The Empire State Building lords it over NYC

Everyone hearts New York City. From the gleaming skyscrapers of Manhattan to the chic boutiques of Madison Avenue, the fetish clubs of the Meatpacking District to the musicals of Broadway: whatever floats your boat, New York can deliver - 24 hours a day.

More of an island unto itself than a city in the United States, New York is eccentric, frenetic, expensive and utterly electric. The greatest city in the world is an ethnic melting pot of more than eight million people, consisting of the island of Manhattan and four outer boroughs - Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island.

With so much to take in, you'd barely do New York justice in one visit. But armed with a comfortable pair of shoes and plenty of attitude, you could set your sights on experiencing the best the city has to offer:

• Go ice-skating in Central Park (October to May)
• Ride the world's tallest Ferris wheel in Coney Island
• Catch a baseball game at the Yankee Stadium (April to October)
• Take in the view from the top of the Empire State Building
• Watch brokers race about the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange
• Catch a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum
• Marvel the art and plundered ancient artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Check out the Matisse and Picasso masterpieces in the Museum of Modern Art
• Praise the lord in a gospel church in Harlem
• Don a pair of Manolo Blahniks and work the pavements in the Upper East Side
• Stroll across the awesome Brooklyn Bridge
• Get served by the "soup Nazi" at Soup Kitchen International
• Down a pint in McSorley's Old Ale House - the oldest pub in New York
• Eat your way around Chinatown and Little Italy
• Line up for cheap theatre tickets in neon-lit Times Square
• Find your mojo at a jazz club in Greenwich Village
• See and be seen in the hip cafes of Chelsea, SoHo or Tribeca

Thanks to its user-friendly 24-hour subway, New York is truly the city that never sleeps. Walking is the best way to explore the city, although its sheer scale means your feet will surely get tired.

Two international airports service New York City - JFK in Queens and Newark in New Jersey. La Guardia in Queens is the domestic airport.