soho area (“South of Houston Street”) used to be a derelict industrial area until the 1960s and was then taken over by artists who started to move into the area’s cheap lofts. Today Manhattan luxury accommodations attracts tourists and celebrities alike with their stylish designs and their easy access to galleries, magnificent cast-iron buildings and great shopping and dining opportunities.
•Brooklyn:
Brooklyn neighborhoods have traditionally been a huge draw for immigrants and today feature African-American, Jewish, Puerto Rican, Russian and Ukrainian, Italian, Irish and Chinese-American and many other ethnic communities. NY Brooklyn is a an extremely diverse area that is a perfect place for discovering NYC’s multicultural flair.
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•Queens:
Queens is the easternmost borough of NYC. Its main destinations include the city’s two airports: the JFK International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, the US Open Tennis Tournament at Flushing Meadows Park as well as the New York Mets baseball team. Queens’ Jamaica area is one of the city’s multicultural areas which, in addition to its historic African-American population, is now home to West Indian, Arab, Indian, Russian, Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants.
•The Bronx:
The Bronx, NYC’s northernmost borough, is divided by the Bronx River into the two main areas of the East Bronx and the West Bronx. Well-known Bronx neighbourhoods include the South Bronx, Little Italy on Arthur Avenue, and Riverdale. The Bronx experienced a major decline during the 1960s and 1970s. From the 1980s onwards many of the areas have been redeveloped and efforts have been underway to rebuild the area’s social and economic infrastructure. The Bronx is known as the birthplace of hip hop music while the South Bronx has become a center of Puerto Rican culture.
• Staten Island:
Staten Island is NYC’s southernmost borough and has traditionally been residential. It can be reached free of charge from Manhattan by ferry, and the Staten Island ferry schedule operates 24 a day. Staten Island is also often chosen as a popular hotel destination because it is closest to the Newark Airport and offers lower taxi fares for travelers.
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