A hand-picked portfolio of exciting and unusual places to stay in some of the world's most beautiful and fascinating locations - put together by a small team of passionate travellers, and backed up by an award-winning online booking service…
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Like the first European settlers, we're starting our US coverage on
the east coast, at its cultural, financial and fashionable heart:
New York - the city which tops all others in every sense, including
visitor numbers (nearly 50 million a year).
Maybe it’s the vicarious familiarity of its movie backdrops,
the melting pot of cultures or the simplistic grid system that does
away with the need for maps... but there’s something about
arriving in New York (once you recover from the yellow-cab airport
transfer) that makes you feel instantly at home.
This is a city that wants to be all things to all people, a place
of unabashed extremes. Its climate runs from freezing winters to
stifling summers; its late nights regularly run into mornings; its
businesslike work ethic segues into wild play times. Customs
officials might do their best to make you feel otherwise, but NYC
owes its existence to the open-armed welcome of one and all, and it
never forgets where it came from. New Yorkers genuinely want you to
'Have a nice day'.
It may throng with visitors, but for every tourist trap
there’s a cheaper, more authentic alternative. Take
sightseeing: you can pay to be bundled on a boatload of I Love New
Yorkers to see the Statue of Liberty, or glide by gratis on the
Staten Island ferry; whizz up the Hudson in a tourist water taxi,
or paddle for free in a
kayak. By all means,
blow the meal budget in Grand Central Station; but you can sup
oysters at sunset for half the cost at
Marlows.
And if you think every New Yorker is sipping sickly cosmopolitans
à la Sex and The City, it’s time to branch out
- beyond the secretive speakeasy doors of Little Branch,
Death+Company and Pegu - and mingle with mixologists who think
vodka is for cleaning. If life is a cocktail, then it doesn't come
any headier than here.
Rich, gorgeous and often filthy, all New York’s clichés hold true. But the Big Apple has never been ashamed of its extreme weather, dirty streets, crazy pace and expensive tastes. As for the danger stakes, since Mayor Giuliani took over in 1993 and halved crime rates, New Yorkers will tell you that Manhattan’s like Disneyland. But you should play safe: like any metropolis, the seamy sides of NY have their fair share of theft and mugging. Be aware, also, that VAT isn’t included and tipping is high (15-20%), which can make for unpleasant reading when the bill arrives.
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