New York City

Prices for accommodation in New York are well above the norm for the US as a whole. Most hotels charge more than $200 a night (although exceptions for under $100 a night do exist), and for anything better than four stars you’ll be lucky to pay less than $400. Most of New York’s hotels are in Midtown Manhattan, though more and more chic spots are being built downtown. Booking ahead is strongly advised; at certain times of the year – May, June, September, October and the lead up to Christmas and New Year, for example – everything is likely to be full. The price codes given at the end of each review reflect the cost of the cheapest double room during the high season.

Hostels offer savings, and run the gamut in terms of quality, safety and amenities. It pays to do research ahead of time to ensure satisfaction upon arrival. Average hostel rates range from $30 to $60.

There isn’t anything you can’t eat in New York, and New Yorkers take their food very seriously, obsessed with new cuisines, new dishes and new restaurants. Certain areas hold pockets of ethnic restaurants, especially in the outer boroughs, but you can generally find whatever you want, wherever (and whenever) you want.

New York’s best bars are, generally speaking, in Downtown Manhattan – the West and East villages, Soho and the Lower East Side – and in outer-borough hoods like Williamsburg, Red Hook and Long Island City. Most of the ones listed below serve food of some kind and have happy hours sometime between 4pm and 8pm during the week. See also the bars listed in “Gay New York,”.

You’ll never be at a loss for something fun or culturally enriching to do while in New York. The live music scene, in particular, well reflects New York’s diversity: on any night of the week, you can hear pretty much any type of music, from thumping hip-hop to raging punk, and, of course, plenty of jazz. There are also quite a few dance clubs, where you can move to hard-hitting house or cheesy tunes from the 1970s and 80s.

Home to Broadway and 42nd Street, New York is also one of the world’s great theatre centres, with productions that range from lavish, over-the-top musicals to experimental productions in converted garages. Classical music, opera and dance are all very well represented, too. As for film, you couldn’t hope for better pickings: the city has several large indie theatres, assorted revival and arthouse cinemas and countless Hollywood-blockbuster multiplexes. Last but not least, NYC has many excellent comedy clubs.

For listings of what’s on during any particular week, check out Time Out New York ($3.99; available from newsstands citywide) or The Village Voice (free; available in newspaper boxes and many other spots around town). Useful websites include w www.ohmyrockness.com (for indie rock), w www.thelmagazine.com and w www.timeout.com (for general listings).

There are few places in America where gay culture thrives as it does in New York. Chelsea (centred on Eighth Ave, between 14th and 23rd sts), the East Village and Hell’s Kitchen have replaced the West Village as the hubs of gay New York, although a strong presence still lingers around Christopher Street. There’s Brooklyn’s Park Slope, too, though perhaps more for women than for men. Up-to-the-minute news can be found in Gay City News, Next and GO, free, provocative weekly papers/magazines.

When it comes to consumerism, New York leaves all other cities behind. Shopping can be extraordinarily cheap, but move further uptown and it can also be phenomenally expensive. Midtown Manhattan is mainstream territory, with the department stores, big-name clothes designers and branches of the larger chains. Downtown plays host to a wide variety of more offbeat stores – SoHo is perhaps the most popular shopping neighbourhood in these parts, and generally the most expensive. Affordable alternatives for the young and trendy are available in the Lower East Side, and good vintage clothing can be found there, in the East Village and in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.