NEW YORK’S AWESOME AUTUMN COLLECTION
Ten good reasons to visit the Big Apple once the summer heat is over and the trees have turned to gold
EYE-POPPING VIEWS
‘IT WAS taken away, but we’ve put it back,’ says a defiant construction worker who helped build one World Trade Center, the city’s post9/11 landmark skyscraper.
The tower — whose glassy sides gleam blue with the sky’s reflection — pierces the clouds like a giant finger. Visitors can now soar 1,250 ft (that’s higher than The Shard at 1,016 ft) to the new one World observatory, for views that rival those of the empire State Building.
Queues start building at 9 am, and it pays to check the cloud forecast before handing over the $32 (£20) to ascend. Stop by the 9/11 memorial museum next door.
oneworldobservatory.com, 911memorial.org.
FOR ART’S SAKE
The Whitney Museum of American Art relocated in May from Madison Avenue to a downtown lookout on the banks of the hudson. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, America Is hard To See, spans eight floors and takes visitors on a journey through a century’s worth of American art; from the bold, chunky colour of edward hopper’s urban portraits, to the sugary embrace of pop art.
UNTIL Sept 27, whitney.org.
TOP SHOPS
CHECK out the shiny new Brookfield Place centre on Manhattan’s lower West Side.
With marble floors, indoor palm trees, enormous orangery- style windows and high-end boutiques, it’s a pleasant space to spend an hour or two. exhausted shoppers can retire to the rooftop film club.
brookfieldplaceny.com.
BISTRO BLISS
AT BEAUBOURG — a whitetiled bistro within the Brook- field Place empire, you might be baffled by the bulging French menu.
no problem. Buxom waitress Michelle will whisk it out of your hands: and deliver an endless stream of fresh prawns, clams and oysters shimmering from nests of ice, the restaurant’s signature rotisserie chicken, and a magnum of ice cold rose.
MAINS from £12, ledistrict.com.
IT’S SUPER HEALTHY
Bone Broth is the latest culinary craze flowing through NYC — a (marginally) more glamorous title for what is effectively stock.
The super healthy queue round the block for this clear, meaty brew, which promises to boost your complexion, digestion and respiration.
PARK LIFE
BROOKLYN Botanic gardens’ new Discovery garden has been designed for children, but adults have also been spotted rolling down its grassy hills.
A verdant sanctuary in the heart of Brooklyn, the one-acre garden opened in June to help immerse children in nature; they are invited to grab a trowel and dig, scour tree bark for insects, hop across stepping stones, water plants and build bird’s nests.
ADULTS £8, children free, bbg.org.
LOLLIES WITH A KICK
MANHATTANITES are flocking to loopy Doopy, the newly-designed rooftop bar above the arty Conrad hotel on the lower West Side, for ‘people’s pops’ — alcohol-infused ice lollies dunked in a glass of bubbly.
Pick a flavour (raspberry and thyme, plum and basil) and watch the sun sink behind the hudson river.
DOUBLES from £156, conradnewyork.com.
THRILLS IN THE BAY
TAKE the helm on the hudson with offshore Sailing School. The company, owned by olympic sailor Steve Colgate, offers twohour joyrides which can be as hands-on as you like.
our instructor talks us swiftly through the parts of the boat and then we’re off, steering ourselves out of north Cove harbour and making a direct course for the Statue of liberty. We sail so close we could high-five her.
TWO-HOUR sessions, £200 for two people, offshoresailing.com.
THE HIGH LIFE
The ceilings at the brand new, oh-so decadent hotel Baccarat drip with crystal chandeliers, portraits of American gentry adorn its speakeasy cocktail bar, and the dark oak walls silence the car horns from West 53rd Street outside.
With 5th Avenue around the corner, the Museum of Modern Art opposite, and the rockefeller Centre and Times Square a tenminute walk away, new York is your oyster from this opulent cocoon. rooms start from a glistening £639.
baccarathotels.com.
FLYING IN STYLE
FLYING there is a joy with la Compagnie — the new low-cost, all-business class airline.
With just 74 flat beds, remotecontrolled back massagers, personal tablet loaded with films and champagne on tap, the plane f eels more private j et than conventional aircraft.
From £1,100 return, it’s an ideal solution for weekend trippers wanting to ‘do’ new York in a few days. Flights depart luton early evening and land at newark airport at 9pm.
lacompagnie.com.