New York, New York -- National Geographic's Ultimate City Guides

The green oasis that is 843-acre (341-hectare) Central Park offers New Yorkers welcomed respite from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Photograph by Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis

Everything changes in New York, and nothing does. Maestros still wield batons at Carnegie Hall, and lunch at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal is always a good time. You can’t find a cab in the rain, but you can always get a bagel with a schmear. Yet the city that never sleeps keeps evolving. Plays open and close. Restaurants come and go. New neighborhoods blossom. In Chelsea, the old Barneys store is now the new Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art. High-heeled fashionistas have replaced white-aproned butchers in the Meatpacking District. Such churn keeps the more than 8,200,000 New Yorkers on their toes even as it makes them appreciate the old favorites all the more. New York remains one helluva town. Welcome!

New York Photos and Quiz

Related Features

Remembering 9/11

National Geographic Channel marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with new perspective on the day that changed America and the world, as well as events set in motion over the last decade.
Top 10 Places for Chocolate

From all-you-can-eat cocoa-driven buffets to Madrid's favorite late-night pick-me-up, here is our guide to chocoholic heaven.
Top 10 Food Markets

Scruffy and chaotic or orderly and refined, the world's street markets offer local—and often cheap—seasonal produce alongside a slice of local life.
Best Hikes Around New York

See our gallery of the best hikes within an hour of U.S. cities where the only prerequisite for exploring is a pair of sneakers.