A visit to New York doesn't have to be a long one. A weekend break to the Big Apple is feasible and good way of exploring it bite size chunks. So, armed with your to-do list: perhaps with activities like to eat a pretzel in Central Park, wander the art-lined walls of the Metropolitan Museum, stroll wide-eyed along Broadway, catch a world-class show, shop the big brands of Fifth Avenue and the vintage boutiques of Williams-burg and go up a very high building.
New York is one of the world's inspiring and additive cities, and no matter how many times you arrive, there's always more activities to add to your to-do list.
Being inspired by art, music, dance and theatre happens almost by accident in this culture-rich city. From big-hitter art museums such as MoMA and the Guggenheim, to the independent galleries of Chelsea and the street art and murals adorning the walls of Brooklyn, the Big Apple offers inspiration at every turn.
Hangout in Manhattan
One of the joys of Manhattan is that so many of the city's prime cultural and artistic attractions are moments away from each other, but it's also just a breezy subway ride to any other neighbourhood.
You can make a music pilgrimage to the iconic jazz joint Minton's in Harlem, where Southern-style soul food, such as smoked praline pork chops, is served alongside bourbon-loaded cocktails, and the ghosts of Minton's past players including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, linger in the air.
Wherever you visit, eating out is a highlight in New York, and with urban wineries in Brooklyn, classic Jewish delis in Manhattan and virtually every national cuisine represented in some corner of the city, your taste buds are in for an adventure.
Visit Whitney's New Home
New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art has moved to a new home in the Meatpacking district. The new home is a spectacular eight-storey, glass white building, designed by the famed Italian architect Renzo Piano (costing $760M).
It is more than twice the size of the museum's former home, the Marcel Breuer-designed building on Madison Avenue, which was the site of the Whitney's collection from 1966. The new location overlooks the Hudson River and the bottom of the High Line elevated park, the new building is clad in 4,000 tonnes of steel but is inviting rather than imposing, with a grand floor piazza designed to blend easily with the new-gentrified Gransevoort Street.
Piano said, "Buildings for culture should be open, accessible, not intimidating; they should be part of the city, with no barrier between the street and the building. On the east side, the building talks to the city; on the west side, it talks to the water and the rest of the world."
The Whitney owns more than 22,000 pieces of American contemporary work of art from the past century; including works by Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Edward Hopper, Malcolm Bailey and Jackson Pollock.
High-End Dining
One of the smartest way to snatch those skyline views is by dining at high altitude, and the Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room restaurant is one location. It's an ArtDeco masterpiece with 15ft windows, gleaming brass railings and a vast, glittering 14,000-piece chandelier under a 23ft high dome, in this iconic New York skyscraper. Just before you go back home on Sunday, stop by for Sunday brunch on the 65th floor, where is less of a meal, and more of an institution.