New York City Neighborhoods: Where to Go, With a Map

There are a lot of neighborhoods in New York (more than 200, depending on who's drawing the lines and how!), so we put together this guide to help you plan your visit and get a better feel for the city: which neighborhoods are worth your time -the most popular ones and NYC's best-kept secrets-, which are the best neighborhoods to stay in New York, and which ones you should skip.

I'm a big fan of the list of New York areas published on the NYC Data site from CUNY's Baruch College.

New York City Boroughs

The first thing to know is that New York's neighborhoods are organized into 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

Below we break down the most important neighborhoods in each borough (click on any borough or neighborhood and you'll land on a page with detailed information)

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Manhattan

This is where New York's heart beats. The most popular and most visited neighborhoods are here, and busy streets like Fifth Avenue run through Manhattan too. There's so much to see in Manhattan that it's worth organizing your neighborhood exploring by area: Downtown, Midtown and Uptown.

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Brooklyn

Cross the Brooklyn Bridge and you'll find neighborhoods taken over by young people and new trends (check out DUMBO, Williamsburg or Greenpoint). There are also places where time stopped, like Coney Island, plus excellent Manhattan viewpoints in Brooklyn Heights.

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Queens

New York's largest borough, a mosaic of flavors and people from all over the world with plenty to see. Get to know its most interesting neighborhoods: Astoria, Flushing, Jackson Heights and Rockaway Beach. If you're into contemporary art, head to Long Island City.

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Bronx

The borough least set up for tourism, but it has attractions  and tours to help you explore it. Visit Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, Edgar Allan Poe's cottage or City Island, an unexpected fishing village in New York.

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Staten Island

A 25-minute ferry ride from Manhattan sits New York's least visited borough. Ride free on the orange boats to Staten Island, and along the way you'll get the best views of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.

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The most popular neighborhoods in New York

Visiting New York is like visiting many countries at once. Our advice: come back again and again, and dive into a different neighborhood each time. Over the years you'll get to know this kaleidoscope of nationalities.

To get you started, here are the most famous neighborhoods in New York (most of them in Manhattan):

Broadway

This is Manhattan's Theater District: famous musicals, themed stores, centrally located hotels and the jaw-dropping lights of Times Square, where every year more than a million people ring in the new year in New York.

Times Square

This intersection in the Theater District is one of the most visited spots in New York. Coming at night should be one of your first walks if you want to feel the spirit of New York.

Chinatown

People singing, practicing tai chi and playing mahjong… more than 200 restaurants, the best dumplings, shops full of trinkets and knockoff brands, old Chinese pharmacies, exotic fruit and live animals waiting to be eaten. During Chinese New Year the place is buzzing.

Little Italy

Little Italy today is more of a staged version of what it once was. Lots of restaurants aimed at tourists and a few shops with great cheese and pepperoni. But everything changes if you visit during the Feast of San Gennaro in September. Italy comes back to the neighborhood!

Wall Street

Manhattan's Financial District is home to the famous New York Stock Exchange along with other institutions that run Western finance. The area is a monument to a lifestyle admired by devotees of financial wizardry.

Flatiron District

Next door to Union Square, it takes its name from the famous Flatiron Building. Other Flatiron draws include the beautiful Woolworth Building, the Museum of Sex and dozens of stores, which makes it another great spot for shopping in New York.

SoHo

SoHo was once a major neighborhood for artists, galleries and new trends. Today it's a lively shopping district and one of the best neighborhoods for shopping. In summer its streets (between Broadway and 6th Ave) fill up with musicians, painters and vendors selling every kind of craft.

Chelsea

The old factories and warehouses along the Chelsea piers are now home to more than 350 galleries and artist studios, making the neighborhood an epicenter of contemporary art worldwide. You have to visit the one and only High Line Park, a park built on abandoned elevated train tracks.

Flatiron District

Right next to Union Square, it takes its name from the famous Flatiron Building. Other Flatiron attractions include the beautiful Woolworth Building, the Museum of Sex and dozens of shops, which makes it another ideal spot for shopping in New York.

Dumbo

One look at the lofts of Dumbo (former factories) is enough to see why this is a favorite neighborhood for artists, architects and designers. Another reason not to miss Dumbo: its art galleries and the fantastic views of the East River.

Williamsburg

Billyburg is the epicenter of Brooklyn's cultural explosion, and you'll find boutique hotels, galleries, vintage shops, cafés, bars and restaurants, all very indie. Visiting this neighborhood is your chance to get a preview of the trends that are coming.

Coney Island

Coney Island is a special place for the nostalgic. Along with its wooden boardwalk on the Atlantic and Luna Park, an amusement park dating back to the early 20th century, you'll find a New York frozen in time, complete with fortune tellers, little people and bearded ladies.

Long Island City

The most cutting-edge neighborhood in Queens: home to the PS1 contemporary art center and the now vanished graffiti mecca 5 Pointz. There are plenty of art galleries, and you can discover them on a tour with contemporary art specialists through the area.

Which New York neighborhood to stay in

If you need more help deciding which New York neighborhood is best to sleep in, check out our where to stay section.

Map of New York Neighborhoods