w, the bustle of Wall Street, and a concentration of city landmarks all lure visitors to the southern tip of Manhattan.
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
Visit the Financial District during the weekend and you might feel like a lone explorer in a canyon of buildings; even on weeknights the decibel level of the neighborhood reduces significantly after about 6. Weekdays, however, the sidewalks bustle so much that you can expect to be jostled if you stand still too long. End your visit by watching the sunset over the Hudson River.
The sights of the New York Harbor are some of the most quintessential of New York, but be prepared for long lines for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, especially on weekends. TriBeCa is one of the quieter neighborhoods in Manhattan, being mostly residential. There are pleasant shops, restaurants, and local bars, but the neighborhood tends not to be a tourist attraction unless the film festival is going on.
COFFEE AND QUICK BITES
Hudson Eats at Brookfield Place.
La Colombe Torrefaction.
In this loftlike space just below Canal Street, expect excellent espresso drinks and impressive latte art. Unlike other coffee shops plagued by laptops and customers clad in headphones, La Colombe does not have Wi-Fi. | 319 Church St., at Lispenard St., TriBeCa | 212/343–1515 | www.lacolombe.com | Station: A, C, E to Canal St.
Zucker’s Bagels.
This is one of the few places left in the city that still serves hand-rolled, kettle-boiled New York bagels. Baked throughout the day, the bagels can be eaten with a shmear of scallion cream cheese or filled with Nova Scotia salmon. Coffee is from La Colombe. | 146 Chambers St., Financial District | 212/608–5844 | www.zuckersbagels.com | Station: 1, 2, 3 to Chambers St.
TOP EXPERIENCES
Visiting the National 9/11 Memorial
Riding the Staten Island Ferry
Touring Ellis Island
Snapping a photo in front of Wall Street’s bull
Strolling through Hudson River Park
BEST FOR KIDS
Castle Clinton and Battery Park
South Street Seaport Museum
GETTING HERE
Many subway lines connect to the Financial District. The Fulton Street station is serviced by eight different subway lines (2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, Z) and puts you within walking distance of City Hall, South Street Seaport, and the World Trade Center site. To get to the Brooklyn Bridge, take the 4, 5, or 6 to Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall.
For sights around New York Harbor, take the R to Whitehall Street, or the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green. (Note that you can also reach the Harbor area via the 1 train to South Ferry; it also stops in the heart of TriBeCa, at Franklin Street.)
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
« Little from Manhattan’s colonial era is left in Lower Manhattan (apart from a precious few structures built in the 1700s), but you can still sense history in the South Street Seaport’s 19th-century brick facades and in pedestrianized Stone Street’s picnic tables. There’s life to be found within the skyscraper canyons of Wall Street and lower Broadway, as locals move into the neighborhood and fill the barstools in candlelit watering holes. Bounded by the East and Hudson rivers to the east and west, respectively, and by Chambers Street and Battery Park to the north and south, the Financial District is best appreciated by getting lost in its streets.
You’ll want to see what’s here, but above all you’ll want to see what’s not, most notably in that empty gulf among skyscrapers: the World Trade Center site where two 1-acre pools represent the footprints of the fallen Twin Towers.
TOP ATTRACTIONS
9/11 Memorial Museum.
To one side of the reflecting pools of the 9/11 Memorial is the glass atrium of the Memorial Museum. The museum descends some 70 feet down to the bedrock the Twin Towers were built on, and displays a collection of donated artifacts, memorabilia, photographs, and various recordings, as well as an exhibition that takes visitors through the history of events leading up to the attack and its aftermath. There’s also a memorial wall with portraits of those who died, pieces of the Towers’ structural columns and foundation, and remnants of the “Survivors Stairs,” which allowed hundreds of people to escape the buildings. Current access the museum and the Memorial is from the intersection of Liberty and Greenwich streets, the intersection of Liberty and West, or the intersection of West and Fulton. Admission to the museum includes the 9/11 Memorial. | 180 Greenwich St., Financial District | 212/266–5211 | www.911memorial.org/museum | $24 (free Tues. 5–8 pm) | Sun.–Thurs. 9–8, Fri. and Sat. 9–9 | Station: 1 to Rector St.; R to Rector St.; 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, Z to Fulton St.; E to World Trade Center.
Battery Park.
Jutting out at the southernmost point of Manhattan, tree-filled Battery Park is a respite from the narrow, winding, and (on weekdays) jam-packed streets of the Financial District. Even if you don’t plan to stay for long, carve out a few minutes of sightseeing time to sit on a bench and take in the view, which includes the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. On clear days you can see all the way to Port Elizabeth’s cranes, which seem to mimic Lady Liberty’s stance; to Governors Island, a former Coast Guard installation now managed by the National Park Service; a hilly Staten Island in the distance; and the old railway terminal in Liberty State Park, on the mainland in Jersey City, New Jersey. Looking away from the water and toward Lower Manhattan’s skyscrapers, there’s a feeling that you’re at the beginning of the city, and a sense of all the possibility it possesses just a few blocks in.
The park’s main structure is Castle Clinton National Monument, the ticket office site and takeoff point for ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This monument was once 200 feet off the southern tip of the island located in what was called the Southwest Battery, and was erected during the War of 1812 to defend « the city. (The East Battery sits across the harbor on Governors Island.) As dirt and debris from construction were dumped into the harbor, the island expanded, eventually engulfing the landmark. Later, from 1855 to 1890, it served as America’s first official immigration center (Ellis Island opened in 1892).
Inside Battery Park are several monuments and statues, including The Sphere, which for three decades stood on the plaza at the World Trade Center as a symbol of peace. Damaged but still intact after the collapse of the towers, it serves as a temporary memorial to those who lost their lives.
The southern link in a chain of parks connecting Battery Park north to Chambers Street, Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park has a flat, tidy lawn and wide benches from which to view the harbor or the stream of runners and in-line skaters on the promenade. A brick structure at the southeast section of Battery Park has public bathrooms and a restaurant with additional views from its flat roof. | Battery Park | 212/417–2000 | www.nycgovparks.org/parks/batterypark | Station: 4, 5 to Bowling Green; 1 to South Ferry.
Fodor’s Choice | Brooklyn Bridge.
“A drive-through cathedral” is how the journalist James Wolcott described the Brooklyn Bridge, one of New York’s noblest and most recognized landmarks, perhaps rivaling Walt Whitman’s comment that it was “The best, most effective medicine my soul has yet partaken.” The bridge stretches over the East River, connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. A walk across its promenade—a boardwalk elevated above the roadway, shared by pedestrians, in-line skaters, and cyclists—takes about 40 minutes and delivers exhilarating views. If you start from Lower Manhattan, you’ll end up in the heart of Brooklyn Heights (you can also take the subway to the Brooklyn side and walk back towards Manhattan). It’s worth noting that on weekends when the weather is nice, the path can get pretty congested; it’s most magical, and quietest, early in the morning or during sunset when the city lights come to life. | East River Dr., Lower Manhattan | Station: 4, 5, 6 to Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall; J, Z to Chambers St.; A, C to High St. (in Brooklyn).
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Unfortunately you can’t tour it, but it’s certainly « worth ogling. At the intersection of Wall and Broad streets, the exchange is impossible to miss. The Neoclassical building, designed by architect George B. Post, opened on April 22, 1903. It has six Corinthian columns supporting a pediment with a sculpture titled Integrity Protecting the Works of Man, featuring a tribute to the then-sources of American prosperity: Agriculture and Mining to the left of Integrity; Science, Industry, and Invention to the right. The Exchange was one of the world’s first air-conditioned buildings. | 11 Wall St., Financial District | 212/656–3000 | www.nyse.com | Station: 1 to Rector St.; R to Rector St.; 2, 3, 4, 5 to Wall St.; J, Z to Broad St.
One World Observatory.
Be whisked to the top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, in the world’s fastest elevators for incredible views of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and beyond. The observatory occupies three floors of One World Trade Center and the experience includes panoramic exhibits and personal stories about the construction and bedrock of this monumental building, and a dramatic 2-minute video of time-lapse photography and bird’s-eye views. There are three dining options on the 101st floor, includ « ing a casual café and a sit-down restaurant. | One World Trade Center, 285 Fulton St., Financial District | 844/698–1776 | www.oneworldobservatory.com | $32 | May–Labor Day, daily 9 am–midnight; Labor Day–May, daily 9–8 | Station: E to World Trade Center; R to Cortlandt St.
World Trade Center Site (Ground Zero).
Thousands come each year to connect with events that unfolded here, and more than a decade later visitors at last have an official memorial to see in addition to the site itself. On September 11, 2001, terrorist hijackers steered two jets into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, setting them ablaze and causing their collapse, killing 2,753 people and injuring countless others. The 16 acres of fenced-in rubble and debris that slowly evolved into a construction zone quickly became a memorial unto itself, a place where visitors and those who lost loved ones could mourn and reflect on what was the single most deadly foreign attack to happen on American soil.
The memorial plaza is bordered by four distinct new skyscrapers: the 1,776-foot World Trade Center « One (the former “Freedom Tower”), and Towers 2, 3, and 4 all designed by famous architects. The site also includes a transportation hub designed by Santiago Calatrava. Tower 1 opened in late 2014 and Tower 4 in late 2013. The 9/11 Memorial Museum Store is at 20 Vesey Street; all proceeds go to developing and sustaining the memorial and museum. | Between Trinity and West Sts. and Vesey and Liberty Sts., Financial District | www.wtc.com | Station: N, R to Cortlandt St.; E to World Trade Center; 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C to Fulton St.
Tribute WTC Visitor Center.
This project of the September 11th Families’ Association opened five years after 9/11 to put the events of that day into context—at the time, there was little to see beyond a big construction site. The four rooms of exhibits, which include a wall with hundreds of photographs of those lost on that day, are a good complement to the broader mission of the separate Memorial and Museum. Same-day tickets for daily walking tours, which are meant for adults and children age 10 and up, are available from the Center. The tour route includes a visit to the Memorial as well as other major 9/11 sites. Next door to Tribute WTC is Ten House, the firehouse closest to Ground Zero, which was nearly destroyed on 9/11. | 120 Liberty St., Financial District | 866/737–1184 | www.tributewtc.org | $20 (for tour of 9/11 Memorial and access to 9/11 Tribute Center) | Mon.–Sat. 10–6, Sun. 10–5 (last tickets sold 30 minutes before closing); walking tours Sun.–Thurs. 11–3, Fri. and Sat. 10:30–3 | Station: 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, Z to Fulton St.; E to World Trade Center; N, R to Cortlandt St.
Fodor’s Choice | 9/11 Memorial.
Finished just in time for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the somber Memorial, designed by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, reflects none of the setbacks and complications to the building process that have arisen in the years since the tragedy. Central to the memorial and museum are recessed, 30-foot waterfalls that sit on the footprint where the Twin Towers once stood. Every minute, some 60,000 gallons of water cascade down the sides and then down into smaller square holes in the center of the pools. The pools are each nearly an acre in size, and they are said to be the largest man-made waterfalls in North America.
In the plaza are more than 400 swamp white-oak trees harvested from within a 500-mile radius of the site, as well as from Pennsylvania and near Washington, D.C. There’s also a single Callery pear tree known as the “survivor tree,” which was revived and replanted here after being damaged during the 9/11 attacks.
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