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Midtown

Chelsea | Flatiron District & Union Square | Gramercy Park & Murray Hill
Herald Square & Garment District | Broadway & Times Square | Fifth Avenue | Midtown East

Welcome to the beating heart of the city. It’s hard to believe that this little strip of island between 14th Street and 59th Street bustles with tens of thousands of people every day. Marvel at the river of people walking shoulder to shoulder along the avenues, then dive right in.

Chelsea

Chelsea is the epicenter of the city’s gay life, but residents of all types inhabit the blocks between 14th and 29th Streets west of Sixth Avenue. There’s a generous assortment of bars and restaurants, most of which are clustered along Eighth Avenue, the center of the action. The far-west warehouse district is now a nesting ground for fashionable lounges and nightclubs, and has become much more residential in recent years. The most exciting thing to happen to Chelsea of late is plans to turn a defunct elevated train, known as the High Line, into a 1.5-mile-long promenade.

Cushman Row (406-418 W 20th Street, between Ninth & Tenth Avenues), in the Chelsea Historic District, is an example of how the area looked when it was developed in the mid 1800s (though its grandeur was later affected by the intrusion of noisy elevated railways).

What was once the Nabisco plant on Ninth Avenue, where the first Oreo cookie was made in 1912, has been renovated and is now home to the Chelsea Market (75 Ninth Avenue, between 15th & 16th Streets, www.chelseamarket.com). The former factory site is a conglomeration of 18 structures built between the 1890s and 1930s. The ground-floor food arcade offers artisanal bread, lobster, wine, hand-decorated cookies and imported Italian foods, among other treats. Upper floors house several media companies, including the Food Network studios, where shows such as 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray are taped.

Chelsea’s art galleries, occupying former warehouses from W 20th street to W 29th street, west of Tenth Avenue, draw an international audience, especially at weekends. A pioneer of the area, the Dia Art Foundation’s Dia:Chelsea has closed, but it is actively seeking a new home in the city to supplement its Hudson Valley museum, Dia: Beacon. See www.diaart.org or call 1-212 989 5566 for information.

Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue, at 27th Street (1-212 217 4558/www.fitnyc.edu). Subway: 1 to 28th Street. Open noon-8pm Tue-Fri; 10am-5pm Sat. Admission free.
The Fashion Institute of Technology houses one of the world’s most important collections of clothing and textiles, curated by the influential fashion historian Valerie Steele. Incorporating everything from extravagant costumes to sturdy work clothes, the exhibitions touch on the role fashion has played in society since the early 20th century.

Flatiron District & Union Square

The Flatiron District, which extends from 14th to 29th Streets, between Fifth and Park Avenues, gives Downtown a run for its money in terms of cachet. This chic enclave is full of retail stores that are quite often less expensive but just as stylish as those below 14th Street. The area is compact enough that you can hit all the sights on foot and then relax with a cocktail at a local watering hole. Madison Square Park (from 23rd to 26th Streets, between Fifth & Madison Avenues) got a facelift in 2001 and is a favorite place among locals to take a lunch break. Union Square (from 14th to 17th Streets, between Union Square East & Union Square West) is named after neither the Union of the Civil War nor the lively labor rallies that once took place here, but simply for the union of Broadway and Bowery Lane (now Fourth Avenue). Today, it’s probably best known as the home of the Union Square Greenmarket, an excellent farmers’ market.

Flatiron Building
175 Fifth Avenue, between 22nd & 23rd Streets. Subway: N, R, W, 6 to 23rd Street.
Just south of Madison Square Park is a famously triangular Renaissance palazzo, the Flatiron Building. The 22-story edifice is clad in white terracotta: its light color was revealed again by cleaning and restoration in the early 1990s. The surrounding neighborhood was christened in honor of the structure, which was the world’s first steel-frame skyscraper.

Madison Square Park
23rd to 26th Streets, between Fifth & Madison Avenues (www.madisonsquarepark.org). Subway: N, R, W, 6 to 23rd Street.
PT Barnum’s Hippodrome once occupied this site, as did the original Madison Square Garden, the scene of the scandalous murder of its architect, Stanford White (recounted in EL Doctorow’s novel Ragtime, also adapted as a film). Adding interest to the green space is MAD Sq. Art, a free outdoor ‘gallery’ that brings contemporary installations to the park. Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack (1-212 889 6600, www.shakeshack.com) dispenses superior ice-cream, hotdogs and burgers.

Museum of Sex

Museum of Sex
233 Fifth Avenue, at 27th Street (1-212 689 6337/www.museumofsex.org). Subway: N, R, W, 6 to 28th Street. Open 11am-6:30pm Mon-Fri, Sun; 11am-8pm Sat. Admission $14.50; $13.50 students. Under-18s must be accompanied by an adult. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
Don’t expect too much titillation at this museum, which opened in 2002 to mixed reviews. Instead, you’ll find presentations of historical documents and items—many of which were too risqué to be made public in their own time—that explore prostitution, burlesque, birth control, obscenity and fetishism. The museum also acquired an extensive collection of pornography from a retired Library of Congress curator, featuring thousands of items, including 8mm films, videos, blow-up dolls and other erotic paraphernalia.

Union Square

Union Square
14th to 17th Streets, between Union Square East & Union Square West. Subway: L, N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, 6 to 14th Street-Union Square.
From the 1920s until the early 1960s, Union Square had a reputation as the favorite location for rabble-rousing political oratory, from AFL-CIO rallies to anti-Vietnam War protests. Following 9/11, locals poured into the park, gathering to comfort one another in their collective grief.

Union Square Greenmarket
From 16th to 17th Streets, between Union Square East & Union Square West (1-212 788 7476). Subway: L, N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, 6 to 14th Street-Union Square. Open 8am-6pm Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat.
Here you’ll find yourself shopping elbow-to-elbow with top chefs for all manner of regionally grown culinary pleasures.

Gramercy Park & Murray Hill

Gramercy Park was developed in the 1830s to resemble a London square. You need a key to enter the park itself, a tranquil, gated green square at the bottom of Lexington Avenue (between 20th & 21st Streets). Who gets a key? Only the lucky people who live in the beautiful townhouses and apartment buildings that surround it. Anyone, however, can enjoy the charms of the district.

Murray Hill spans 30th to 40th Streets, between Third and Fifth Avenues. Townhouses of the rich and powerful were once clustered around Madison and Park Avenues. While it’s now home to mostly hard-partying post-collegiate types, a few streets retain the elegance that once made it distinctive. Sniffen Court (150-158 E 36th Street, between Lexington & Third Avenues) is an unspoiled row of 1864 carriage houses.

Morgan Library
225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street (1-212 685 0008/www.morganlibrary.org). Subway: 6 to 33rd Street. Open 10:30am-5pm Tue-Thur; 10:30am-9pm Fri; 10am-6pm Sat; 11am-6pm Sun. Admission $12; $8 12-16s, seniors, students; free under 12s. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
After undergoing a dramatic expansion in which Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano fused the Morgan’s three landmark buildings and built yet more galleries underground, the library reopened its doors in spring 2006. Serving as both museum and research library, the impressive, light-filled space (glass walls in the main pavilion allow visitors to see more of the 1906 Charles McKim building and a naturally lit reading room tops the Madison Avenue structure) is home to an awe-inspiring collection of rare books, illuminated manuscripts, drawings and prints. Among the prized possessions are etchings and drawings by Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Mary Shelley’s own copy of Frankenstein marked with notes and revisions, a 1488 first edition of the Hebrew Bible, and one of the first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.

National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South, between Park Avenue South & Irving Place (1-212 475 3424/www.nationalartsclub.org). Subway: 6 to 23rd Street. Open for exhibitions only. Call or visit website for current exhibition information.
The Gothic Revival Samuel Tilden House, now houses the National Arts Club, whose members often donate their work in lieu of annual dues. The busts of famous writers (including Shakespeare and Dante) that grace the façade were chosen to reflect Tilden’s library, which, along with his vast fortune, helped create the New York Public Library.

Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America
58 Park Avenue, between 37th & 38th Streets (1-212 879 9779/www.scandinaviahouse.org). Subway: 42nd Street S, 4, 5, 6, 7 to 42nd Street-Grand Central. Open noon-6pm Tue-Sat. Admission suggested donation $3; $2 seniors, students. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
You’ll find all things Nordic, from IKEA designs to the latest Finnish film, at this modern center, the leading cultural link between the US and the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). As well as exhibitions, the center stages films, concerts, lectures, symposia and readings, plus kid-friendly programming. The AQ Café is a bustling lunch spot with a menu designed by NYC’s most famous Swedish chef, Marcus Samuelsson.

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace
28 E 20th Street, between Broadway & Park Avenue South (1-212 260 1616/www.nps.gov/thrb). Subway: 6 to 23rd Street. Open 9am-5pm Tue-Sat. Tours 10am-4pm Tue-Sat; tours depart on the hour. Admission $3; free under-18s. No credit cards.
A small museum dedicated to the life and work of Theodore Roosevelt is housed at this national historic site. The President’s actual birthplace was demolished in 1916, but it has since been fully reconstructed, complete with period furniture and a trophy room.

Herald Square & Garment District

Beginning on 34th Street at Broadway and stretching all the way to Seventh Avenue, Macy’s is still the biggest—and busiest—department store in the world. The giant circular building on Seventh Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, is the sports and entertainment arena Madison Square Garden. It occupies the site of the old Pennsylvania Station, a McKim, Mead & White architectural masterpiece that was razed in the 1960s—an act so soulless, it spurred the creation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The railroad terminal, now known as Penn Station, lies beneath the Garden and serves around 600,000 people daily, more than any other station in the country.

Tucked away in buildings from 34th Street to 42nd Street, between Sixth and Eighth Avenues, are the showrooms of the country’s top fashion designers. Twice a year, in February and September, enormous tents are erected in Bryant Park (Sixth Ave between 40th and 42nd Streets), for New York Fashion Week’s runway shows.

Broadway & Times Square

Times Square is technically just the elongated intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, but it’s also the heart of the Theater District. More than 40 stages showcasing extravagant productions are situated on the streets that cross Broadway. West of Times Square, in the vicinity of the Port Authority Bus Terminal (on Eighth Avenue) and the Lincoln Tunnel’s traffic-knotted entrance, is an area historically known as Hell’s Kitchen, where a gang- and crime-ridden Irish community scraped by during the 19th century. Italians, Greeks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and other ethnic groups followed.

The neighborhood maintained its tough reputation into the 1980s, but today, crime has abated and commercial and residential towers have popped up in what realtors like to call Clinton. In-the-know theater-goers fill the ethnic eateries along Ninth Avenue, which cost less and serve more interesting food than the traditional pre-theater spots.

Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum
USS Intrepid, Pier 86, 46th Street, at the Hudson River (1-877 957 7447/www.intrepidmuseum.org). Travel: A, C, E to 42nd Street-Port Authority, then M42 bus to Twelfth Avenue or 15min walk. Open Apr-Sept 10am-5pm Mon-Fri; 10am-6pm Sat, Sun. Oct-Mar 10am-5pm Tue-Sun Admission $19.50; $15.50 seniors, students; $14.50 6-17s; $7.50 2-5s; free under-2s. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
The retired aircraft carrier has returned from Staten Island, where it has been undergoing major renovation. New interactive exhibits join a collection that spans World War II bombers to modern supersonic jet fighters.

Madame Tussaud’s New York
234 W 42nd Street, between Seventh & Eighth Avenues (1-800 246 8872/www.nycwax.com). Subway: A, C, E to 42nd Street-Port Authority; N, Q, R, S, W, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd Street-Times Square. Open 10am-8pm daily. Admission $29; $26 seniors; $23 4-12s; free under-4s. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
A must if you are a fan of frozen life-size celebs; every few months the place rolls out a new posse of freshly waxed victims.

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Odditorium
234 West 42nd Street, between Seventh & Eighth Avenues (1-212 398 3133/www.ripleysnewyork.com). Subway: A, C, E to 42nd Street-Port Authority; N, Q, R, S, W, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd Street-Times Square. Open 9am-1am daily. Admission $24.95; $21.95 seniors, students; $18.95 4-12s; free under-4s. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
After a 35-year absence, this repository of the record-breaking and bizarre returned to Times Square in summer 2007. Displays include a 3,197-pound meteorite, hair from three former presidents (several strands from JFK’s Camelot coiffure), and a portrait of Chinese emperor Shih Huang-ti made completely out of dryer lint. But the question is whether Ripley’s collection is still relevant: can shrunken heads really astound in an era of televised plastic surgery and Damien Hirst?

Times Square Visitors’ Center
1560 Broadway, between 46th & 47th Streets, entrance on Seventh Avenue (1-212 869 1890/www.timessquarebid.org). Subway: N, R, W to 49th Street; 1 to 50th Street. Open 8am-8pm daily. Get your bearings and your questions answered at this centrally located information booth.

Fifth Avenue

American Folk Art Museum

American Folk Art Museum
45 W 53rd Street, between Fifth & Sixth Avenues (1-212 265 1040/www.folkartmuseum.org). Subway: E, V to Fifth Avenue-53rd Street. Open 10:30am-5:30pm Tue-Thur, Sat, Sun; 10:30am-7:30pm Fri. Admission $9; $7 seniors, students; free under-12s. Free 5:30-7:30pm Fri. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
Celebrating traditional craft-based work is the American Folk Art Museum (formerly the Museum of American Folk Art). Designed by architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, the architecturally stunning eight-floor building is four times larger than the original Lincoln Center location (now a branch of the museum) and includes a café. The range of decorative, practical and ceremonial folk art encompasses pottery, trade signs, delicately stitched log-cabin quilts and wind-up toys.
Other location: 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue, between 65th & 66th Streets, Upper West Side (1-212 595 9533).

Bryant Park

Bryant Park
455 Fifth Avenue, at 42nd Street (1-212 768 4242/www.bryantpark.org). Subway: B, D, F, V to 42nd Street-Bryant Park; 7 to Fifth Avenue.
Situated behind the New York Public Library is Bryant Park, a well-cultivated retreat that hosts a dizzying schedule of free entertainment during the summer, including the popular Monday night outdoor movies. The park also boasts free wireless access.

Christie’s
20 Rockefeller Plaza, 49th Street, between Fifth & Sixth Avenues (1-212 636 2000/www.christies.com). Subway: B, D, F, V to 47-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center. Open 10am-5pm Mon-Fri. Admission free.
Dating from 1766, Christie’s joins Sotheby’s as one of New York’s premier auction houses. The building is worth a visit purely for the architecture—in particular, to see the cavernous three-floor lobby featuring a specially commissioned mural by artist Sol LeWitt. Most auctions are open to the public, with viewing hours scheduled in the days leading up to the sale. Hours vary with each exhibition; call or visit the website.

Empire State Building

Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue, between 33rd & 34th Streets (1-212 736 3100/www.esbnyc.com). Subway: B, D, F, N, Q, R, V, W to 34th Street-Herald Square. Open 8am-2am daily (last elevator at 1:15am). Closed during extreme weather. Admission 86th-floor observatory $19; $17 seniors, 13-17s; $12 6-11s; free under-6s. 102nd-floor observatory an additional $15. Credit AmEx, DC, Disc, MC, V.
In late 2005, the 102nd-floor observatory was reopened to the public and reigns as the city’s highest lookout. The view from the 86th floor isn’t too shabby either, from where, on a clear day, you can see all five boroughs and five states. (Night owl alert: the roof deck now remains open until 2am.) Be warned that queues can take as long as two hours on busy days; we recommend buying your tickets online to save time. If you have money to burn, you can take advantage of the express pass ($45), which lets you cut to the front. The informative (but hokey) audio tour is worth the extra seven bucks if you want more than an eyeful.

The Empire State Building was financed as a speculative venture by General Motors executive John J Raskob; builders broke ground in 1930. It sprang up in 14 months with amazing speed, completed more than a month ahead of schedule and $5 million under budget. The 1,250ft tower snatched the title of world’s tallest building from under the nose of the months-old, 1,046ft Chrysler Building, conveniently showing up Raskob’s Detroit-based rival Walter P Chrysler.

International Center of Photography
1133 Sixth Avenue, at 43rd Street (1-212 857 9700/www.icp.org). Subway: B, D, F, V to 42nd Street-Bryant Park; N, Q, R, W, 42nd Street S, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd Street-Times Square. Open 10am-6pm Tue-Thur, Sat, Sun; 10am-8pm Fri. Admission $12; $8 seniors & students; free under-12s. Pay what you wish 5-8pm Fri. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
The library here at the International Center of Photography—a major photographic resource—houses back issues of photography magazines, and thousands of biographical and photographic files. Founded in the 1960s as the International Fund for Concerned Photography, ICP has work by photojournalists Werner Bischof, Robert Capa and Dan Weiner, all of whom were killed on assignment. Photojournalism remains an important part of the centre’s programme, which also includes contemporary photos and video. In 2003, the first-ever ICP Photo Triennial further solidified ICP’s presence on the contemporary photography scene. The two floors of exhibition space often showcase retrospectives devoted to single artists; recent shows have focused on the work of Sebastião Salgado, Weegee and Garry Winogrand.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
11 W 53rd Street, between Fifth & Sixth Avenues (1-212 708 9400/www.moma.org). Subway: E, V to Fifth Avenue-53rd Street. Open 10:30am-5:30pm Mon, Wed, Thur, Sat, Sun; 10:30am-8pm Fri. Admission (incl Admission to film programs) $20; $16 over-65s; $12 full-time students; free under-17s (must be accompanied by an adult). Free to all 4-8pm Fri. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
MoMA contains the world’s finest and most comprehensive holdings of 20th-century art, and, thanks to a sweeping redesign by architect Yoshio Taniguchi, completed in 2004, it is now able to show off much more of its immense permanent collection in serene, high-ceilinged galleries that almost outshine the art on display. Highlights like Van Gogh’s The Starry Night may be what keeps the tourists flocking to the Museum of Modern Art, but even the most jaded New Yorkers swoon when they enter the soaring five-story atrium, the central artery for the seven curatorial departments: Architecture and Design, Drawings, Film, Media, Painting and Sculpture, Photography, and Prints and Illustrated Books. Works include the best creations from the hands of Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, Giacometti, Lawrence, Pollock, Rothko and Warhol, among many others.

Outside, Philip Johnson’s sculpture garden has been restored to its original, larger plan from 1953, and its powerful minimalist sculptures and sheer matte black granite and glass wall are overlooked by the Modern, the sleek high-end restaurant run by Midas-touch restaurateur Danny Meyer; for a more affordable, but no less impressive, dining experience, try the Bar Room at the Modern. The museum’s eclectic exhibition of design objects is a must-see, with examples of art nouveau, the Bauhaus and Vienna Secession alongside a vintage 1946 Ferrari and architectural drawings from the likes of Rem Koolhaas and Mies van der Rohe.

NBC Studio Tour
30 Rockefeller Plaza, 49th Street, between Fifth & Sixth Avenues (1-212 664 3700/www.nbc.com). Subway: B, D, F, V to 47-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center. Admission $18.50; $15.50 seniors, groups of 15 or more, 6-12s. Under-6s not admitted. Tours 8:30am-5:30pm Mon-Sat; 9:30am-4:30pm Sun. Tours depart every 15 mins. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
Peer through the Today show’s studio window with a horde of fellow onlookers, or pay Admission (at the NBC Experience Store, www.shopnbc.com) for a guided tour of the studios. The tours are led by pages, many of whom—Ted Koppel, Kate Jackson, Michael Eisner, Marcy Carsey, among them—have gone on to bigger and better things in showbiz.

New York Public Library

New York Public Library
455 Fifth Avenue, at 42nd Street (1-212 930 0830/www.nypl.org). Subway: B, D, F, V to 42nd Street-Bryant Park; 7 to Fifth Avenue. Open 11am-6pm Mon; 11am-7:30pm Tue, Wed; 10am-6pm Thur-Sat; 1-6pm Sun. Admission free.
When most people mention the New York Public Library, they tend to be referring to this imposing Beaux Arts building. (In fact, it houses only NYPL’s humanities and social sciences collection.) Two massive stone lions, dubbed Patience and Fortitude by former mayor Fiorello La Guardia, flank the main portal. Free guided tours (at 11am and 2pm) stop at the stunning and beautifully renovated Rose Main Reading Room and the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, which offers free internet access. Lectures, author readings and special exhibitions are definitely worth checking out.

Paley Center for Media
25 W 52nd Street, between Fifth & Sixth Avenues (1-212 621 6600/www.mtr.org). Subway: B, D, F, V to 47-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center; E, V to Fifth Avenue-53rd Street. Open noon-6pm Tue-Sun; noon-8pm Thur. Admission $10; $8 seniors, students; $5 under-14s. No credit cards. Formerly the Museum of Television & Radio, this nirvana for boob-tube addicts and popular-culture junkies contains an archive of more than 100,000 radio and TV programs. Head to the fourth-floor library to search the computerized system for your favorite Star Trek episodes, then walk down a flight to take a seat at your assigned console. (The radio listening room operates the same way.) There are also screenings of modern cartoons, public seminars and special presentations.

Rockefeller Center
From 48th to 51st Streets, between Fifth & Sixth Avenues (1-212 332 6868/tickets 1-212 664 7174/www.rockefellercenter.com). Subway: B, D, F, V to 47-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center. Admission $12; $10 seniors, 6-16s, groups of 10 or more. Under-6s not admitted. Tours 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm Mon-Sat; 11am, 1pm, 3pm Sun. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
NBC, Simon & Schuster, McGraw-Hill and other media giants inhabit this art deco city within a city. Exploring the centre is free, and guided tours of the complex are available daily (call 1-212 664 3700). Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center’s observation deck, offers seriously fantastic views of the city below (www.topoftherocknyc.com).

St Patrick’s Cathedral
Fifth Avenue, between 50th & 51st Streets (1-212 753 2261). Subway: B, D, F to 47-50th Streets-Rockefeller Center; E, V to Fifth Avenue-53rd Street. Open 6:30am-8:45pm daily. Admission free. Tours call for tour dates and times.
St Patrick’s adds Gothic grace to Fifth Avenue. The diocese of New York bought the land for an orphanage in 1810, but in 1858 it switched gears and began construction on what would become the country’s largest Catholic church. Today, the white marble spires are dwarfed by Rockefeller Center, but inside, visitors are treated to a still-stunning display of vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows from Chartres and altars by Tiffany & Co.

Midtown East

The area east of Fifth Avenue may seem less appealing to visitors than Times Square or Rockefeller Center. Although the neighborhood is home to some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks—the United Nations, Grand Central Terminal and the Chrysler Building—the grid of busy streets is lined with large, imposing buildings and the bustling sidewalks are all business.

Chrysler Building
405 Lexington Avenue at 44th Street. Subway: 42nd Street S, 4, 5, 6, 7 to 42nd Street-Grand Central.
Completed in 1930, this gleaming building pays homage to the automobile. Architect William Van Alen outfitted the main tower with colossal radiator-cap eagle ‘cargoyles’ and a brickwork relief sculpture of racing cars complete with chrome hubcaps. A needle-sharp stainless-steel spire was added to the blueprint so the finished product would be taller than 40 Wall Street, which was under construction at the same time.

Grand Central Terminal
From 42nd to 44th Streets, between Vanderbilt & Lexington Avenues. Subway: 42nd Street S, 4, 5, 6, 7 to 42nd Street-Grand Central. Tours call 1-212 697 1245 for information.
The 1913 Beaux Arts train station is the city’s most spectacular point of arrival. The terminal played an important role in the nation’s historic preservation movement, after a series of legal battles that culminated in the 1978 Supreme Court decision affirming NYC’s landmark laws. One notable oddity: the constellations on the Main Concourse ceiling are drawn in reverse, as if seen from heaven.

Japan Society
333 E 47th Street, at First Avenue (1-212 832 1155/www.japansociety.org). Subway: E, V to Lexington Avenue-53rd Street; 6 to 51st Street. Open Gallery 11am-6pm Tue-Thur; 11am-9pm Fri; 11am-5pm Sat, Sun. Admission $12; $10 seniors, students; free under-16s. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
In a serene setting complete with a waterfall and bamboo garden, the Japan Society, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2007, presents a range of performing arts, lectures, and special events, as well as a gallery for temporary exhibitions.

United Nations Headquarters
UN Plaza, First Avenue, between 42nd & 48th Streets (tours 1-212 963 8687/www.un.org/tours). Subway: 42nd Street S, 4, 5, 6, 7 to 42nd Street-Grand Central. Admission $13.50; $9 seniors, students; $7.50 5-14s. Under-5s not admitted. Tours 9:30am-4:45pm Mon-Fri. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
Although you don’t need a passport, you will technically be leaving US soil when you enter the UN complex—it’s designated as an international zone, and the vast buffet at the Delegates Dining Room (fourth floor, 1-212 963 7626) literally puts cultural diversity on the table. The grounds and the Peace Garden along the East River are strictly off-limits for security reasons. Unless you pay for a 45-minute guided tour, the only accessible attractions are the exhibitions in the lobby and the bookstore and gift shop on the lower level.

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