Best Guide to New York City?

I want it to include specifics on Soho and other hot shopping spots. But, I also want it to discuss and describe unique resturants in the city. So, I guess I just need a well-rounded book. Any Suggestions?Best Guide to New York City?
Here are some ideas of what you can do. First, get a good tour map. Then I recommend you take the BIG APPLE double decker tour bus for an overview of the city. There are several different neighborhoods so I'll highlight these and what to see:


Upper East Side: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim, Whitney Museum. Walk up and down Madison Avenue for awesome shops and boutiques 96th - 57th st. Walk Park Avenue for architecture all the way to Grand Central Terminal and see the treasures located within. Walk along 5th Avenue to see/go in and out of Central Park - go for a run, go to the Central Park Zoo, go to the Carousel, go for a gondola ride at the boat house.


UPPER WEST SIDE:


Museum of Natural History -a must! on Central Park West,


Walk along Columbus Avenue. Visit the West side of Central Park and pay respects to John Lennon's Strawberry Fields.


MIDTOWN:


Shopping - 57th St (Chanel and the gang), Fifth Avenue - must see Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and FAO Schwartz - many other fun stores.


St. Patrick's Cathedral


Museum of Modern Art


Sony Bldg


Rockefeller Center


Go west to awesome new Time Warner center and visit the new Mandarin Hotel bar/restaurant for awesome view and treats!


Oh, Bloomingdale's is on 59th St and Lexington.


Empire State Bldg.


The Intrepid Aircraft Museum is fascinating and on the West side...worth the visit even if you have no kids.





CHELSEA:


Walk around the blooming area sprouting awesome restaurants and shops. Chelsea Pier is fun.





WALL ST:


Pay respects to the 9/11 victims and heroes at the WTC site., Walk Wall St., visit the Chase Hdqtrs, Federal Reserve. Seaport area is great to see.





THE VILLAGE:


Funky shops in the West Village. Walk through the NYU Washington Square Park. The East Village has some shops from new artists and designers





SOHO:


Great galleries and shops on n off West Broadway. Walk thru to Little Italy for awesome meals and desserts...walk through Chinatown. CANAL STREET has stall after stall of Designer ';copies';...bring cash and bargain and watch your purse!





These should put an awesome smile on your face. Bring your camera and takes lots of photos to remember your trip. You'll have a blast! OH...BUY this weekly magazine: TIMEOUT NEW YORK on any newstand to see what's going on each week/day. :)Best Guide to New York City?
go to NYC offical visitor center which is on E52th st and it is near E,F,V lines and u can grab an NYC guide for free
There's a little black book for NYC which is called ';NFT';- (not for travellers). You can probably find it at your local bookstore. It comes in handy, even for the locals.
Actually you can do a lot of reseach on line--or even get books at the library. I would really try and do all your research BEFORE you go so you can work on a list of all the MUST SEE places you can see during your time there.





Instead showing that you're a tourist with your guide book out, buy a student notebook or an address book and put down all the names and addresss of the places you want to see and restaurants you want to enjoy in there. I had everything in a TINY address book and it worked out great!





When I read your question, the first place I thought of was a PBS travel program called ROUGH TRAVEL. Searched and found a GREAT web site for info. Go to the first link and in the DESTINATION SEARCH go to the right side and pull down NEW YORK CITY.





Once on that page, look at your left margin for TONS of links!





Once more, go to the left margin--the bottom link is EXPLORE NEW YORK CITY. Click on that it it will list most of the places you would want to visit.








For example, I clicked on EATING and it asked if I wanted cafes, restaurants or bars...clicked on CAFE and (sorry) once again on the left margin you'll find the neighbood lists. Restaurants are the least of your worries--there's over 14,000 of them--you won't go hungry! When you're in Soho all you'll do is walk--from store to store to store..





I clicked on SOHO and found these:





Balthazar Bakery 80 Spring St (between Crosby St and Broadway) tel 212/965-1414.


Next door to the celebrated Balthazar brasserie, this bakery has wonderful breads and pastries both simple and ornate, without the attitude.





Bassett Caf茅 123 W Broadway (at Duane St) tel 212/349-1662.


Salads, light bites and an assortment of sides in spare but pleasant surroundings.





Bouley Bakery Cafe 120 W Broadway (between Duane and Reade sts) tel 212/964-2525.


Wunderkind David Bouley's latest, a tiny bakery-restaurant with truly great breads and baked goods, as well as reasonably priced light food. Make sure to turn right once through the door, or you'll end up in the tres expensive restaurant.





Hampton Chutney 68 Prince (at Crosby St) tel 212/226-9996.


The American sandwich takes a detour through Indian breads and ingredients. Out of the ordinary, and quite good.





Snack 105 Thompson (between Prince and Spring sts) tel 212/925-1040.


Some fresh Greek food and mezzes will only set you back about $10 at lunch. Be prepared to wait for a table at this thimble-sized space.





Yaffa Tea Room 19 Harrison St (at Greenwich St) tel 212/966-0577.


Hidden in an unassuming corner of TriBeCa next to the Yaffa Bar, this restaurant serves Mediterranean-style dinners, good brunch and a cozy high tea (reservations required).





Wish I were going! Have a fun, safe trip!