New York City, NY

What to wear in New York City, NY

If there is one place you can feel free to express your haute couture or anti-couture self, it's New York. Wear whatever you feel like wearing, except in finer restaurants and clubs, which have strict dress codes. For the weather, bring cool cottons in summer, a medium jacket in spring and autumn, and a full ensemble of layers and a heavy coat for winter.

Advising for New York City, NY visitors

We strongly advise that you confirm the following information and regard this only as a basic guide.

Subways

New York Public Transportation is the best in the world, and during the day it is as perfectly safe as it is convenient. After roughly 9pm at night, however, it is a good idea to stay above ground and use buses or taxis instead of the subway. At all times, stand well back from the platform edge until the train arrives. It's part of the fun and "real New York" experience, but it requires some common sense caution.

Safety

New York has had such an enormous turnaround that it is now the safest of all big American cities and ranks very low on the FBI crime list, so relax and have fun. Nonetheless, there are some areas that you should avoid, like above 96th Street, as well as Alphabet City at the far end of the East Village. At night, avoid the Lower East Side and the East Village in general. Times Square is now a wonderfully safe and well-peopled place until at least 11pm, but you can stay away from the areas west and south of Times Square. Stay out of the parks at night (unless you're attending an organized public event, and then stay with the crowd) and whenever you get disoriented or stray from main visitor areas, stick to the main roads.