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F, like me, you are obsessed with getting in your recommended 10,000 steps a day, a trip to New York will have you chomping at the Fitbit. It is the perfect city for walking around.

We averaged about 25,000 steps a day on our family holiday to the Big Apple earlier this month, as we took in famous sights like the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park. But as you are pounding the pavement, don’t forget to look up and admire those towering structures scraping the sky.

My husband and I had visited New York pre-children, more than 20 years ago, but this was a first for James, 13 and Nina, 11. Would they be as blown away as we were when we landed in the fabulously frenetic city?

We spent the first part of our stay in Downtown Manhattan, the famed financial district, and our hotel was just a stone’s throw from where the Twin Towers once stood. Poignantly they feature on our holiday snaps from that earlier visit, but following the terror attacks of 9/11, two huge water features now fill that void, serving as a memorial.

It’s quite peaceful to stand quietly, listening to the steady cascade of water as you read the names of those who died engraved on the walls of the reflecting pools.

In recent years, a large part of the downtown area has been developed with a Westfield shopping centre and a swish upmarket retail complex Brookfield Place, which boasts high-end designer shops such as Gucci, Burberry and Saks Fifth Avenue. There are also fancy offices and restaurants, and it’s a great spot for eating al fresco.

We did just that on our first day, munching on lobster rolls and sipping a glass of wine while watching the sun glinting on the Hudson River as boats chugged up and down.

We were staying at the Conrad New York, part of the Hilton group, in the heart of Lower Manhattan in Battery Park City.

It has a jaw-dropping lobby area with a 100x80 foot contemporary artwork made up of royal blue and vibrant purple swirls snaking up one side of the huge atrium. It all feels very cool and modern, and it boasts a fabulous rooftop bar offering spectacular views over the nearby Hudson River which made it the perfect place for an early evening drink.

On the ground floor is the Atrio wine bar and restaurant where the children had THE best chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

Our suite was luxurious and comfortable, in muted brown and oak shades, with specially commissioned artwork on the walls and the comfiest hotel bed I have ever slept in.

The Conrad New York is a great location for exploring downtown, and right near the One World Trade Center which, at 1,776ft, is the tallest building in the western hemisphere, so there’s no excuse for getting lost.

A guided tour is a good way of getting to grips with an area quickly so we climbed on board The Ride NYC Downtown Experience (it also has a midtown one), a big coach with theatre-style seating and floor-to-ceiling windows so you can look out onto the streets as you hear their history. It’s an interactive tour and at intervals we donned virtual reality headsets where we saw the amazing views from the One World Observatory, or felt as though we were witnessing the Wall Street Crash of 1929 first-hand. There was even some live performance thrown in with a moving tribute to 9/11 from an actor on the street dressed as a city worker.

After our tour we boarded the free ferry that commuters take to Staten Island and back so we could get as close as we could to the

and family were guests at the Conrad New York, 102 North End Avenue, NY 10282. Rooms start from $249 (approx £195) per night. See conradnewyork. com or call +1 (212) 945-0100. Rooms at the Roger Smith Hotel, 501 Lexington Avenue, NY 10017, start from $200 (approx £156), plus taxes for a Standard Room (rogersmith.com). Statue of Liberty without a journey to Liberty island itself.

Another fantastic photo opportunity is to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. It takes about 20-25 minutes to make the journey on the pedestrian walkway across the iconic landmark and the views of Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park are fantastic. Again this area has been developed with restaurants and apartments and plenty of places to chill out and just soak up those views.

From the relative peace and quiet of downtown we were greeted by a cacophony of beeping car horns as we arrived in midtown for the second part of our stay – but this is, after all, the buzz you expect from the city which famously never sleeps.

Our base was the Roger Smith Hotel, smack bang in the centre of midtown, based on Lexington Avenue and within walking distance of must-see sights such as Times Square, the Chrysler Building, Tiffany’s and Bloomingdale’s.

The New York CityPASS costs $122 (£94) per adult, $98 (£76) per child and provides free entry to six attractions and/or museums: Empire State Building Experience; American Museum of Natural History; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Top of the Rock® Observation Deck OR Guggenheim Museum; The National September 11 Memorial & Museum OR the Intrepid, Sea, Air & Space Museum; Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island OR

Tickets for The Downtown Experience powered by THE RIDE can be bought in the UK from Travel Republic (travelrepublic.co.uk/v2/ attractions) price £31 for adults and children.