Book a tour in advance to skip the line and enjoy this New York hidden gem without any hassle. Nature as an Art – The New York Earth Room Representing class and culture, with distinct attire differentiating between blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, radicals, and rich people these charming sculptures sure have a way of putting a smile on your face. A Topside Secret – 620 Loft and Gallery While the street doesn’t look the same as it did during its crime-ridden days, it is still super cool to visit. If you wish to stroll where the gangsters once roamed, a walking tour is the best way to see where some of the worst criminal acts took place. Brooklyn Grange is a farm on a roof. Most visitors access it through a café at street level which has its fruits and vegetables delivered, perhaps uniquely, from upstairs. When a waiter passes with a mixed salad, the owner says, 'Yep,' and points at the ceiling. 'Everything on that plate came from up there.' What could be more York-like than having the remains of a Roman bathhouse underneath a pub?! The Roman Baths is a pub on the busy St. Sampson’s Square, but underground are the remains of the bathhouse where Roman soldiers went to blow off some steam. While the museum is quite small, there’s lots of information about the life of Roman soldiers living in Eboracum (as York was known). Reward yourself from a pint at the bar after taking in all the history!

A broad welcome,' says one of the planners into a microphone, 'on this, the longest day of the year, a day when the sun is delivering more energy to us than on any other.' The sun right now is perceptible only as a bright strip of sky high above the gully of convulsing advertisements, but the point is interesting. Can loose energy be assimilated? If so, Times Square does in fact make an ideal spot. And if popularity is any indication, it works: the ground is carpeted with stretching bodies, each one on a branded yoga mat. 'We think it's grown,' says the loudspeaker, 'because it really taps into what all of us are really trying to do, which is: engage with life.' Walk enough and you might begin to suspect that nothing is boring - an awesome state of mind. In Bay Ridge you tramp down to the Beltway to a sight of the Verrazano Bridge that verges on the mystical. Further north is the virtually unknown Narrows Botanical Garden. 'It's the largest community garden in New York,' says landscaper Jimmy Johnson, taking a break to share the spot he's devoted himself to. 'We've got ponds, streams. There's a pollinating garden over there where we keep the beehives.' Further on you see a monument to the Viking Leif Ericson (it's just below the Valhalla Playground: Sunset Park was once heavily Scandinavian), and walk up through New York's second-largest Chinese population, passing along the way an old cinema converted into a Turkish mosque. You can see aLl this by yourself, but you likely wouldn't go as far. 'The next day, you're paralysed,' says group leader Bob Lazaro of the longer, heroic walks. 'You gotta go with somebody. A companion to talk to. That's why we do it.' Take a journey down to 520 Madison Avenue to see this one above (which is very similar to these parts of the wall in the East Side Gallery in Berlin). Next to York Explore Library and Museum Gardens are some of the ruins of St. Leonard’s Hospital. At one time it was the biggest hospital in the north of England. It was founded after the Norman Conquest, and this building was built after the former St. Peters Hospital was damaged by fire in 1137. The vaulted crypt is all that’s left, and the structure on top would have been the chapel.

This work of art by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela will pull you deep into the ever-changing world of light and sound. There is no fanfare around it, and you might even stumble upon it randomly as you’re strolling down Church Street in Tribeca.

If like many you're not totally sure what yoga is good for, and also can't remember what or when the summer solstice is, there is a peculiar event for your convenience. For the last dozen years on June 21, the spandexed masses have gathered to practice their usually private and inward-looking exercises in the honky, sultry, dirty, neoned jukebox of Mammon that is Times Square. The tradition started with just a handful of inspired devotees who glimpsed, among the heaving tourists, a hint of the eternal sublime: there is a flood of unharnessed forces in that place. Why not use it? Just outside the Museum Gardens is St. Olave’s Church, home to my favorite door in York! This pretty little church was first mentioned in 1055, rebuilt in the 1400s, and underwent substantial repairs in the early 1700s. It is dedicated to the patron saint of Norway, St. Olaf—and this church was the first known church dedication to the saint anywhere in the world. It’s definitely one of York’s hidden gems.York is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Britain. This era was York’s apogee, its wealth and status reflected in the built environment, so much of which survives today. The city had always been an important ecclesiastical and trading centre, but it benefited significantly from the burgeoning textile and wool trade, and royal patronage. The latter came largely a result of York’s status as an Archbishopric and its strategic role as a base for English forays into Scotland. Prosperity was further reinforced by the establishment of a Jewish community. Yet the stories tell us much about York – and England’s – troubled history. The restless dead are often plague victims, Catholics, traitors, deviants, madmen and outlaws or their victims; men and women at the boundaries of society who represented ‘otherness’. The longest I did was from Inwood to the Battery,' says Cheryl, a regular. Not shabby: it's the entire length of Manhattan. 'It was painful. But what fascinates me about these walks, is I see neighbourhoods that I wouldn't normally go to.' Often the territory covered has no conspicuous appeal, and slyly reversing your assumptions may be the best thing Shorewalkers offers. 'You'll turn a corner,' says Cheryl, 'and all of a sudden you'll have an unbelievable view.' In the Bronx’s sleepy neighborhood of Spuyten Duyvil, sitting on the edge of a cliff, alongside the Palisades and overlooking the Hudson River is a charming Italian-style villa built in 1926. The Villa Charlotte Bronte consists of 17-units of duplexes and triplexes, all different from each other. After the fall of the Berlin Wall a generation ago, parts of the wall were distributed all across the globe, with five pieces ending up across the city of New York.

It's all beautifully written by TM Rives, who goes so far as to unearth a bunch of things to do which are so unusual that even true locals won't have heard of most of them. There's something for all kinds of people (well, most kinds of people; this is New York, after all). Like guns? You can shoot one in a Manhattan basement. Like scraping out animal innards? Take a taxidermy class. Want to go on the beat with NYPD cops, or explore forbidden islands in a kayak, or borrow a dog to make yourself look like a native Williamsburger? This book will show you how. Read a preview of our favourite activities taken from Secret New YorkCreated by artist,Cynthia von Buhler – there are scores of tiny little doors that are dotted all across New York City.

The venue opened on May 12 - 10 years on from the death of her sister, Cerys, who lost her battle with cancer, aged 36, leaving behind two children. Would you believe it if we told you that amidst New York’s skyscrapers and busy roads is a medieval castle? A long and winding wooded pathway atop a hill in Manhattan will take you on a journey to the Middle Ages.When you think of New York, Central Park will be one of the first things that comes to mind. It is, undisputedly, one of the most popular places in NYC and one of the must-visit spots. Why is it on our list, you might wonder? Central Park is ginormous, so much so that a large number of hidden treasures are found within, including Ramble cave. That’s exactly what artist Walter De Maria did in 1977 in a random room of a New York Soho loft, which not only made this NYC hidden gem an enigmatic art but also somewhat iconic. Initially, the Earth Room with a 22-inch-deep layer of soil was supposed to be temporary, but following its success, the art piece became permanent.