Customer Reviews

Access New York City (7th ed.)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The Access New York City Guide is divided into sections for each region in the city, with separate maps for each area and detailing, in color code, destinations and places of interest in each area, including hotels, restaurants,(both rated for quality and expense), and shopping. It is the easiest New York guide book I have used, because I am able to find where I want to go, see the easiest way to get there, and know what's there when I do. The guide contains maps for subway and bus travel and airport access. I prefer this area-by-area format because I can see easily all the attractions in each part of the city. This has a distinct advantage over guides which group by topic; for example, I might find a hotel that suits my needs, and by checking the area on the map, I can find a restaurant on the same page, in my price range, within walking distance, and know what's cooking for dinner. Other guides would have you searching another chapter. This is the latest of many editions of the Access New York City guide, and is just as enjoyable from your armchair at home as it is from your tourbus. Also included are such fun tidbits as a list of movies filmed in the city, books written about New York, and little-known facts about the histories of the most famous landmarks. Altogether this guide and its logical format would make your hundredth trip to the city as exciting as your first.

First of all,let me say that I have always been a big fan of the Access series of books, and usually buy one for every city I am visiting. I live in Manhattan and my NYC Access book is used ALL the time, esp when visiting new neighborhoods or when I have visitors. I could always count on Access to provide great recommendations for places to eat and visit. I just purchased the newest edition and am extremely disappointed. I live on the upper West Side and the information provided for my neighborhood in the 2002 edition is SO OUTDATED and not useful. They list stores that closed more than four years ago, very few of the fun restaurants where the locals eat are mentioned and many of the "unknown famous landmarks" are no longer listed. My neighbors and I cannot figure out how they chose the restaurants that are listed. Since I know that the information for my neighborhood is full of errors and omissions, how can I trust it for exploring new neighborhoods? The new format is horrible. Previously, whenever friends moved into the city, my housewarming gift basket ALWAYS included the latest edition of NYC Access, but no longer. There are better guides available.

We just returned from a trip to New York City. I am a HUGE fan of Access books and have used them for cities around the world for the last 14 years. However, the current version of the New York City Access is woefully outdated and was a waste of money. We found several businesses had moved and one, the venerable Balducci's, had gone of out business. Needless to say, this de-railed us a few times and was inconvenient to say the least.

Things change quickly in New York. If Access wants to be in the business of publishing guides of New York, they need to commit to annual updates.

I lucked into buying this guide when I first moved to New York seven years ago, and it served as a perfect introduction to the city. Even in a city that changes as rapidly as New York, I continued to find this book useful for several years after I bought it, and I still frequent some of the off-the-beaten-path restaurants that the author recommends. (But I'm not telling you the names; you'll have to discover them for yourself!)

As much as I liked this book, I can see how it might not be ideal for everyone. For one thing, unlike a lot of guidebooks, it doesn't go out of its way to prioritize the different sites and to dictate what you ought to see as a visitor. Unless the book has changed since the edition I bought, you won't find any walking tours or suggested itineraries. But if you have enough time and are willing to give serendipity a chance, the best way to experience in New York is on foot, exploring neighborhood by neighborhood, with this book in hand. Whether you're interested in architecture, shopping, arts, or history, you will find this book an excellent travel companion.

In preparing for 3 day sightseeing trip to New York City with my wife, this was the first book I bought. It helped me determine where to stay, some sights not to miss, & a couple excellent restaurants to try. I was very satisfied with the information I learned from this book & I'm glad I bought it. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy other books on NYC because I bought 3 or 4 others and I learned some addition things from each of them. For me, I don't know if I'll ever get back to NYC and I wanted to make sure I would see all the spots I felt would be important to me. Other very good books are "Eyewitness Travel Guide New York,", "Lonely Planet New York City,", & the "Zagat Survey on NYC Restaurants."

New York City is a place that can easily overwhelm. The sights, the bustle, the lights, the sounds can confound even the most experienced traveler, more so an easily disoriented country bumpkin like me. I remember the time I was uncomfortable of strolling down to Broadway from Grand Central to see a musical- everything seemed larger than life, and that made a few blocks seemed many times farther. Yet it is the very same complexity that makes New York exciting and a place everyone should experience. Access New York, so aptly named, dissects New York to its core, that made New York less daunting and more inviting to my taste. Color-coded descriptions, great pictures, and a jaunty style of writing made it a breeze to read, and should make it a wonderful travel companion to anyone visiting New York. Even now that I know my way around New York, it still helps me enjoy a bit more my wanderings to the Museum of Natural History, the seaport by the Brooklyn Bridge, and Central Park, to name a few. Indeed, Access New York does go a long way in making New York your neighborhood.

We were in New York July 2010. Access guidebooks are my favorite, however the 2008 edition for New York City is outdated. I gave the 2 star rating because the current edition is outdated. We were disappointed more than once to find our destination out of business. Be sure to call ahead to verify any place you want to visit, especially in SoHo and the Village, if you are using the 2008 edition. Wish I had just used my old one and not purchased the "new" one. If you have never used an Access Guidebook, you definitely need to be introduced to them. Current editions are invaluable. Organization and information are both wonderful.

This book has undergone some big changes from the last edition, namely in the format which is less readable than before. But Access doesn't get bogged down in history like other guidebooks feel obliged to do, and the listings are snappy without being smarmy like, notably, the Rough Guides. There could have been more listings downtown and some of the gay listings are out of date but for restaurants and hotels the book can't be beat. Too bad the reviews can't be downloaded onto a Palm Pilot.

I have a 10-year old version of this book that I've been using all this time. I decided it was time for an update. I don't go to NYC without it. I visit my friend who lives there and she even relies on this book for guidance and suggestions. All of the Access books are great!

We visited New York City for the first time in 2007. In preparation for the trip, we purchased two guide books: Access New York City and the DK Eyewitness Travel guide to New York. Our goal was to see as much of street-level Manhattan Island as possible without spending a ton of money. We therefore planned on walking a lot and taking subways. Of the two guide books, the Access guide turned out to be indispensible and we carried it every step of the way. The DK guide has beautiful photographs and cool three-dimensional sketches of key city blocks, but the traditional maps provided for each area are very small and have only a few attractions noted. In the back of the book, there are several more practically sized maps but they identify little more than streets, parks and a smattering of larger structures.

The inside cover of the Access guide divides Manhattan Island into 15 main areas and the subsequent chapters cover them one at a time. At the beginning of each chapter you get a history-rich overview of the area and a perfectly sized map with every point of interest in the body of the chapter represented by a precisely located number on the map. It's literally as easy as reading the chapter and then mapping your walk, block by block. If your focus is on history, popular culture and traditional tourist attractions, the guide works quite well. As is the case with any guide book, there's always the chance that post-publication changes may lead to disappointments. The only one we encountered, however, was finding the White Horse Tavern where Dylan Thomas is said to have drunk himself to death boarded up. We were using the Twelfth Edition (2006) and suspect that the Thirteenth will account for this unfortunate closure.Only Shot At A Good Tombstone