NY: I want to be a part of it

Go Citybreak:Yes, there is the shopping but better to come back with NY experiences than cheap shoes, says Sheila Killian

MAYBE IT WAS because I didn’t mean to visit New York, but arrived in middle of the night as a volcano refugee diverted from Newark. Maybe it was because my bags were already packed for home, and I really didn’t want to be there. For whatever reason, even though this is my favourite city, it took me a while to fall in love with it this time.

Manhattan is like nowhere else on earth. On one level it’s nothing special: potholed streets, scruffy subway stations, famously rude vendors, crowded sidewalks, hectic hot streets.

But spend a little time here and gradually the chaos seems vibrant, the crowds are exhilarating, the crazy diversity of the place charms you until you feel completely at home in the crowded subways or the tiny immaculate parks where locals walk their ridiculously well-groomed dogs. You can hear any language in the world on these streets, sample any cuisine. It’s cosmopolitan in the old sense – a city of the world. It just takes a little while to see it.

There are amazing museums, certainly, incredible restaurants, wonderful art and historic buildings. What really makes Manhattan special, though, is the streets. You can walk for hours, safely. It’s impossible to get really lost on the grid system of streets and avenues, and you never know what might be around the corner.

It may look like one city, but really Manhattan is a set of distinct neighbourhoods, each with its own character. Little Italy and Chinatown explain themselves, although Chinatown has retained more of its ethnic identity, with the addition of a wide range of street vendors selling knock-off designer handbags and belts.

Greenwich Village was the bohemian quarter, filled with penniless musicians, beat poets and hippies. That real estate has been gentrified now, and the starving artists have moved on. Still, it retains its easy atmosphere with offbeat coffee shops, low-rise brownstones and leafy streets, and is a great place to spend time in.

The Meatpacking district has edgy clubs and art galleries, with a strong gay and lesbian presence. Midtown is about noise, glamour, Times Square and the beautiful Empire State Building and Chrysler Building.

The Upper East Side and it’s mirror across the park are pure money, sprinkled with museums and cultural icons, such as the New York Philharmonic and the Frick Collection.

On a micro level, the flower district really is filled with florists, and the garment district is still lined with anonymous looking buildings housing garment workers working in questionable conditions in rooms with no windows.

Walking brings surprises. At the corner of Houston and Bowery, a crowd quickly gathers around a man in a black T-shirt supervising workers pasting a mural on a blank gable wall. It turns out to be Shepard Fairey whose iconic pictures of Obama became a major feature of his campaign. He is chatting simultaneously to a suited banker and a man in a pink T-shirt while his art goes up behind him.

Outside the People’s Improv Theatre, a student dances down the sidewalk, cradling an imaginary partner as he spins around the corner. On West 4th Street a cramped, caged-in basketball court hosts a physical, crashing game: the players are heckled by friends and hopefuls waiting their turn. A woman in an unlikely headscarf hurries by, looking exactly like Sarah Jessica Parker. A biker in black leathers with a parrot on his shoulder drinks coffee from a paper cup, a trail of guano down his back. The city is full of stories.

For many Irish people, New York just means shopping, and certainly there are major bargains to be found in Macy’s, Century 21, Filene’s Basement, FAO Schwarz and all the glittering designer shops up on Fifth Avenue. But really, the city is so interesting that shopping is almost a waste of time.

We were volcano refugees, so we spent more time than money, drinking slow cups of coffee, listening to the buskers in Times Square subway station. If your time in Manhattan is limited, would you really rather save $50 (€41) on a pair of shoes or lay down some memories that will outlast anything you could take home in a shopping bag?

Get outside your hotel and just walk. Better still, get up at 5am and see the city wake up. Delivery men unload forests of foliage into the tiny shops in the flower district. Black vans drop oversized rolls of gold and silver fabric outside blank tenement-style buildings in the garment district.

At 5am, the streets are all your own but there will be a diner open for a hot bagel with cream cheese and a cup of coffee. You can sit in the window and watch Manhattan turning night into day; early morning workers starting their commute, late night revellers making their way home, tired cops coming to the end of their shifts, subways rattling into life. You’ll feel the pulse of the city, and you won’t want to be anywhere else.

As Grace Jones put it way back in 1982: “It’s just the apple stretching and yawning. Just morning. New York putting its feet on the floor.”

What to see on and off Broadway

IF YOU'RE looking for a spectacular Broadway show, you won't go far wrong with a big 42nd Street headliner. But if you want an off-Broadway gem, choose very carefully.

Even big-name writers can disappoint. Last year, David Mamet's Oleannaclosed early, but Mamet's latest work, Racewith James Spader, is a clunky drama set in a lawyer's office that takes the debate about race relations backwards instead of forwards. Yet it lumbers on.

Edie Falco's stunning performance as an ex-con is pulling in full houses in This Wide Night. The bitter-sweet Next Fallproduced by Elton John and David Furnish, about homosexuality and Christianity, has real heart and some beautifully observed comedy.

But for every monstrosity like The Addams Family Musical, eaten alive by critics and loved by kids, there are life-affirming, long-running musicals like Billy Elliott: The Musical, Mary Poppins, Wickedand The Lion King.

There are musical gems for adults too: Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta Jones star in A Little Night Musicuntil June 20th; Next To Normal, a break-out musical about mental illness; La Cage Aux Folleswith Kelsey Grammar; the adult-only puppet-musical hit Avenue Q, with songs like Everyone's A Little Bit Racist; and a delightful revival of South Pacific.

There are usually a few plays inspired by life in the old sod. The Irish Curse, "a new comedy about guys with one tiny problem", is a critical hit, and other companies like Origin Theatre specialise in putting on new plays by Irish and European writers.

For cheap tickets, try TicketCentral.com, TheatreMania.com, BroadwayBox.com and Playbill.com. Also try TKTS Discount Booth on Broadway and 47th Street. With Play-By-Play.com you pay $99 (€81) a year and you get to be a lucky-dip seat-filler.

– Quentin Fottrell

Where to stay, where to eat and where to go

5 places to stay

The Fitzpatrick Manhattanand Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotels, respectively 687 Lexington Avenue and 141 East 44th Street 0800-367-7701, fitzpatrickhotels.com.

The favourite haunts of many Irish visitors, both Fitzpatrick hotels are well located and have the same friendliness and service.

Park South Hotel, 122 East 28th Street, 212-448-0888, parksouthhotel.com.

Great location between Park and Lexington, on a quiet street with easy access to the subway. This is a friendly hotel with clean, smallish rooms, free internet access and a good buffet breakfast.

World Center Hotel, 144 Washington Street, 212-577-2933, worldcenterhotel.com.

Next to the World Trade Centre site, this is good if you are on business in the financial district, or if you don't mind taking the subway, or walking to see the sights.

The Surrey, 20 E 76th Street, +212.288.3700, thesurrey.com.

Way up on the Upper East Side, the Surrey is a venerable old building with former patrons including Bette Davis and JFK. It's half a block from Central Park, and close to such great museums as The Frick, and the Guggenheim.

Chelsea Hotel, 222 West 23rd Street, 212-243-3700, hotelchelsea.com.

You don't come here for wi-fi or room service: a stay at the Chelsea Hotel is more pilgrimage than tourism. This is where Brendan Behan drank, Arthur C Clarke wrote, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell got together, and Dylan Thomas died. It's also, depending on the room, a bit of a dive, so not for everyone.

5 places to eat

John's Pizzeria, 278 Bleecker Street, and 260 West 44th Street, +212-582-8065.

This is an institution, favoured by Woody Allen and Danny De Vito. The 44th Street restaurant is in a deconsecrated church, and has lots of locals lining up for the trademark pizzas cooked in a coal oven. It's a busy, noisy place but the tables upstairs are a little quieter if you want to talk.

The Carnegie Deli, 854 7th Avenue at 55th St, +212-757-2245.

This deli's famous patrons rave about the home-cured meats, and the cheesecake. It is not cheap but it is iconic.

5 Napkin Burger, 45th Street and 9th Avenue, +212-757-2277.

A noisy, busy burger place in Hell's Kitchen a few blocks from Times Square. This place does excellent burgers and onion rings, and the salads aren't bad either. Very busy, so reserve a table. You won't really need five napkins, but each burger has 10oz of meat.

Gilt, 455 Madison Avenue, +212-891-8100.

Beautiful and expensive, this is in the New York Palace Hotel. Gilt holds two Michelin stars and serves some fixed-price menus from about $90 to $200 (€73 to €163) each, plus wine.

For street food, try dim sum in Chinatown, soft apple cider from the farmers' markets in Union Square, or fresh bagels from any street stands. The handcart at the southeast corner of 53rd Street and 6th Avenue has halal meats, falafels, and a good lamb and rice dish for $6 (€5). Look for long queues of locals.

5 places to go

Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue, esbnyc.com.

So it's obvious, but who cares? It's also beautiful, accessible, and has stunning views north and south from Central Park to the towers of the financial district. It's really peaceful by day, looking down on the roof gardens of smaller skyscrapers, and the stream of yellow taxis flowing up Fifth Avenue. By night it's a whole other sort of beauty.

Gotham Comedy Club, 208 West 23rd Street, +212-367-9000, gothamcomedyclub.com.

This is the place to see comics featured on the big talk shows, as well as rising stars. There's a show every night, but the all-pro shows or newcomers' nights offer the best variety, with up to 10 acts.

Central Park, centralpark.com.

The park is worth properly exploring. The website highlights all the different areas, the history, even where best to birdwatch or get free tickets for concerts or plays. You can rent a boat, a bike, or can take a carriage ride.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 97 Orchard St, +212-982-8420, tenement.org.

This simple but moving museum is a recreation of a tenement building, and brings to life the conditions of New York's European immigrants.

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridgeor take a return trip on the free Statten Island Ferry for a view of the lower Manhattan skyline. Head to the upper deck on the right as you leave Manhattan for the best view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Hot spot

Café Wha?115 Macdougal, cafewha.com

Dylan, Hendrix, Springsteen have been by. There's music every night, but from Wednesday to Sunday the House Band does an incredible range of cover songs, and creates a brilliant atmosphere in the diner-style club. By the end of the night, there is dancing in the aisles.

Shop spot

Where to begin? There is everything from luxury in Tiffany's and the boutiques along Fifth Avenue, to bargains in Century 21 near the World Trade Centre site, with Macy's, Filene's Basement and The Gap gaining honourable mention in between.

Go there

Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com), Delta (delta.com),

Air France (airfrance.com) and Continental (continental.com) fly from Shannon and Dublin.

JFK is busier and has better facilities than Newark Liberty Airport, but they're both about the same distance from Manhattan.