Things to do in New York City

Landmark · Chelsea to Hudson Yards

A disused elevated freight rail line replanted as a linear park running thirty feet above the West Side streets.

Local tip: Enter at Gansevoort and walk north, and go early — by midday in summer it is a slow-moving crowd. The Chelsea Market entrance is the most congested.

Nature · Brooklyn

Olmsted and Vaux's other park, which they considered better than Central Park, wrapped by Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Flatbush.

Local tip: The Long Meadow is the largest continuous open lawn in any US city park. Locals use Prospect over Central for anything that isn't tourism — it is less policed, less manicured and more genuinely used.

Culture · Upper East Side

Two million square feet spanning five thousand years, from Egyptian temples to the rooftop bar.

Local tip: Admission is pay-what-you-wish for New York State residents and NY/NJ/CT students — bring proof of address. Everyone else pays the full fee, which is not obvious on the website.

Food · Queens

The densest stretch of Latin American, South Asian and Himalayan food in the country, under the elevated 7 train.

Local tip: Queens is the most linguistically diverse place on the planet — around 800 languages. Come hungry, bring cash, and follow the queue of people who look like they've done this before.

Neighborhood · South Brooklyn

A boardwalk, a wooden roller coaster from 1927, and next door the largest Russian-speaking neighbourhood in the US.

Local tip: The D, F, N and Q all go there for a normal subway fare — an hour from Midtown and you're at the Atlantic. Off-season in October it's better than in August.

Nature · Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn

478 acres of Victorian landscape on Brooklyn's highest point, with a monk parakeet colony nesting in the Gothic gate.

Local tip: Almost no visitors come here and it is one of the best views of Manhattan in the city, from Battle Hill. It predates Central Park and was the model for it — free to enter, open daily.