Five boroughs, four hundred seventy subway stations, and a city that never sleeps
New York City
IdiomaEnglish
MonedaUSD
Huso horarioGMT-5
Temperatura5-30 °C
Prefijo+1
Población335M
Área9,833,520 km²
EnchufesTipo A / Tipo B
Agua del grifoPotable
Descubra New York City
New York is made up of five boroughs, but nine visitors out of ten spend their whole trip on Manhattan — an island twenty-one kilometers long and only three wide. That's good news: above 14th Street the streets are numbered and laid out on a grid, so nobody gets lost, and most famous sights are within walking distance or a couple of subway stops of each other. Lower Manhattan, with Wall Street and the 9/11 memorial, is the oldest part of the city, with winding lanes; Midtown, with Times Square and the Empire State Building, is the commercial and theater district; the Upper East and West Sides flank Central Park and hold the major museums. The second borough worth your time is Brooklyn, across the East River — quieter, cheaper, and with the best view of the Manhattan skyline. The city is expensive: a Midtown hotel costs two hundred fifty dollars a night and up, plus taxes and tips. But it's balanced out by what's free: the Staten Island Ferry, Central Park, the High Line, the Chelsea galleries and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge cost nothing.
What to see
The places worth your time in New York City, and what to expect at each
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Lower Manhattan
A copper statue ninety-three meters tall including its pedestal, gifted to the United States by France in 1886. The boat continues to Ellis Island, through which twelve million immigrants passed between 1892 and 1954, including tens of thousands of Czechs and Slovaks.
Tip: The only official ticket seller is Statue City Cruises; street vendors near Battery Park will put you on a sightseeing boat that doesn't stop at the island. Crown access sells out months ahead, pedestal access weeks ahead. Anyone who just wants to see the statue can take the free Staten Island Ferry and sit on the right side.
Admission:
admission fee
Time needed:
half a day
Central Park
Midtown and Upper Side
A three-hundred-forty-one-hectare park in the middle of Manhattan, designed in the 1850s as an artificial landscape with lakes, outcrops and woodland. More than thirty bridges cross it, and a ten-kilometer paved loop runs through it.
Tip: The prettiest stretch is between 59th and 79th Streets: Bethesda Terrace, the boat lake, Bow Bridge and Strawberry Fields. Bikes can be rented at the entrances, but shared Citi Bikes work out cheaper. Horse carriages are expensive and criticized by the city; walking the same loop takes two hours and looks just as good.
Admission:
free
Time needed:
3 h
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Upper East Side
America's largest art museum, with over a million and a half objects ranging from the Egyptian Temple of Dendur to European painting to American period rooms. The building on Fifth Avenue backs onto Central Park and has a rooftop terrace with park views in summer.
Tip: For visitors from outside New York State, admission is fixed, and the ticket is also valid the same day at The Cloisters branch in northern Manhattan, with its medieval cloisters. Open until nine on Fridays and Saturdays, and the galleries are empty after six. Start with the Egyptian wing and the Temple of Dendur.
Admission:
admission fee
Time needed:
3 h
Empire State Building
Midtown
A 1931 skyscraper four hundred forty-three meters tall, built in a record thirteen and a half months. The 86th-floor deck is outdoors and wraps around the whole building; the 102nd floor is glass-enclosed, sixteen floors higher.
Tip: The best time is an hour before sunset, so you see the city both in daylight and lit up. Book a specific time slot online, or you'll wait through three separate lines. Anyone who wants the Empire State Building itself in their photo should instead go to Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center, which frames it alongside Central Park.
Admission:
admission fee
Time needed:
1.5 h
High Line
Chelsea
A park built on a disused elevated freight railway, running nine meters above the west side of Manhattan from the Meatpacking District to Hudson Yards. It's two and a third kilometers long, with grasses, shrubs and trees growing between the old rails.
Tip: Walk from south to north, starting at Chelsea Market on Ninth Avenue, where you can grab breakfast. After ten a.m. on weekends the path is packed; at eight on a weekday morning it's empty. The Chelsea galleries between 20th and 26th Streets under the tracks are free to enter.
Admission:
free
Time needed:
1.5 h
Brooklyn Bridge
Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn
An 1883 suspension bridge over the East River, the first to link Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time. A wooden pedestrian promenade runs above six lanes of traffic, between Gothic stone towers.
Tip: Cross it from Brooklyn toward Manhattan, not the other way — that way you have the skyline in front of you the whole way. Take the A or C train to High Street, then walk twenty-five minutes. Don't stand in the bike lane on the promenade, since cyclists ride fast and won't slow down. Fewest people show up before eight in the morning.
Admission:
free
Time needed:
1 h
9/11 Memorial and Museum
Lower Manhattan
Two square reflecting pools sit on the footprints of the destroyed World Trade Center towers, water falling down their walls into the depths, ringed by bronze panels bearing the names of the 2,983 victims. The underground museum displays structural remnants, fire trucks and personal belongings.
Tip: The outdoor memorial is free and open all day; the museum charges admission and takes two to three hours to visit, and it's emotionally heavy. Museum tickets are bought online for a specific time slot. Nearby stands One World Trade Center with the One World Observatory viewpoint, and the Oculus transit hub designed by Santiago Calatrava.
Admission:
museum admission fee
Time needed:
2.5 h
Times Square and Broadway
Midtown
The intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, ringed by screen-covered facades, surrounded by forty theaters staging Broadway musicals. More than three hundred thousand people pass through daily, and the lights never go dark, even at night.
Tip: Don't eat on the square itself — the chain restaurants here have the highest prices in the city, and two blocks west on Ninth Avenue is Hell's Kitchen, with dozens of better options. Musical tickets can be bought a day ahead at up to fifty percent off at the TKTS booth under the red steps, or through theater apps' lottery systems. Costumed characters will ask for money for a photo.
Admission:
free
Time needed:
1 h
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Midtown
A collection of modern art ranging from Van Gogh's Starry Night through Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Monet's water lilies to Warhol's soup cans. The Midtown building has six floors of galleries and a sculpture garden with works by Rodin and Picasso.
Tip: The most famous paintings hang on the fifth floor — go straight there, then work your way down before it fills up. The first Friday evening of the month is free for New York City residents, not tourists. A MoMA ticket also gets you into MoMA PS1 in Queens for free within fourteen days.
Areas and districts, matched to the kind of trip you are taking
Midtown
Best for: first-time visitors and a short stay
The area between 34th and 59th Streets, with Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central and Fifth Avenue. From a hotel here, half the sightseeing list is within walking distance, and nearly every subway line passes through. It's the most expensive and loudest option, and the crowds around Times Square don't thin out at night; Bryant Park and Murray Hill nearby are calmer.
Lower Manhattan and the Financial District
Best for: weekend rates and proximity to the Statue of Liberty
The oldest part of the city, with Wall Street, the 9/11 memorial and the ferry terminal for the Statue of Liberty. Business hotels here get cheaper on weekends once the finance crowd goes home. It's quiet in the evening with fewer restaurants, but it's fifteen minutes by subway to Midtown and one stop to Brooklyn.
Greenwich Village and SoHo
Best for: strolling, shopping and evenings out
Low brick buildings, tree-lined streets, jazz clubs and small restaurants around Washington Square Park. SoHo, with its cast-iron facades, is a shopping district; the East Village belongs to bars at night. There are few hotels here and they're pricey, but it's the most walkable part of Manhattan to actually live in for a few days.
Brooklyn — Williamsburg and DUMBO
Best for: longer stays and lower prices
Williamsburg is a neighborhood of cafés, microbreweries and vintage shops, one L-train stop from Manhattan; DUMBO, under the Brooklyn Bridge, has the best skyline view. Hotels cost about a third less than in Midtown, and it stays lively into the evening. It's twenty minutes by subway to central Manhattan.
New York has three major airports. Direct flights from Prague to both JFK and Newark run in summer season and take nine hours; outside the season, connections go through London, Amsterdam, Paris or Frankfurt. An electronic ESTA authorization is required before departure, costing forty dollars and processed on the official US government website — third-party sites charge multiples of that. JFK is in Queens and has an AirTrain shuttle to the subway; Newark is in New Jersey with a train link to Penn Station; LaGuardia mainly serves domestic flights and is reached by bus for public transit. A taxi from JFK to Manhattan has a flat rate, plus tolls, a rush-hour surcharge and tip.
John F. Kennedy International (JFK) · 25 km
AirTrain + subway line E or A· 60–75 min· 11.40 USD
AirTrain + LIRR train to Penn Station· 45 min· 17 USD
Taxi (flat rate to Manhattan)· 45–90 min· 70 USD + tolls and tip
Uber / Lyft· 45–90 min· 75 USD
Newark Liberty International (EWR) · 26 km
AirTrain + NJ Transit train to Penn Station· 35 min· 16 USD
Newark Airport Express bus· 45–60 min· 19 USD
Taxi / Uber to Manhattan· 40–70 min· 80 USD
LaGuardia (LGA) · 13 km
Free Q70 bus + subway· 45 min· 2.90 USD
Taxi / Uber to Midtown· 30–60 min· 45 USD
Around town
The subway runs around the clock, has four hundred seventy-two stations, and is the fastest way around Manhattan. Pay by tapping a contactless card or phone at the turnstile through the OMNY system; the fare is the same for any distance and includes a free transfer to the bus. After twelve rides in seven days, the same card stops being charged for the rest of that weekly period — so it pays to keep using the same card. Watch the difference between express and local trains on the same line: express trains skip stations. Platforms are labeled by direction, "Uptown" and "Downtown," and at some stations the opposite direction is entered from a different street entrance. A car makes no sense on Manhattan: parking costs fifty dollars a day, and there's a congestion charge for driving into the core below 60th Street.
SubwayRuns around the clock, flat fare, free transfers. After twelve rides in seven days, a cap kicks in and further rides are free. At night some lines run altered routes, so check platform announcements. · 2.90 USD per ride
MTA busesSame fare and weekly cap as the subway, with a free transfer between them within two hours. Useful for crosstown trips between the east and west sides, where the subway doesn't reach. · 2.90 USD
Staten Island FerryThe orange ferry from Whitehall Terminal at the southern tip of Manhattan runs around the clock and is free. The crossing takes twenty-five minutes and passes the Statue of Liberty. · free
NYC FerryFerries along the East River between Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, priced the same as the subway. The East River route has the best views of the bridges. · 4.50 USD
Citi BikeShared bikes with thousands of docking stations across Manhattan and Brooklyn. A day pass covers unlimited thirty-minute rides; electric bikes cost extra per minute. · 4.99 USD per ride
Taxi and UberYellow cabs are hailed on the street when their rooftop light is on. Everything is paid by card, with a congestion surcharge, a rush-hour fee and a tip added to the total. · 15 USD short ride
Useful apps: OMNY, MYmta, Citymapper, Uber, Lyft, Citi Bike
When to go
Late April and May, then mid-September through the end of October, are best: twenty degrees, sunshine, parks in bloom or turning color, and hotels not at their peak. Summer is muggy — at thirty degrees and high humidity, the subway platform can hit over thirty-five — but theaters and parks put on free outdoor performances. December is the priciest month, thanks to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, Fifth Avenue window displays and ice skating; hotel prices roughly double around New Year's. January and February are freezing, occasionally snowy, and the cheapest time of year, good for museums and Broadway. Visit in November and you'll catch Thanksgiving, the Macy's parade, and the start of the holiday season.
Best time
late April and May, late September and October
What to avoid
the week around New Year's for prices, and July–August for the mugginess
Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Day
4°
6°
10°
17°
22°
27°
29°
28°
25°
18°
12°
6°
Night
-3°
-2°
2°
7°
12°
18°
21°
20°
17°
11°
5°
0°
Rainy days
11
10
11
11
11
11
10
10
9
9
10
11
Food & drink
New York is best eaten cheap: the city's best food costs under fifteen dollars and is sold from a window, a counter or a cart. Portions are large, and anyone ordering both a starter and a main often leaves half of it. Table-service restaurants are expensive once tax and tip add nearly a third to the menu price. Reservations through Resy or OpenTable are necessary at popular places even on weeknights. Ethnic neighborhoods are the best address: Chinese Flushing in Queens, dim sum in Chinatown, Italian Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, and hundreds of national cuisines along the 7 train line.
What to try
New York-style pizza
Thin, large, and folded in half so it can be eaten while walking. A slice of cheese pizza at an ordinary pizzeria costs three to four dollars, the cheapest hot meal on Manhattan; a whole pie at cult spots like Joe's or Lucali costs considerably more.
Bagel with cream cheese and lox
A boiled-then-baked bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and red onion. A genuine bagel is dense and chewy, not fluffy. Breakfast at a bagel shop costs ten to fifteen dollars and holds you until lunch.
Pastrami on rye
Beef cured, smoked and steamed, sliced thin and piled high between two slices of rye bread with mustard. Katz's Delicatessen, a traditional Jewish deli, is the most famous and priciest; one sandwich feeds two.
Cart hot dog
A beef frank in a bun with mustard and sauerkraut, sold from street-corner carts for three to four dollars. Nathan's on Coney Island has sold them since 1916 and holds a hot-dog-eating contest there every Fourth of July.
Cheesecake
New York cheesecake is dense, made from cream cheese, with no fruit on top. Junior's in Brooklyn has baked it since 1950 and has a branch near Times Square. A slice costs eight to ten dollars and is enough for two.
Chinatown dim sum
Cantonese dumplings, buns and bao ordered by the basket from carts or a checklist. Best on a weekend morning, when the restaurants fill with families. Three baskets per person is plenty, at around fifteen dollars.
Halal cart plate
Chicken or lamb gyro over rice with salad, white sauce and spicy red sauce, sold from carts on Midtown corners. The Halal Guys on 53rd Street started as a cart and now draw a line even at midnight. A ten-dollar plate is a meal for the whole day.
Black and white cookie
A large soft cookie glazed half white and half chocolate, sold at every New York bakery and deli. Unassuming in flavor, but a local icon, and it costs around three dollars.
What it costs
Slice of pizza
3–5 USD
Coffee to go
4–6 USD
Lunch at a deli or from a cart
12–20 USD
Dinner at a table-service restaurant
50–90 USD per person
Subway ride
2.90 USD
Skyscraper observation deck
from 45 USD
Broadway musical
from 80 USD
Night at a 3-star hotel in Midtown
220–380 USD + tax
Indicative prices that change over time — treat them as a guide, not a price list.
Practical information
SocketsAtwo flat pins (US/JP)Btwo flat pins plus ground (US)
Voltage120V / 60Hz
Tap waterTap water is drinkable — Tap water is safe to drink in the United States, and restaurants serve it free with ice — just ask for tap water. Buying bottled is unnecessary and pricey — a bottle at a store costs two to three dollars, five at an attraction. It's worth carrying a reusable bottle, since airports and parks have refill stations. Ice is everywhere, and drinks are served noticeably colder than is typical in Europe.
TippingTipping isn't optional — it's part of the server's wage. At a table-service restaurant, eighteen to twenty percent of the pre-tax total; a dollar per drink at a bar; fifteen percent for taxi and rideshare drivers; three to five dollars a night for housekeeping; two dollars per bag for a porter. The card terminal usually offers preset percentage buttons — watch out, since these sometimes calculate off the total including tax. New York adds an 8.875 percent sales tax to menu and shelf prices, and hotel prices carry a tax of over fourteen percent plus a nightly fee, so the final total is always higher than the price shown.
Driving on theright
SafetyThe tourist neighborhoods of big American cities are safe during the day, with a visible police presence, but the line between a good and a bad neighborhood is sharp and often just a few blocks. Check your accommodation's address on a map beforehand. Never leave visible belongings in a parked car. A crucial budget item is health insurance: an ER visit without insurance runs into the thousands of dollars, an ambulance ride over a thousand, and US hospitals expect payment upfront — travel insurance with a high coverage limit is an absolute necessity here. The emergency number is 911.
Opening hoursShops are open ten to nine, including Sundays; supermarkets and CVS or Walgreens pharmacies are often open around the clock. Restaurants serve breakfast from six, lunch from eleven, and dinner early — by nine p.m. many kitchens are already closing. Bars check ID for anyone who looks under forty and won't serve you without a passport; a copy isn't accepted. Drinking in public, on the beach, or in a car is illegal.
Customs & etiquetteCheerful small talk from service staff is a professional standard, not an invitation to friendship. Queuing is respected, and personal space is larger than in Europe. Haggling only happens with cars and at flea markets, never elsewhere. Smoking is banned in practically all indoor spaces and on many beaches. Questions about salary or politics aren't opened with strangers. New Yorkers walk fast and don't stop in the middle of the sidewalk — anyone checking a map steps to the side. On the subway, don't take up more than one seat, and take your backpack off your back.
A few local wordsHello — Hi / Good morningThank you — Thank youThe bill, please — Check, pleaseJust browsing — Just looking, thanksHow much is it including tax? — How much is it with tax?Tap water, please — Tap water, please
How to plan your days
1 day
One day in Manhattan
1Morning: Staten Island Ferry round trip past the Statue of Liberty.
2Walk Wall Street and the 9/11 memorial.
3Subway to Chelsea, lunch at Chelsea Market and a walk on the High Line.
4Afternoon in Central Park, from Bethesda Terrace to Strawberry Fields.
5Evening at Times Square and sunset from a skyscraper observation deck.
2 days
Two days with Brooklyn
1Day one as above.
2Morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
3Subway to DUMBO, then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan.
4Afternoon in Chinatown and Little Italy, then Greenwich Village.
5Evening: jazz in the Village or a Broadway musical.
3 days
Three in-depth days
1The first two days as above.
2Morning at MoMA right when it opens.
3Grand Central Terminal and Fifth Avenue up to Rockefeller Center.
4Afternoon in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the Smorgasburg market if it's a Saturday.
5Evening: take the 7 train to Queens for dinner in Flushing.
Day trips
Philadelphia
150 km · 1 h 20 min by Amtrak train
The city where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, with Independence Hall and the cracked Liberty Bell, both free to visit. The historic center is walkable in a morning, leaving the afternoon for the art museum with the steps from Rocky, and a cheesesteak sandwich. Buses are cheaper than Amtrak, at about two hours.
Beacon and the Hudson Valley
95 km · 1 h 30 min by train from Grand Central
The Metro-North train runs the whole way along the bank of the Hudson River — sit on the left. In Beacon, a former box-printing factory now houses Dia Beacon, one of America's largest contemporary art museums, and a trail above town climbs Mount Beacon for valley views. October is the best time for fall foliage.
Long Island and the Hamptons
150 km · 2 h 30 min by train or Jitney bus
The summer homes of New York's wealthy, with long Atlantic sand beaches, vineyards and fishing villages. In July and August hotels are extremely expensive, but a day trip to the beach at Southampton or Montauk is possible. The LIRR train runs weekend service in summer, and the Hampton Jitney bus runs from Manhattan year-round.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do I need for New York?+
Three full days cover the main sights of Manhattan; add a fourth for Brooklyn and one major museum. Anyone flying in from Europe tends to be wiped out by the six-hour time change on the first evening, so plan on one more day in practice than the number of nights you book.
Are CityPASS-style tourist cards worth it?+
Only if you genuinely visit every attraction bundled in, typically an observation deck, a museum, a boat tour and the 9/11 museum. Anyone wanting just one viewpoint and one museum ends up paying more than buying separately. The cards don't cover transit, and plenty of the city's best experiences cost nothing anyway.
What do I need to enter the US?+
A Czech or Slovak biometric passport plus an electronic ESTA authorization, which costs forty dollars, is valid for two years, and should be arranged at least three days before departure. At the border you'll be asked for your return flight and the address of your first accommodation, and fingerprints are taken.
Is the subway safe at night?+
On the main lines in Manhattan and Brooklyn, yes — police ride the trains and people travel even after midnight. After one a.m., board the car with the conductor in the middle of the train, and at empty stations stay near the marked waiting area. A taxi or Uber is more comfortable after midnight.
How much does a week in New York cost?+
Excluding the flight, budget around two hundred dollars a night for a hotel for two, another eighty to a hundred dollars a day for food, and forty for admissions and transit. A week works out to roughly two and a half thousand dollars per person. A hostel or a room in Queens cuts that by about a third.
Which observation deck should I go to?+
The Empire State Building is the classic choice with an outdoor deck, Top of the Rock has the best view of the Empire State Building itself and Central Park, Summit One Vanderbilt is a mirrored art installation, and Edge at Hudson Yards has a glass floor. One is enough for a single trip; go an hour before sunset.
What's the cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty?+
The Staten Island Ferry, which is free, runs around the clock and passes the statue at a distance of about a kilometer. It won't get you onto the island or into the statue itself, though — that requires the Statue City Cruises boat from Battery Park, best booked online.
Where can I eat cheaply in New York?+
A three-dollar slice of pizza, a bagel for breakfast, a halal plate from a cart, and food halls like Chelsea Market or Urbanspace. The best value is in Chinatown, Flushing in Queens, and the East Village. At a table-service restaurant, add twenty percent tip and nine percent tax on top.
Requisitos de visa
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