Buy now! New-York Night Tour on a double-decker

Built in the early 1930s, the Empire State Building was constructed in only 1 year and 45 days and was dubbed 'the 8th Wonder of the World'. Its name derived from the nickname for New York - the Empire State.

The skyscraper towered over the neighbourhood at  1453 ft. (442m) and as it was one of the last skyscrapers built before the Great Depression hit the property market. It was the tallest building in the world between 1931 and 1972.  No other building has held the record for such a long period of time since the Strasbourg Cathedral lost the title of “World’s Tallest Building” in 1874.

You can visit the Empire State Building's observation deck on the 86th floor to see a stunning view over the city of New York. It makes more money from tickets sales for its observation decks than it does from renting office space.

After the Dutch purchased New Amsterdam (renamed New York in 1665) from the Native Americans, a palisade was erected that formed the northern boundary of the new colony. The first walls along the street were basic plank fences, but as tensions grew, a more robust wall was built to defend the colony against both the British and the American Indian tribes that dominated the area. In 1685, after the original palisade was torn down and replaced with a new wall, a new street was created parallel with the wall, aptly named Wall Street. The British removed the defensive wall in 1699.

After the Revolutionary War, records show that traders and speculators would gather under a particular buttonwood tree that stood at the foot of Wall Street. Soon The Buttonwood Association (1792) was formed, which is believed to be the roots of the New York Stock Exchange, whose headquarters have been located on Wall Street for centuries.

Wall Street was the place to be by the late 19th and early 20th centuries for large financial institutions or other big businesses. Therefore, many buildings appeared here, giving the Wall Street district its own distinct skyline, separate from the buildings in Midtown.

Prominent buildings on Wall Street include Federal Hall, 60 Wall Street (the US headquarters of Deutsche Bank), 40 Wall Street (The Trump Building), 14 Wall Street (Bankers Trust Company Building) and the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Broad Street.

In 1857, the city of New York organised a competition to design a new park that would rival the great parks in London and Paris. Frederic Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s design called 'the Greensward Plan' was chosen and construction began that year, continuing throughout the American Civil War.

To transform the swampy area into a park the designers had envisioned, over 3 million cubic yards of soil was moved, several hundred thousand trees were planted, bridges and roads were built and a large reservoir was dug out. It took 16 years for the 20,000 workers to complete the park in 1873.

Olmstead's aim was to create a place where people could unwind and meditate. He viewed the park like a social experiment where people from both upper and lower classes would meet, quite a revolutionary idea at the time. After the appointment of Robert Moses in 1934 as New York City Parks Commissioner, the focus of the park moved from relaxation to recreation.

During Moses' 26 year tenure, he constructed several sports facilities, playgrounds and the Wollman rink; also renovating the Zoo and installing several sculptures including 'Alice in Wonderland '.

Founded in 1869, the museum was originally situated in the Arsenal Building in Central Park. In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant laid the cornerstone for the museum's permanent home, which opened in 1877. It is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the city and is the largest natural history museum in the world.

The Natural History Museum is a must-see, especially for children, as many of the exhibits facilitate our curiosity and a sense of wonder. From colossal dinosaur skeletons to an impressive planetarium, the museum’s four floors offer a wealth of knowledge on animals and science. 

There are 45 permanent exhibition halls, a library and collections containing over 32 million specimens of plants, animals, humans, minerals, fossils, rocks, meteorites and human cultural artefacts, of which only a small amount can be displayed at any given time.

Brooklyn Bridge ranks as one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River. With a main span of 1,595.5 ft. (486.3m), it was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1903 and the first steel-wire suspension bridge.

Brooklyn was still an independent city (founded by Dutch settlers in the 17th century) at the time of construction, and was one of the country's largest cities. In 1898, Brooklyn citizens became a borough of New York, decided by a close vote.

During the inauguration, about 150,000 people crossed the bridge, however many New Yorkers were not convinced the bridge was safe. On 30th May 1883, six days after opening, a rumour that the Bridge was going to collapse caused a stampede, which was responsible for at least twelve people being crushed to death. On 17th May 1884, P. T. Barnum helped to quash doubts about the bridge's stability (while publicising his famous circus), when one of his most famous attractions, Jumbo, led a parade of 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Originally known as Radio City, Rockefeller Center is a complex of buildings developed in the midst of the Great Depression, officially opening in May 1933. It’s known as a 'city in the city' and is a remarkable example of civic planning. The buildings share an Art Deco style and are connected to each other via an underground concourse, the Catacombs. The complex initially consisted of 14 buildings, now 19.

Three levels of observation deck are open to the public, including the roof terrace. Witness the views from the 67th floor that is completely covered; the observation deck (69th floor) that has glass windshields or the 70th floor that is completely open, offering a fabulous 360 degree view.

The area holds historic importance and artistic value, offering many sculptural and architectural highlights. It’s known for its many works of art, many of which portray the ideals of Enlightenment, like 'Progress through Science'. Rockefeller Center also has fashionable shopping areas and tourist hotspots, such as Radio City Music Hall and the GE Building.