New York City is a city people love to hate. It’s dirty, it’s crowded, it’s crass, and it’s loud. It’s cynical, corrupt, cold, and unfriendly. And then they arrive. And they are left to wonder how they could have had it so wrong.

There’s the pulsing vitality of the city, the diversity of a million ideas, voiced in a hundred languages, and the clack of dominoes or checkers in the park. There’s the chaotic tangle of neon lighting up exuberant faces of theatergoers as they stand by the stage door waiting to meet their Broadway heroes.

There’s the bite of brown mustard as you munch a hot dog and soak in the sun from a bench, all the while watching kids scamper up giant rock outcroppings in the park. There’s the subconscious sway of the platform crowd to the echo of a soulful sax sliding off mosaic subway walls. And there’s the laugh brought by holding down an errant whipping scarf as the crisp fall breeze flows through the gleaming glass and silver labyrinth of Midtown.

These quintessential New York moments invigorate and pull you to walk deeper into the city. You’ll go further through the tree-lined streets of brownstones to discover that special coffeehouse or jazz bar that will feel like a better home than the one you left. Try to take it all in and capture the energy of this amazing city.

There’s no other place in the United States quite like New York City. Where else can you choose from more than 18,000 eating establishments, 150 museums, 400 art galleries, 240 theaters, 50 dance spots, 60 live music spots, 90 institutions of higher learning, and 10,000 shops and boutiques?

John Steinbeck may have said it best. New York “is an ugly city,” he wrote, “a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal. Its politics are used to frighten children. Its traffic is madness. Its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it—once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no other place is good enough.”

The Best of New York City

• Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• Chinatown’s Mott Street
• A Stroll Through SoHo
• Empire State Building
• Times Square
• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Central Park
• Coney Island
• The Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Garden