New York tours
One of the best ways of making sense of the city of New York that never sleeps, especially for anyone who is pushed for time, is to take a tour.
If you're expecting to spend a couple of windswept hours on an open-topped bus, think again - after all this is the big apple. Tours in New York range from the sublime (a quick whiz round the sights in helicopter) to the ridiculous (such as gastronomic foraging in Central Park), but whichever you choose you'll see the city from a fresh angle. Seasoned favourites include:
New York movie tours (www.screentours.com): visit reel-loads of the city's most memorable celluloid locations, such as the apartment building used in Friends, Bill Cosby's townhouse and Katz's Deli - where they filmed 'that' scene in "When Harry Met Sally".
Take a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park: what 'gondolas' are to Venice : 'buggies' are to New York, except in the big apple romance comes much cheaper.
Yankee Stadium tour (mlb.mlb.com/stadium_tours.jsp): a fine introduction to an American institution, but for the quintessential New York experience why not join the 57,544 other spectators on a match day?
Backstage Broadway tours (www.broadway.com/wicked-behind-the-emerald-curtain/): get an idea of what's going on behind the scenes in the word's best-loved theatre district.
Helicopter tours (www.newyorkhelicopter.com/helicopter-tours/): for the ultimate bird's-eye view nothing beats a helicopter ride, but the best bit is that they are within most visitors' financial reach.
Limousine tours (www.nyclimotoursny.com): if you find the standard tour bus isn't long enough, or hasn't got enough wheels, you can always book a place in one of the city's fleet of incredibly stretched limos.
Food and footwork tours (foodonfoottours.com): culture and cuisine combined in the backstreets of Chelsea and Greenwich Village.
Waterway tours (www.nywaterway.com): for a different take on Manhattan's skyline get down to the waterline and hop on a ferry or catamaran headed for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
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