New York

The currency is the US dollar, and cards are accepted almost everywhere, including street carts and buses; some grocery stores still require a $10 minimum for card purchases, and store ATMs charge $3–5 in fees. Two amounts never show up in the posted price, so the tag is never the final price: the 8.875% sales tax, charged at checkout (clothing and shoes under $110 per item are exempt) and the tip, which at a table-service restaurant runs 18–20% and at a bar counter is $1–2 per drink; card readers usually suggest 20%, 25%, and 30%, and you can type in a different amount with no problem. 2026 ranges: drip coffee $4–6, a slice of pizza $4–5, a quick lunch $15–25, a mid-range dinner $45–80 per person with one drink, a draft beer $9–12, a cocktail $18–22, a museum ticket $25–35, Broadway $80–250. A mid-range hotel runs $280–420 a night, plus about 15% in taxes and flat per-room fees; a hostel or shared room, $60–110. Brazilians need a B1/B2 visa, because Brazil isn't part of the visa waiver program; the DS-160 form fee is $185, and there's an additional integrity fee of $250 approved in 2025 whose collection for tourism was still suspended in 2026: confirm with the consulate before you travel.

New York's airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark

There are three airports, and the choice shapes your first day. JFK is 24 km from downtown: the AirTrain (about $8.50) connects the terminals to the A and E subway lines, at Howard Beach or Jamaica, or to the LIRR train to Penn Station, which is the fastest route, 50 to 70 minutes total; the yellow cab charges a flat JFK–Manhattan fare of $70, plus tolls, fees, and tip, which comes to $95–115 in practice, in 45–90 minutes. LaGuardia is 13 km away and has no train: the Q70 SBS bus is free and reaches the 7, E, F, M, and R subway lines at Jackson Heights and Woodside in 10–15 minutes, while a cab costs $40–60 to Midtown. Newark (EWR) is in New Jersey, 26 km away: AirTrain plus NJ Transit train to Penn Station costs about $17 and takes 45 minutes, and a cab or rideshare runs over $90 with the tunnel toll. Set aside 60–90 minutes for the trip to any airport, and more on a rainy day.

Subway: 24 hours, 472 stations, one flat fare

The subway runs 24 hours, with 472 stations and 36 lines, and it's the fastest way to make almost any trip. The fare is flat, $3.00 since January 4, 2026, paid by tapping at OMNY with a credit card, debit card or phone. The MetroCard has been withdrawn, and the last refill was on December 31, 2025; a physical OMNY card costs $2. Using the same card or device for every ride, your 13th ride of the week and every one after it are free, with a cap of $35 per week, Monday to Sunday. The bus charges the same fare, with a free transfer within two hours; on SBS lines (light blue), pay at the machine on the sidewalk before boarding and keep the receipt. Three things make you pay a fare for nothing: the “uptown” and “downtown” platforms often don't connect once you're past the turnstile; from Friday night to Monday morning, several lines change routes because of work on the tracks; and “express” trains skip stations. Beyond the subway, the Staten Island Ferry is free and passes right by the Statue of Liberty, NYC Ferry costs about $4.50, Citi Bike charges by day pass or by the minute, yellow cabs and ride-hailing apps work everywhere, and since January 5, 2025, cars pay a $9 congestion toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, passed on in the fare. Walking covers short distances: ten numbered streets make about 800 m and take ten minutes, but each block between two avenues counts for about three streets.

New York ranks among the safest large cities in the United States per capita, with about 350–400 homicides a year in recent years, nearly all tied to local conflicts and far from the areas visitors go. The real risk for a newcomer is opportunity: pickpockets in a packed car, on the escalator, and in the crush of Times Square; an open bag hanging on a restaurant chair; a phone held out near the subway doors as they're closing. In Times Square, costumed characters charge for photos after they're taken, vendors offer a “free” CD and then demand payment, and there are scalpers selling observation-deck tickets that don't work: the official price only exists at the box office or the building's own website. At night, pick a car with more people in it or the one with the conductor, marked by a black-and-white striped sign in the middle of the platform, and wait for the train in the area covered by cameras. Areas with higher crime rates, like parts of the South Bronx, Brownsville, and East New York, aren't on the tourist routes. Emergency is 911; for anything that isn't an emergency (a complaint, information, lost and found) the number is 311.

Walk on the right and step out of the flow to stop

The sidewalk works like a traffic lane. Anyone checking a map, answering the phone, or taking a photo steps to the wall or the curb; stopping in the middle of the current is the most noticed social offense in the city.

On the escalator, stand right, walk left

On the subway, at airports and in stores, stand on the right on the escalator and leave the left free for people walking up. Blocking both sides with luggage draws an immediate remark.

Let people out before you get on

Stand beside the door, not in front of it, and board after the outgoing flow has ended. Holding the door delays the entire line and doesn't reopen anything. The mechanism has no sensor like an elevator's.

The tip is part of the wage

Waiters and bartenders can legally be paid a reduced base wage under state law, and the tip fills out their income. 18–20% for table service, $1–2 per drink at the bar, $1–2 per bag with a porter, 15–20% for a taxi.

Reach the counter with your order ready

At delis, carts, cafés, and pizzerias the line moves fast and expects you to already know what you want, down to the bread, the cheese, and whether it's to go. Deciding on the spot stalls the line and provokes visible impatience.

The greeting “How are you?” only expects “good, you?”

The expected answer is “good, you?” and the conversation moves on. Likewise, “we should grab coffee sometime” is a friendly goodbye that rarely turns into an invitation with a set date.

Sticking to Midtown and Times Square

Staying only in Midtown and Times Square and concluding that's what the city is. It's a common mistake on day one. More than half of residents live in Brooklyn and Queens, and the subway takes 20 to 30 minutes to get there.

Not checking weekend service

Not checking weekend service changes. Between Friday night and Monday morning, lines change route, skip stations, or stop running; the notice is on the platform sign and in the app, never on the printed map, which keeps lying with total confidence.

The uptown and downtown platforms don't connect past the turnstile

Mixing up the “uptown” and “downtown” platforms. At many local stations the two don't connect once you're past the turnstile, and fixing the mistake costs a new fare and a street crossing.

Thinking the price tag is the final price

Thinking the price on the tag is the final price. Add 8.875% tax at checkout and another 18–20% tip on a restaurant bill: a meal listed at $40 comes out to about $51.

Opening an alcoholic drink on the street

Opening a can or bottle of alcohol on the street, in the park, or on the beach. It's an open-container violation, with a fine of about $25, and police enforce it regularly.

“On line”

In line. In New York you stand “on line,” not “in line” like in the rest of the country.

“The city”

Manhattan. Someone who lives in Brooklyn or Queens says they're “going into the city,” even though they're already in it.

“Bodega”

A corner store open late, with an egg sandwich at the counter and, almost always, a resident cat.

“Regular coffee”

Coffee with milk and sugar. If you just order “coffee” at a cart or deli, that's what you get.

“A bagel with a schmear”

A bagel with a spread of cream cheese. “Schmear” comes from Yiddish and means the spread-on layer.

“Stand clear of the closing doors, please”

The subway's recorded announcement. The doors close right after and don't reopen.

The archipelago, the schist, and the East River

New York occupies an archipelago at the mouth of the Hudson: of all the boroughs, only the Bronx is on the mainland. Manhattan is 21.6 km long and 3.7 km across at its widest, and rests on a bedrock of schist. Despite its name, the East River is a tidal strait between the bay and Long Island Sound, which is why it has strong currents and so many bridges and tunnels.

The 1811 grid and the colonial layout

Above 14th Street, the 1811 grid organizes everything: avenues run north-south, numbered streets run east-west, 20 streets equal about 1.6 km, and a block between avenues runs 250–280 m; that's why walking ten streets is fast and crossing two avenues is long. Below 14th Street the colonial layout survives, with named streets that bend without warning, and Broadway cuts across the island on a diagonal that in part follows an old Lenape trail, creating the triangular squares where it crosses the avenues (Union, Madison, Herald, Times).

The shoreline and the climate

The city has about 837 km of shoreline, and the highest natural point is Todt Hill, on Staten Island, at 124 m. The climate is transitional between continental and humid subtropical: hot, muggy summers, cold winters with snow, and rain spread across all twelve months.

Broadway: 41 theaters, 12 million tickets a season

New York sells theater. The 41 Broadway houses, nearly all between 41st and 54th Streets, sold about 12 million tickets in the 2024–25 season, and off- and off-off-Broadway add up to hundreds of smaller houses, from 99 to 499 seats, where most of what becomes a hit gets tested first. Lincoln Center brings together the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic (founded in 1842, one of the oldest still active in the world) and the New York City Ballet in a complex opened in 1962 over a Puerto Rican neighborhood demolished for it: the same neighborhood shown in “West Side Story,” filmed there shortly before demolition.

Nearly every American genre passed through here

Almost every American popular genre of the 20th century passed through here, and almost always through a specific neighborhood. Jazz came out of 1920s Harlem and still plays in old rooms like the Village Vanguard, open since 1935, with two sets a night. Hip-hop was born on August 11, 1973, at a birthday party DJ Kool Herc played in the community room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, in the Bronx. Salsa was codified by the Fania label, founded in 1964 by Dominican musician Johnny Pacheco and New York lawyer Jerry Masucci, with Puerto Rican and Cuban musicians from the Bronx and Spanish Harlem. Punk came out of CBGB, on the Bowery, between 1974 and 1978. The city is also the world's largest contemporary art market, with about 300 galleries concentrated in Chelsea and the Lower East Side, and May and November auctions that set international prices.

The Yankees, the Knicks, and the US Open divide the sports calendar

Sports work as a calendar: the Yankees, with 27 World Series titles, play in the Bronx and the Mets in Queens from April to October; the Knicks and the Rangers share Madison Square Garden from October to April; the US Open takes over Flushing Meadows from late August through the first half of September; the marathon crosses all five boroughs on the first Sunday of November. The city hosts the headquarters of the major American publishers, of The New York Times (1851) and The New Yorker magazine (1925), and produces much of the country's television. Nightlife is decentralized and late: bars close at 4am, the clubs in Bushwick and Ridgewood don't fill up until after 1am, and since 2017 the city has kept an office dedicated to the nightlife economy.

“Here Is New York,” E. B. White (1949)

A thirty-page essay that splits the city into three kinds of residents: the one born there, the one who commutes in and back out to the suburbs every day, and the one who came from far away chasing something. Written in the summer of 1948, it still describes the present.

“Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee (1989)

A hot day on one block of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. It shows how race, corner-store commerce, and temperature combine within a hundred meters of street, and how the rest of the city only shows up in the distance.

“The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” Jane Jacobs (1961)

Written in the Village while Robert Moses was trying to cut an expressway through the neighborhood. It explains why the busy sidewalk, the short block, and mixed use work, and why 20th-century urban planning nearly destroyed them.