Located in Manhattan’s revitalized Hudson Yards neighborhood, the Vessel features a stunning staircase winding upwards in a honeycomb shape, extending from a 50-foot diameter at its base to 150 feet at the top. It was constructed using bronzed steel and concrete and designed by English architect Thomas Heatherwick.

"The New Colossus'' is an 1883 sonnet written by poet Emma Lazarus, who also worked tirelessly in social activism helping refugees. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886, though the bronze plaque bearing the poem was added in 1903. It features the famous words, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

More than 40 buildings in New York City are big enough to have their own zip codes, but the city’s tallest building, One World Trade Center, is surprisingly not one of them. It shares a zip code with surrounding buildings, while other business hubs like the Empire State Building get their own, and Rockefeller Center actually has two.

Queens’ Rockaway Beach, accessible by subway from Manhattan, is the only surfable beach in New York City limits. But you’ll have to brave chilly temperatures to experience the best surfing on the beach, which runs from September to January. Storms at sea create surging waves during those months, attracting hordes of dedicated (and wetsuit-adorned) surfers.

Fraunces Tavern is about as old school as it gets in New York City. This historic landmark, opened in the early 1700s, served the likes of George Washington and is where the secret society Sons of the Revolution often met. You can still drink and dine in this pre-revolutionary tavern, with colonial fare like shepherd’s pie and oysters on the menu.

The massive New York City subway system has seven numbered routes and 15 lettered routes (not including shuttle service). The system skips the letter “I” because it too closely resembles the number one, which marks a current train that connects lower Manhattan to the Bronx. The letters “U” and “Y” were also nixed because they sound like the actual words “you” and “why.”

The Brooklyn Bridge was the world’s first steel suspension bridge, as well as the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening. President Chester A. Arthur dedicated the groundbreaking bridge in 1883, and 150,000 people walked across it within the first 24 hours. In 1884, businessman P.T. Barnum famously led 21 elephants over the bridge to prove its stability.

A 106-acre reservoir holding over a billion gallons of water was constructed in Central Park between 1858 and 1862. In 1994, it was named after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to recognize her contributions to New York City. The former First Lady was also a frequent jogger along the 1.5-mile track that loops around the body of water.

Arguably the most famous painting of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, "The Starry Night" is one of several world-famous works exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Other notable paintings include Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory," Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," and Andy Warhol's pop art piece "Campbell's Soup Cans."

When Grand Central Terminal opened on February 2, 1913, it featured an elegant aqua-and-gold mural meant to depict a slice of the heavens. Many of the images were inspired by Johann Bayer’s 1603 star atlas, “Uranometria,” and the design was painted right onto the plaster ceiling of the Beaux-Arts terminal. The next time you pass through the busy transit hub, be sure to look up!

Katz's Delicatessen has been serving pastrami sandwiches since it first opened as a small shop in 1888. During World War II, Katz's was known for sending food to soldiers overseas, which led to the marketing slogan, "Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Army." The deli gained widespread fame after appearing in the 1989 film "When Harry Met Sally."

The famed New York City Marathon starts at the base of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island. Runners travel across all five boroughs before concluding their 26.2 miles in Central Park. The longest stretches of the race are in Brooklyn (miles 3 through 12) and Manhattan, where runners go uptown from miles 16 through 18, then finish from miles 21 to 26.2.

Despite their name, the New York Giants play their home games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. That wasn't always the case. Manhattan's Polo Grounds served as their home between 1925 and 1955. The Giants would later occupy Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium before moving in 1976 to the now-demolished Giants Stadium in East Rutherford.

Radio City Music Hall first opened its doors on December 27, 1932, with its marquee stretching a full city block in midtown Manhattan. The art deco masterpiece was primarily used for stage shows and film screenings until the 1970s, when it began hosting concerts by popular musicians. The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular — featuring the famous high-kicking Rockettes dance troupe — has been an annual staple at the theater since 1933.

New York City is a mecca for shoppers, and the flagship Macy’s in Manhattan’s Herald Square is the biggest department store of them all. This colossal retail space covers an entire city block, with 2.2 million square feet over 11 floors. It was the world’s largest department store from 1924 to 2009, until the 3.16-million-square-foot Shinsegae store opened in Busan, South Korea.

A police raid at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, proved to be a catalyst for the gay rights movement both in New York and around the world. The Stonewall Inn has since become an important symbol for the LGBTQ+ community worldwide and served as the starting point for the first gay pride parade in 1970. The site was designated a national monument in 2016.

Looking to see your name in lights on the Great White Way? Head to Broadway, specifically the Theater District between 42nd and 53rd streets in midtown Manhattan. In 1880, nearly a mile of Broadway was illuminated by electric lights — one of the first streets in the world to do so, which inspired the neighborhood’s “Great White Way” nickname.

New York City’s Times Square welcomes thousands of revelers annually to usher in the new year and watch the famous ball drop. The original ball was constructed of wood and iron, though it's now made of Waterford crystals. The event was started by Adolph Ochs, the former owner of the "New York Times," and has been held every year since 1907 (except during World War II in 1942 and 1943).

New York City’s now-ubiquitous nickname is often credited to 1920s sports journalist John J. Fitz Gerald. In horse-racing terms, a Big Apple referred to major prize money that was available at larger races, and the biggest horse races at that time were in New York City. Fitz Gerald heard two stablehands use the term to describe the city itself, and he adopted and popularized it in his column.

New York City’s tallest skyscraper as of 2023, One World Trade Center was intentionally built to a height of 1,776 feet to commemorate the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. When One World Trade Center was completed in 2013, the downtown Manhattan skyscraper dethroned Chicago’s Willis Tower as the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Although Manhattan is the most densely populated of the five New York City boroughs, with 73,000 people per square mile (and a total of 1.6 million people), it is the smallest by land area. The island measures just 22.83 square miles. Compare that with the largest borough by land area, Queens, which measures 109.7 square miles.