🌙 At night● Now
Jazz in the VillageLegendary clubs like the Village Vanguard and Smalls, with sets until the small hours.
✦ Your self-guided tour
New York
Discover the city at your own pace, with your route and your trip essentials in one place.
7 stops · about 4 h 33 · audio guide12 languages
Highlights
7 stops · about 4 h 33 · audio guide
Photos
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (each author credited) and Google.
New York: your route
Pay once. Access is saved on this device and sent by email.
7 stops · about 4 h 33 · audio guideTransport on the route: about US$26.00
Included: the full route, audio guide in 12 languages and the travel tools. Not included: museum and monument tickets, transport tickets.
💡 Good to know in New York
Practical tips before you step out.
Luggage
Leave luggage at the airport left-luggage desk or a partner storage point on the route (marked ★). Carry only essentials and your passport.
Internet
Outside EU roaming: a US data eSIM is cheap and works straight away. Free Wi‑Fi at airports, cafés and museums.
Payments
Contactless works almost everywhere, including subways and buses (OMNY, Clipper, Ventra…). Prices exclude sales tax (6–10%), added at the till.
Tipping
Tipping is expected: 18–22% at table-service restaurants, USD 1–2 per drink at bars and 15–20% for taxis. Optional at counters.
Water
Tap water is safe and restaurants serve it free with ice.
Safety
Cross only at crosswalks with the walk signal. The subway runs 24 hours; at night ride in the conductor's car (middle of the train).
Sockets
Type A/B sockets, 120 V: you need an adapter; check your charger accepts 100–240 V.
Toilets
Public toilets are rare: use those in museums, malls, hotels, libraries and chain cafés.
ⓘ Practical information compiled from official and public sources in October 2026. Not yet checked on the ground in this city — if something has changed, use “Report a problem”.
Safety in New York
Emergency numbers, common scams and how to get help. Free for everyone.
Emergency911
Police (non-urgent)311
Hospital and pharmacy search around the city centre — share your location for results near you.
Look for: Pharmacy (CVS · Walgreens)
Common scams and risks
Pickpockets
Crowded trams, metros and queues are their workplace. Bag in front and zipped; phone never in a back pocket.
Phone snatching
Thieves on bikes or scooters grab phones from your hand. Step back from the kerb when using maps.
Photos with costumed people
Costumed "gladiators" and characters pose for photos and then ask for big tips. Agree a price first or decline.
Friendly "guides"
A helpful stranger offers to show you around and you end up in a carpet or souvenir shop. A polite no is enough.
After dark
Stay on busy, well-lit streets and use a taxi or ride-hailing app (Uber, Bolt) for longer trips at night. Keep phones and jewellery out of sight in empty areas.
👜 Watch your wallet in
Times Square · Metro (crowded lines) · Brooklyn Bridge · Canal Street
🌙 At night, take extra care in
Parks after dark · Empty subway stations
Keep a photo of your passport on your phone, carry just one card and some cash, and stick to busy, well-lit streets.
ⓘ Practical information compiled from official and public sources in October 2026. Not yet checked on the ground in this city — if something has changed, use “Report a problem”.
General guidance. If you're in danger, call 911 now. · New York
Everything in New York
All the useful things in one place.
🆕 Today in New York
Thursday 22 October · updated automatically every day
8° – 13°Little chance of rain
🎟️ Coming up04/29 11:00Museum of Chinese in America Flex AdmissionMuseum of Chinese in America07/15 10:00DAYDREAM | Air Becomes Art - Balloon Museum - Flexible EntryBalloon Museum NYC10/22Madison Square Garden Tour ExperienceMadison Square Garden10/22Radio City Music Hall Tour ExperienceRadio City Music Hall Tour ExperienceAll events →
Experiences in New York
Moments, fun and events, picked for you.
Your interests
🌙 At night● Now
A Broadway musicalSame-day discount tickets at TKTS or the theatres' digital lotteries.
🌅 At sunset
Staten Island Ferry at sunsetFree, 25 minutes each way, sailing right past the Statue of Liberty.
🕐 Flexible — check opening times
A New York sliceA slice folded in half and eaten standing up, for a few dollars.
☀️ In the morning
Manhattan Bridge from DUMBOThe classic photo on Washington Street, early, before the crowds.
🕐 Flexible — check opening times
The MetFrom Egypt to the Impressionists; the roof garden opens April to October.
🏛️ History & culture of New York
How the city came to be, in a few minutes of reading.
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States. It is located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs—Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island—each being coextensive with its respective county. It is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of technology, finance, commerce, culture, entertainment and media, academics and scientific output, the arts and fashion—and as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. New York City is known for its fast pace and continuous urban energy.
Read the full history
The written history of New York City begins with the arrival of the first European explorer to the area, Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 and his brief interactions with the Indigenous Lenape. European settlement began with the Dutch in 1608 and New Amsterdam was founded with the assistance of the Lenape in 1624.
The Sons of Liberty campaigned against British authority in New York City, and the Stamp Act Congress of representatives from throughout the Thirteen Colonies met in the city in 1765 to organize resistance to Crown policies. The city's strategic location and status as a major seaport made it the prime target for British seizure in 1776. General George Washington lost a series of battles from which he narrowly escaped (with the notable exception of the Battle of Harlem Heights, his first victory of the war), and the British Army occupied New York and made it their base on the continent until late 1783, attracting Loyalist refugees.
The city served as the national capital under the Articles of Confederation from 1785 to 1789, and briefly served as the new nation's capital in 1789–1790 under the United States Constitution. Under the new government, the city hosted the inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States, the drafting of the United States Bill of Rights, and the first Supreme Court of the United States. The opening of the Erie Canal New York and the Great Lakes, along with coastal traffic to lower New England, making the city the preeminent port on the Atlantic Ocean as it long had been with the Beaver Pelt Trade. The arrival of rail connections to the north and west in the 1840s and 1850s strengthened its central role.
Beginning in the mid-19th century, waves of new immigrants arrived from Europe, dramatically changing the composition of the city and serving as workers in the expanding industries. Modern New York traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression and World War II.
💬 What travellers say about New York
Tips, experiences and questions from people who've been there.