Manhattan’s the heart of the city and, for some, the only ‘real’ New York. It’s a relatively small area in size but packs in almost every iconic sight and also manages to make room for Central Park too. Unsurprisingly, this is also the most expensive district for hotels and, if your heart’s set on giants like The Plaza or Waldorf Astoria, you’ll find them here.

• Visit Midtown Manhattan for the Empire State Building, Time Square, Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central Station and the United Nations.
• The Midtown stretch of Fifth Avenue is home to Tiffany & Co., Bloomingdales, FAO Schwarz, Barneys, Saks and Macys.
• SoHo, NoLita and the Flatiron districts of Manhattan are where you want to be for cool designer shopping and Madison Avenue is the street for serious spending.
• Chinatown, Little Italy, K-town, TriBeCa, Harlem, East Village and Wall Street are all in Manhattan.
• Manhattan’s also the district for the Guggenheim, MoMA, the American Museum of Natural History, Broadway and the Lincoln Arts Centre.
• Don’t miss: Central Park Zoo, Lower Manhattan food trucks, dim-sum in Chinatown, the lights on Broadway, TriBeCa restaurants, East Village indie bookshops, the annual Museum Mile Festival in June and 79^th Street’s Greenmarket every Sunday from 9am to 5pm.

Brooklyn’s enormous. If it was a city, it would be the 4^th largest in the US. But, don’t let that put you off. Less business-like and touristy than Manhattan, this is a great borough for families. It’s packed with parks and places to play, has more than its fair share of New York legends and it’s just one famous bridge away from the heart of New York too.

• Historic Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Park Slope and Greenpoint have a wide range of family hotels and good transport links to Manhattan.
• Don’t miss: Coney Island Amusement Park, Brooklyn Zoo in Prospect Park, Governors Island, Brooklyn Flea in Fort Green and DUMBO, Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy for low-key celebrity spotting.
• 30 minutes by train from Midtown Manhattan.

Brooklyn’s nearest neighbour is the borough for New York’s best Chinese food, charming and traditional Forest Hills, family friendly Astoria and Jackson Heights for affordable hotels.

• Don’t miss: MoMA PS1 art institute in Long Island City, New York’s biggest Chinese community at Flushing, Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image and Citi Field, home to the New York Mets.
• 40 minutes by train from Midtown Manhattan.

The Bronx is New York City’s most northerly borough and famous for Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Gardens. Hip Hop was born in South Bronx and Fordham’s the district to pick up cool urban US brands you can get anywhere else – just for teenage travellers.

• One of the most affordable boroughs for family hotels and guesthouses in and around Fordham and Bronx Park.
• Don’t miss: Edgar Allen Poe Cottage, New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx Zoo, soul food in South Bronx, Monument Park and authentic New York Italian food in Belmont.
• 30 minutes by train from Midtown Manhattan.