ESPAÑOL

After analyzing the best areas to stay, we continue the review of other Manhattan neighborhoods that, although they have certain disadvantages, are still recommendable.

MIDTOWN WEST

In this area are some of the trendy neighborhoods, such as Chelsea, the Meatpacking district and Hell’s Kitchen.

• Good for Chelsea. Many restaurants, streets with small houses, Chelsea Market, the High Line… and it’s a pedestrian distance from Midtown, but if you want to use the metro virtually the only option is the blue line (A, C and E). It is a good option, but the prices are somewhat expensive, as in any fashionable neighborhood.

• However Hell’s Kitchen still needs years to be at the level of its southern neighbor. Unfinished is the term that reminds me that place. Soon it will be a continuation from Chelsea to the Upper West Side, but nowasdays there is much to reform and many more restaurant licenses to allow. For those who watch Daredevil: no, it is not a dangerous place, although formerly it used to be. At night it is not necessary to mingle with some people that swarm nearby Port Authority and western of the 11 Avenue.

MIDTOWN EAST

This area is kind of an enigma. No one really knows the names of the sub-neighborhoods that make it up: Kips Bay, Murray Hill, Turtle Bay and Sutton Place. It is enigmatic for a reason, residents do not want tourists there:

• It is an area where accommodation is expensive and relatively sparse.
• There are not many shops or restaurants if compared to UES, UWS or the Village.
• There are no tourist attractions.
• It is not well connected by subway, you have to walk to the limit with Midtown Central.

And that way residents protect their expensive, clean and quiet neighborhood, staying out of the radar of tourists. And they get it: personally, I do not have a photo there. If you are looking for tranquility in Manhattan, it is an area to keep in mind.

THE EAST VILLAGE

The bohemian brother of the West (Greenwich) Village, with its alternative and bohemian air, is an option to consider:

• It is also an affordable area with an acceptable location.
• There are many restaurants and shops.

It has some drawbacks:

• It is an area where the bohemian sometimes happens to be directly scruffy.
• The area next to the East River of the East Village and Chinatown is the end of the Lower East Side, perhaps the only unsafe area in the south of the island.

LITTLE ITALY

This is a very charming area for walking and eating, certainly with little accommodation as they are literally 4 streets. The tips to apply are similar to those given for NoLiTa and SoHo, adding that it is a very noisy area, especially at night.

CHINATOWN

Many people think Chinatown, like Little Italy, are 4 streets, but not: Chinatown is huge; although officially no further east of the corner of East Broadway, Chinese businesses have been appropriating the area to almost the East River.

Advantages:

• It is a relatively inexpensive area considering its location.
• It is probably the largest and most authentic Chinatown in a large city outside China, and is close to Little Italy.

Disadvantages: It’s an interesting area to see, but just for a while: it’s one of the noisiest, filthy, unsafe areas in Manhattan; the usual tourist area, near Canal St and Bowery is normal, but it gets worse as we move eastwards. And many of the neighbors and business clerks are more than unpolite.

DOWNTOWN

A priori, we could think of it as an excellent sleeping area:

• There’s a must here, a one-day or two-day itinerary, as in this area are the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the Wall Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial, the Brooklyn Bridge and Century 21 for shopping.

But if we spend the night there we will discover the inconveniences, all related to being an eminently commercial and business district:

• Accommodation is sparse, and more expensive than in other more desirable areas, such as the Upper East Side, Upper West Side or Midtown itself.
• There is barely any place to eat other than fast food or cafeterias.
• At night it is almost deserted. It certainly feels so empty that it feels a bit insecure.
• It is far from everything else. The subway lines are red (1, 2 and 3), green (4 and 5), yellow (R and W) and brown (J and Z).

HARLEM

A booming neighborhood, with continuous reforms, that is trying to increase the gastronomic and cultural offer in the city. It consists of two zones:

• The Hispanic Harlem, also called “El Barrio”. Bordered by 5th Avenue to the west, 96th to the south and the East River.
• The Harlem itself. Limited by 5th Avenue to the east; 110, Morningside Park and Columbia University to the south and southwest; Hudson to the west and 155 to the north.

Advantage:

• It is the cheapest area. You can find a large number of renovated apartments at very competitive prices. The streets near UES and UWS are almost indistinguishable from those in these neighborhoods (for example, the prestigious Columbia University is just yards from the Harlem border).

Disadvantages:

• Distant from the tourist area. The subway is present:
  • Harlem: red lines (1, 2 and 3), blue (A and C) and oranges (B and D).
  • Harlem Hispano: green line 6 (the 4 and 5 only have a stop at 125).
• The insecurity increases the further north is the lodging. In Harlem there should be no problems south of 125th (Dr Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard); in El Barrio, starting further south, I would not recommend staying more north of 110-115.

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