IDEAS: Park Hyatt New York Debuts Art Installation Created by Hyatt Colleague

“Fire Island is a very special place, especially for queer people,” Jimi Urquiaga, a.k.a. Missleidy Rodriguez, told me. While that might seem like a statement of the obvious, Urquiaga has experienced the island from an atypical vantage point: for the past two summers, they've been packing up their life in New York City as a costume designer, producer, creative director and drag queen to come work at the Pines’ plant shop, CAMP. Urquiaga called me on their break, sitting behind a desk at the plant shop, with a view overlooking the bay. “So that’s the fantasy,” they said with a laugh after describing their surroundings.

Three life-changing words: New York City.

A recent visit to Governors Island came a few days after a conversation I’d had with my father in which he’d instructed me to act like a tourist in my own city. He’d started by asking simply how I was filling my summer weekends, and I answered honestly that most of my free time was spent reading in one park or another and going to bars in my Brooklyn neighborhood. “New York City,” he reminded me (with earnest intention to inspire, no righteousness detected), “has more things to do in it than you’ll be able to see in a lifetime.”

When you're after a beach in New York State, the glitz and glamor of the Hamptons and the old-school appeal of Coney Island – both in the vicinity of New York City – tend to steal the spotlight. But there are plenty more sandy havens to be found across the Empire State.

Yes, NYC can easily monopolize all of your vacation time but don't sleep on the incredible landscapes that await you in New York State – we've got all the info you need on how to get there and around.

Manhattan’s concrete jungle may get New York’s marquee treatment, but the state’s natural beauty lies outside of the five boroughs.

The beauty of New York State lies not just in its landmark attractions, but also in the places in between – the foliage-blanket hills of the Catskills , the serene stillness of the waters in the Finger Lakes and the silent strength of the peaks of the Adirondacks .

Manhattan’s Lower East Side has always been known for its gritty edge. This is the place where immigrants, arriving from Ellis Island and typically holed up in a tenement apartment, had their first view of New York, and indeed of their version of the ‘Great American Dream’. As a consequence, there is still a strong presence felt of a wide variety of different communities and cultures – from Jewish to Italian. In fact, at the crossroads with China Town, Little Italy and SoHo, you still feel as if you are in the heart of the city’s infamous melting pot which makes this city so diverse and exhilarating.

Striking American landscapes, quirky antique stores, fabulous hikes and some of the best bakeries you’ll ever find. Welcome to New York State! From one end to the other, the Empire State is crammed with outdoor adventures, cool art, great food and friendly people.

The time of year will definitely be a factor in how you choose to get around when you visit New York City – taking the subway in summer or opting to walk in the depths of winter can test your discomfort threshold. On the other hand, in the city that never sleeps, you can get anywhere, anytime, thanks to night-owl cabbies and trains that run around the clock. That's a boast not many other cities can make. 

It isn’t hard to find a bit of respite from New York City’s clamor. Really.

While Manhattan has seen its fair share of new neighborhoods pop up in recent years—Hudson Yards, for example—the borough is also packed full of historic districts that can be traced back to well before the 19th century, with Hell’s Kitchen being a particularly notable case. Located on the eastern banks of the Hudson River, this Jersey-adjacent neighborhood has historically been home to a high concentration of working-class Irish Americans, while a prominent LGBTQ+ community can be found in the modern era—and in addition to its many lifelong residents, the neighborhood is no stranger to luxury hotels, with the Romer Hell's Kitchen serving as the neighborhood’s newest addition.