Hollywood may be where the movies get made but New York is cinema’s most memorable and dazzling location. Visit MoMA or cut through the smoky haze of a jazz club. From the top of the Empire State to the Staten Island ferry; from yellow cabs to one thousand choices just for your coffee; everything in New York is a  wide-angle shot, a Warhol or a lyric from a song.

This is also the city that made shopping an art form, from label-conscious ladies’ fashion at Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue to private-label cashmere and evening wear at Barneys on Madison Avenue. For the latest in fashion, digital cameras, camcorders, shoes, sportswear or audio, New York has it cheaper, better, newer, now.

And when the pace of the city needs taking down a gear or two there’s Central Park, just
a cab ride away. A lush green space pressed in by skyscrapers, where New Yorkers jog,
roller-blade, dash and stroll while the city soars ever skyward around them.

At night the city lights up, and every Broadway show is singing its heart out and stomping the boards to get your attention. There is cuisine from all parts of the globe to try here - this is New York - and you can eat 24 hours. If that means anything from cocktails at The Double Seven to dinner at Per Se - the upmarket eatery of the moment - to oysters at 3 a.m. in Blue Ribbon, finishing up with a warm brioche breakfast at Balthazar, then it’s available here.