Regular business visitors to New York City have probably checked off the big landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, Central Park, and the Met. New York is full of lesser-known attractions that would be highlights in most other world cities, but if you’re focused on making a sale or getting a deal done, finding them is probably the last thing on your mind.
NYC Entertainment for travelers, New York City limo service
If you do find yourself on a business trip to New York with a day or two to spare, here are some destinations that will get you out of the Midtown canyons and show you more of the city.
Visit: Cooper Hewitt Museum, Upper East Side
MoMA PS1, Long Island City
You probably know many of the classic destinations on the Museum Mile like the Met and the Guggenheim, but you might not know the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum on the Upper East Side, simply because it’s been closed for renovations for the past three years.
Located in the former Carnegie Mansion, the reborn Cooper Hewitt is a design museum for the 21st century, with a focus on interactivity and visitor-created design. That starts with the digital pens that save information about the exhibits to an online account, touchscreen tables that let you try your own designs, and the cool Immersion Room that lets you display one of the thousands of pieces of wallpaper in the museum’s collection. The museum’s transformation will be complete when the gardens are renovated in June 2015.
If you want a museum experience that gets you off Manhattan altogether, also check out PS1 in Long Island City. The Museum of Modern Art’s Queens outpost is an exhibition space for some of the most experimental art on show in New York.
Drink: Dram, Williamsburg
Maison Premiere, Williamsburg
Williamsburg has more or less finished its transition from decaying waterfront to artsy neighborhood to hipster fortress. And where gentrification goes, the bars follow.
Dram, on South 4th Street just over the Williamsburg Bridge, is characterized by simple decor, a casual atmosphere and acclaimed mixology. With constantly changing menus and creative cocktails, Dram was Time Out’s best new bar in New York when it opened.
If you prefer absinthe and oysters—which is understandable—head up to Bedford Avenue to Maison Premiere. Rated one of the top 100 bars in the world by World’s Best Bars, Maison Premiere offers a bewildering selection of absinthe and absinthe-based cocktails. There’s also a dinner menu emphasizing seafood.
Eat: Zoma, Harlem
Red Rooster, Harlem
Harlem remains both an incredibly diverse neighborhood and a pre-eminent center of African-American culture, and its homegrown cuisine reflects that. Two Ethiopian-inflected restaurants stand out: Zoma brings traditional Ethiopian cooking to Harlem with richly-seasoned stews and curries—not to mention Ethiopian honey wine.
Red Rooster is the restaurant of Ethiopian-born and Swedish-raised chef Marcus Samuelsson, who came to America in 1994. It’s a big, welcoming, bustling place offering seriously good comfort food with a Southern spin, as well as many other influences from around the world.
Visit: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Governor’s Island
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden puts on a show in spring, as the trees and flowers come into bloom. But it’s worth visiting at any time of year, with an array of mini-gardens, from a Japanese hill-and-pond section, to an English cottage garden, to a garden devoted to native flora. Located in Prospect Park near the Brooklyn Museum, in good weather it’s well worth your time.
We covered Governor’s Island in a previous post, but from Memorial Day onward the island will offer a haven of relative calm from the chaos of New York City. Accessible by ferry from the Battery Maritime Building at the southern tip of Manhattan, the island offers a place to hire a bike, eat, drink, and relax in the gorgeous setting of New York Harbor.
We hope this helps pass the time—and if you need a ride to any of these places, be sure to reserve a car with us.
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