New York: The City That Talks First (and Makes You Walk)

A taxi driver has told me his life story, a stranger has given me directions I never asked for, and a man dressed as a cartoon character has asked me for a tip. For standing next to him. I’m still not sure what the service was.

Welcome to New York, where unsolicited directions might be a love language.

The Endangered Language Alliance has documented more than 700 language varieties across greater New York. When it sounds as if everyone’s talking at once, I like to think I’ve walked into the middle of a conversation that started long before I got there. New York State Museum

They put up the Empire State Building in about 410 days, in the middle of the Great Depression. I took rather longer than expected to get from one avenue to the next. Empire State Building

Nobody warns you about the blocks

On my first visit I had a plan, a map and a pair of shoes I considered sensible. By the end of day one I’d abandoned the plan, folded the map into a small, sad square, and was seriously questioning the shoes.

Manhattan looks so tidy on paper. Streets numbered in neat little rows. Surely I’d just pop from one sight to the next. Then I started walking. Another corner, another set of traffic lights, another avenue that was somehow still not the one I wanted. The commissioners who drew up the grid in 1811 clearly never imagined a South African with a blister and big ambitions. Museum of the City of New York

Here’s the bit I wish I’d understood before setting off. Walking five numbered blocks north or south can feel quite different from crossing five avenues. Look at the walking time on the map and, if the route is long, take the subway for part of it. Check that your train actually stops where you want to get off. An express is a wonderful thing when it’s expressing in your interests.

Somewhere in the middle of that endless trek, I stumbled into a diner. Steam on the windows, a counter that had seen a few decades of elbows, and a breakfast that arrived on a plate roughly the size of a hubcap. Suddenly the blisters felt like a small price to pay. It’s also why I’d leave room in the day for a meal you hadn’t planned. You might remember it longer than the thing you were hurrying to see.

How I’d spend three days in New York

Day one · Midtown, with time to look up

Start inside Grand Central. Stop in the Main Concourse and look up at the ceiling before you get swept along by people who have actual trains to catch. From there, put Bryant Park and the New York Public Library on the same walk. If Times Square is calling, see it after dark, when the lights can make their full argument. I’d give it half an hour and put dinner somewhere I can hear the person across the table.

If you want a skyline view, choose one observation deck. I’d lean toward Top of the Rock if I wanted the Empire State Building in the photo, and the Empire State Building if going up the building itself was the point.

Day two · Lower Manhattan, Chinatown and the Brooklyn waterfront

Give yourself time at the 9/11 Memorial. If you want to visit the museum as well, make that the main stop for the morning. Then head to Chinatown for lunch.

Chinatown and the lie of a quick bite

Cross Canal Street and the volume turns up. Red lanterns sway above crowded sidewalks, fishmongers stack their catch on ice, and the smell of roast duck and fresh bakery buns pulls you around the corner whether your feet agree or not.

Chinatown is where I learned that “I’ll just have a quick bite” is a lie. One whiff of steaming dumplings and I was done for. Then there’s the bakery a few doors down, where a pastry costs pocket change and somehow counts as a separate decision. Bring an appetite and leave your willpower at the door.

From Chinatown, head for the Manhattan entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk across to DUMBO. Sit for a bit at Brooklyn Bridge Park before taking the subway back. Your feet may already have formed a union by this point.

If the Statue of Liberty is high on your list, give it a proper slot. The free Staten Island Ferry is a good choice for seeing her from the water. For a visit to Liberty Island itself, book the dedicated ferry and build the day around it. Staten Island Ferry

Day three · Central Park and one wing of the Met

Start at the Metropolitan Museum of Art if you like museums. Pick one collection you’re genuinely curious about. The Egyptian galleries would be my choice, and I’d rather have time for the Temple of Dendur than spend the morning trying to conquer the entire building.

Then go into Central Park. Bethesda Terrace and Bow Bridge give you two places to aim for and plenty of room to wander between them. If you have only two days, I’d keep the park and choose between a long museum visit and a longer afternoon in Brooklyn. That decision will do more for your weekend than another hour spent shuffling pins around a map.

Where I’d stay on a first visit

I’d look at the walk from the subway to the hotel before I got too attached to the room. Midtown makes sense if you’ve booked Broadway and want an easy trip back after the show. The Upper West Side is worth a look if you want to start the day near Central Park and prefer a quieter evening. If most of the places you’ve saved are downtown, I’d look there too. You’ll make the trip back to your room every day, and the map has already had enough fun at our expense.

The New York I still think about

I took a walk through Central Park in autumn. The trees had turned copper and gold, and dry leaves crunched under my shoes. For once, I was quite happy to take the long way round.

I’d spent most of that first day trying to get to the next thing. Now, when I think of New York, one of the first things that comes back to me is the sound of my own feet.

Bring the good shoes. Leave a little room in the day.