I have been to New York three times, and find it fascinating each time. It’s brash, noisy and in your face, and its inhabitants are rude, but you can’t get away from the fact that it is an exciting city to be in.

A good way of getting around is to join the Big Apple Bus company tour buses, which take in all the main sights of Manhattan, and you can get on or off wherever you like at the designated stops. This cost about $18 when I went, but may be slightly more now. There are also tours up to Harlem, and a boat trip around Manhattan Island is a nice leisurely way of seeing the New York skyline.

New York is at it’s busiest in November, and January. November and December see hoards flocking in to do their Christmas shopping, and then in January… the Sales!!!! and anyone wanting to go at these times should book well in advance. Hotel room rates can get silly at these times of year. One option is to stay at one of the hotels outside Manhattan, and travel in on the metro. You can get a metro pass, which allows travel on the underground and the buses for $4 for a 1-day fun pass or 7-day unlimited ride card for $17.

There is a lot to see and do in New York, and the main places are of course, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, The Empire State building and the Rockefeller Centre. It’s a great place to walk, and I never felt uncomfortable whenever I have been there. The view from the top of the Empire state building is awesome, on a clear day you are supposed to be able to see three states. The viewing platform has been surrounded by wire netting…apparently they used to get too many suicides from there.

New York is served by three airports, JFK, La Guardia and Newark. Newark is actually in New Jersey, but is equi-distant from Manhattan as is JFK. La Guardia is mainly used for internal US flights. There is a airport bus which will take you to the centre of Manhattan, but a taxi is not that expensive, and you can even hire a limo for not much more.

One thing to do when in New York is to see a Broadway show, as with London shows these get booked up really quickly, but you can get cheaper tickets in Times square on the day of the show, get there early though, the queues form quickly and the best shows go first.

When I tried this by the time we got to the kiosk, only the lesser-known shows were available, and the savings weren’t that good. You need to be on your toes though, they like you to be snappy and know exactly what you want. This goes for the fast food outlets (not so called for nothing) if you, like me, dither about what you want, the whole of Manhattan will be served before you.

New York is a great place for a weekend break, and the best time to get the best flight deals is between January and March.

For more information, call Genie Travel on 0845 388 8805 or e mail sales@genietvl.co.uk.