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Flights and Hotels in New York
The city that never sleeps. New York is iconic skyscrapers, Central Park, Broadway, pizza by the slice and an energy you won't find anywhere else in the world.
New York is a world condensed into five boroughs: Manhattan with its skyscrapers and Broadway, Brooklyn with its creative neighbourhoods and iconic bridge, multi-ethnic Queens where more than 150 languages are spoken, the Bronx as the birthplace of hip-hop, and Staten Island with its view of the Statue of Liberty. Distances are serious business: Manhattan alone is 21 km long, and the subway quickly becomes essential. The numbered street grid makes navigation easy — avenues run north-south, streets east-west — but travel times add up: getting from Harlem to the Financial District takes nearly an hour. Three days cover the essentials of Manhattan; with five you can add Brooklyn and the great museums without rushing. It is the city where everything is possible and nothing is ever enough.
📜 History at a glance
Manhattan island was inhabited by the Lenape when the Dutch West India Company founded New Amsterdam there in 1624; two years later Peter Minuit bought the island in exchange for goods worth 60 guilders. In 1664 the English took it without a fight and renamed it New York after the Duke of York. In 1789 it became the first capital of the United States: George Washington was sworn in as president at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The Erie Canal, opened in 1825, turned it into America's great port, and between 1892 and 1954 more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, a great many of them Italian. The Twenties brought the Harlem Renaissance and the skyscraper race: the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building were completed just as Wall Street crashed in 1929. After the fiscal crisis of the Seventies and the revival of the Nineties, September 11, 2001 wounded the city: where the Twin Towers once stood, One World Trade Center now rises 541 metres.
📅 Best time to visit
Spring (April-June) and autumn (September-November) remain the perfect seasons: 15-25°C, crisp skies and Central Park's foliage between late October and early November. December is magical — decorated shop windows, the Rockefeller Center tree, ice rinks — but cold and very expensive: hotels hit their yearly peak. January and February are freezing, often below zero with snow, yet this is the true low season: rates drop 30-40% and museums are half empty. July and August bring 30-35°C with heavy humidity: you can still visit, alternating air-conditioned museums with shaded neighbourhoods, and flights cost less than over the holidays. Avoid Thanksgiving and New Year weeks if you want reasonable prices.
Why visit New York
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island — Statue City Cruises ferry from Battery Park, about $25; book months ahead to climb to the crown. Empire State Building — 86th-floor observatory, tickets from about $45, the absolute classic. Top of the Rock — the Rockefeller Center terrace, from about $40: the only view that takes in both the Empire State and Central Park. Central Park — 341 free hectares: Bethesda Terrace, Strawberry Fields, The Mall. Metropolitan Museum — about $30, one of the world's largest collections; allow at least 3 hours. MoMA — about $30: Van Gogh's Starry Night, Picasso, Warhol. 9/11 Memorial — the memorial pools are free, the museum about $33. Brooklyn Bridge — free, a half-hour walk to DUMBO, best at dawn. High Line — free elevated park from Gansevoort Street to Hudson Yards.
Suggested itineraries
1 day: morning in Midtown around Grand Central, Bryant Park and Times Square, a pre-booked observatory climb, afternoon in Central Park and along Fifth Avenue, evening on Broadway or sunset from Top of the Rock. 2-3 days: add the Statue of Liberty with Ellis Island (half a day), the 9/11 Memorial and Wall Street, the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to DUMBO, one major museum — Met or MoMA — and an evening in the Village. 5+ days: Harlem with a gospel service, the High Line and Hudson Yards, the Natural History Museum, Williamsburg with Smorgasburg at the weekend, Coney Island in summer, the Bronx for Yankee Stadium and the murals, and outlet shopping at Woodbury Common.
🍽️ Local cuisine
Pizza by the slice is on every corner ($2-4 a slice, eaten standing up and folded in half); bagels with cream cheese and salmon are the classic breakfast ($5-9 at delis). The pastrami sandwich at Katz's Delicatessen, a Lower East Side institution, costs about $28 but feeds two. Then come legendary hamburgers (from Shake Shack to the steakhouses), dumplings in Chinatown for $2-5, tacos and world cuisines in Queens, the halal carts of Midtown (chicken and rice for $10-12) and cheesecake, with Junior's in Brooklyn as the historic name. On weekends the Smorgasburg market gathers dozens of food trucks and gourmet stalls. For steak, Peter Luger in Williamsburg is the temple (over $100 a head). Remember: taxes and an 18-20% tip come on top of listed prices.
Neighbourhoods to explore
Midtown Manhattan: Times Square, Broadway, Fifth Avenue and the big observatories — chaotic but unavoidable, convenient for sleeping. Downtown: SoHo for shopping among cast-iron buildings, Greenwich Village and the West Village for cafés and jazz clubs, the Lower East Side for nights out. Uptown: the Upper West and Upper East Side flank Central Park and hold the great museums; Harlem for Sunday gospel and soul food. Brooklyn: creative Williamsburg full of bars, DUMBO with its postcard view of the bridge, Brooklyn Heights with its Promenade. Queens: Astoria for Greek food, Flushing for the most authentic Chinatown, Long Island City for the skyline at sunset.
🎭 Events and festivals
December 31: the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square, hours of waiting in the cold. January-February: Lunar New Year in Chinatown with parades and dragons. March 17: St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. June: the Pride March, among the largest in the world. July 4: Macy's fireworks over the East River. Late August-early September: the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadows. October 31: the Village Halloween Parade along Sixth Avenue. First weekend of November: the New York Marathon through all five boroughs. Fourth Thursday of November: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with its giant balloons. December: the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center and the Bryant Park market. Twice a year Restaurant Week offers good-value fixed menus at top restaurants.
How to get there
Three airports serve the city. JFK (Queens, 26 km from the centre) and Newark (EWR) (New Jersey, 26 km) handle international flights; LaGuardia (LGA) is mainly for domestic routes. From Italy there are direct flights from Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino with ITA Airways, Delta, American, United, Emirates and Neos, plus summer seasonal routes from Venice and Naples: 8h30-9h outbound, about 8 hours back thanks to tailwinds. Return fares run from about €350-450 in low season up to €700-900 in summer and over the holidays. Flying via a European hub (Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Iberia) often saves €50-150. From JFK and EWR you reach Manhattan by AirTrain plus train or subway.
🚇 Getting around
The subway runs 24 hours a day: a single ride is $2.90 paid contactless with OMNY (card or phone at the turnstile), with a weekly cap of about $34 after which rides are free — the heir to the old 7-day unlimited pass. From JFK: AirTrain (about $8.50) to Jamaica or Howard Beach, then the E or A lines to Manhattan, 50-75 minutes in total; or the LIRR train from Jamaica to Penn Station or Grand Central, which is faster; taxis charge a flat rate of about $70 plus tolls and tip. From Newark: AirTrain plus NJ Transit train to Penn Station, about $16 in 45 minutes. From LaGuardia: the free Q70 bus to the subway. In town there are also yellow cabs, Uber/Lyft and Citi Bike; the Staten Island ferry is free.
Budget and prices
Return flights from Italy €350-700, over €900 at Christmas and in high summer. Sleeping: hostel bed $50-80, 3-star hotel in Manhattan $180-300 a night, 4-star $300-500; watch out for taxes (about 15%) and resort fees of $25-40 often excluded from the displayed price; Airbnb and hotels in Long Island City or Brooklyn $120-220. Eating: pizza slice $2-4, quick lunch $12-20, dinner at a mid-range restaurant $40-70 per person with tax and tip. Attractions: museums and observatories $30-45 each; passes like CityPASS (about $150) pay off from three attractions up. Transport: about $34 a week on the subway. Total for a week as a couple excluding flights: $2,200-3,000 on a budget, $3,500-5,500 mid-range.
📋 Practical info
The currency is the US dollar; cards are accepted everywhere and many places are now cashless. Italian citizens need ESTA (online authorisation, about $21, valid two years): apply at least 72 hours before departure. English is the language, Spanish is widespread. Sockets are type A/B at 120 V: you need an adapter. Tap water is safe to drink. Tipping is effectively mandatory: 18-20% in restaurants, $1-2 per drink at the bar, $1-2 per bag; an 8.875% tax is always added to displayed prices. The city is generally safe in tourist areas: watch for pickpockets on the subway and in Times Square, and avoid empty carriages at night. EU roaming does not cover the USA: a data eSIM is worthwhile. The emergency number is 911.
💡 Practical tips
- With OMNY the weekly cap of about $34 matches the old 7-day unlimited subway pass: once you hit it, rides are free.
- The free Staten Island ferry offers the best view of the Statue of Liberty, there and back in an hour.
- Many museums have free evenings or pay-what-you-wish schemes (at the Met only for New York State residents).
- Book observatories for sunset several days ahead: the best slots vanish fast.
- Cross the Brooklyn Bridge at dawn and have a bagel breakfast in DUMBO: the perfect morning.
- Half-price Broadway: try the shows' digital lotteries or the TKTS booth in Times Square.