New York isn’t a city you visit. It’s a city you live. It’s such a vibrant and busy place that you can’t help but fall into step with the rest of this bustling metropolis.

But there are certain things that you need to do if you want to feel the pulse of the city.  You have to go out and experience what it means for the city to tick. It’s the clanging sounds from the building site of the city’s newest skyscraper. It’s the shop windows full of amazing displays. It’s a dozen screens in Times Square clamouring for your business.

Climb The Empire State Building

Source: Midtown Manhattan Skyline from Wall street

The Empire State building itself is mostly unused. But it does serve as the iconic focal point of the city. Now the second tallest building in midtown New York, the viewing gallery at the top of the building hosts amazing views over the city.

If you can, go late at night. Watch the city that never sleeps, not sleeping. From the top of the Empire State building, the whole of Manhattan looks like a giant economic tanker. And for a moment, you feel like it’s captain.

Visit Chinatown And Greenwich Village

Chinatown and Greenwich Village are a little off the beaten track. Most tourists will stay in mid-town or downtown areas. But just off to the side of these are places that you’d never expect to find in the world’s most famed metropolis.

Here you’ll find authentic cuisine, as well as cultural events that you wouldn’t find elsewhere. If you want to experience New York the melting pot, this is the place to do it.

You can find vacation rentals in New York close to this area if it is somewhere that you would like to explore.

The Bronx

Source: The Bronx 3rd Avenue and 13th

The flip-side of the enormous wealth and gold capped skyscrapers of lower Manhattan, is the poverty in the upper part of the island. The Bronx is an area rife with poverty and destitution.

Yet, in this place, there is a story of hope. Here you’ll find communities that have worked together, despite the hardship and the pain. Here you can experience what it really means to be a poor New Yorker. You can take a tour to a genuine Baptist church right in the heart of the Bronx and listen to real gospel music with soul.

The 911 Memorial

Source: Obama and Bush visiting the 911 Memorial

Nothing lets you feel the pulse of the city more than a visit to the 911 memorial. Here, right in the heart of the city’s financial district is a place of reflection and respect for those that lost their lives.

Where the twin towers once stood are marked by two beautiful memorial pools and a plaza. Thousands of people come to these sites to pay their respects to those that lost their lives. And to marvel at the greatness of the New York skyline.

The waterfalls around the pools are said to be the largest man-made pools in North America.