Local guides introduced Ruth Campbell and friend to a different side of New York during an action-packed girls’ weekend. But they still found time for high-rise cocktails and celebrity spotting

IT was a cold, wet miserable day when my friend Lynne and I met for coffee. Our children were heading off on various school trips, to Rome, Austria and Normandy. “Don’t you wish we could get away?” Lynne said wistfully. “Yes. Like New York,” I agreed, not thinking it would ever happen. But, after a few glasses of wine, by 8pm that night, we had booked cheap flights to the Big Apple.

Three months later, we arrived in the city that never sleeps and decided the only way we could ever pack in all we wanted to see and do in our three night break was to do likewise. Before we knew it, we were sipping cocktails from what has to be one of the best rooftop bars in the world, celebrity spotting and hanging out in downtown Soho, eating like real New Yorkers in the East Village and hitting Fifth Avenue with a Manhattan fashionista.

But before we got started, we opted for a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city to give us an overview. No matter how many times you have been to New York, it’s always worth doing this again, for it’s impossible to tire of this breathtaking cityscape, with its iconic landmarks and vibrant streets that provide the backdrop to so many famous movie scenes. While our CityPASS ticket booklet gave us entry to the must-see top attractions during our whistle-stop tour, which included a mad dash to the Empire State Building to catch the last elevator at 1.20am, we also wanted to experience something of the New Yorker’s New York.

So we pre-booked some themed walking tours of city, such as the Food on Foot tour of downtown’s East Village, with self-confessed foodie Corey as our guide, introducing us to the places locals love off the beaten tourist track. He took us to the sort of unprepossessing looking cafes and takeaways we may ordinarily have walked past, where we tasted some of the best dumplings, pizza, porchetta, hot dogs, muffins and ice cream to be found in the city. It also gave us a taste of this laid-back but dynamic bohemian neighbourhood with arty shops, hip bars and eclectic restaurants.

Here, we spotted our first celeb – actor Michael Kelly who plays Douglas Stamper in House of Cards. On his way to pick his son up from nursery at the end of the street, he was happy to stop and have photos taken with our group.

Corey gave us lots of tips about where to eat out, and where to avoid, in Manhattan too. Thanks to his advice, after a night-time walk over the Brooklyn Bridge we enjoyed the best pizza we’d ever eaten – while avoiding the huge queue at the nearby world famous Grimaldi’s pizzeria.

Our WindowsWear tour took window shopping to a whole new level. An imaginative alternative to a museum visit, we checked out stores including Gucci, Valentino, Tiffany and Saks on Fifth Avenue, as our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide Joline offered us a masterclass on the fashion industry. As well as tipping us off about upcoming trends and ground breaking designers, Joline provided a fascinating glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes in the world of high fashion. I also learnt that that 99% of ‘Louis Vuitton’ bags you see on the streets are fake and that more than 70% of the world’s population is wearing denim on any given day.

Having pounded the streets, we needed to rest our feet, so headed, early evening, to Bar Sixtyfive at Rainbow Room, the cocktail bar attached to the famous art deco rooftop restaurant, 65 floors up at the top of the Rockefeller Centre. This chic, modern bar, which opened two years ago and attracts a young, cool crowd, certainly has the wow factor, with floor to ceiling windows and outside terrace making the most of spectacular, wraparound views of the city. The impressive range of cocktails – we had to try a Manhattan, of course – aren’t cheap, but still cost less than entrance to the Top of the Rock observation deck just two floors above, drink not included. The food was great too, and from our table, the views were better than from the Empire State Building because we had a perfect, uninterrupted view of the city’s most famous art deco sky scraper.

We loved Bar Sixtyfive so much that, after a walk along the High Line - a disused, elevated rail line imaginatively transformed into an urbanite park above the busy streets - we returned to the bar around midnight to take in its killer views as the city twinkled in the darkness.

Next day, at the site of Ground Zero, where, 15 years ago, two planes crashed into the Twin Towers, killing more than 2,600 people, another New Yorker took us on a particularly moving and thought-provoking tour. Maxime Laboy, who was working in one of the Twin Towers when the first plane hit, is a volunteer at the 9/11 Tribute Centre, which shares the personal stories of those who were there with people like us, who watched it unfolding on TV. She confessed she ran away from disaster, while her friend Ed Emery was killed after going back to help others. Now, burdened by guilt, she does these tours in memory of him: “I am determined his name will not be forgotten,” she told us.

Following this solemn but enlightening experience, we took a New York Water Taxi night time cruise to the Statue of Liberty. From the water, the view of this dynamic city, including the new One World Trade Centre building, soaring defiantly heavenwards was truly uplifting. And then, when we reached the statue, a young man got down on bended knee and proposed to his girlfriend. She said yes - a joyful, life affirming moment.

Next day, we spent our last few hours hanging out over brunch. No-one does brunch better than New Yorkers. And there’s nowhere better to people watch than in fashionable Soho.

Just along the street from the famous Dean and Deluca deli, where the Sex in the City girls used to meet for coffee, is the Delicatessen restaurant, which offers upmarket all-American food in stylish surroundings. This is the perfect location, bang in the middle of Soho, with sliding glass walls opening out to the street. Having spotted rapper Kayne West jumping out of a black limo with his bodyguard and actress Meg Ryan walking hand-in-hand with her daughter, just feet away from us, we were in celebrity heaven. But, even without the celebrities, this restaurant, has real star quality. Brunch in New York means everything from steak and eggs to buttermilk pancakes piled high with chocolate, banana and cinnamon cream. Anything goes.

So we tried the speciality macaroni cheeses, followed by the best steak Lynne had ever tasted and a mouth-wateringly good buttermilk fried chicken with truffle fries for me.

We didn’t have room for the over-sized ice cream shakes, or dessert. But we’re already planning to go back and try them another time…

TOP TOUR

TripAdvisor award winner five years in a row: foodonfoottours.com

TOP ROOFTOP BAR

Cocktails in the sky at Bar SixtyFive at Rainbow Room: rainbowroom.com

TOP RESTAURANT

Great food in a cracking location: delicatessennyc.com

TOP TIP

To avoid the huge Natural History Museum queues, not many people realise you can enter through the Planetarium by the side, which links up. We walked straight in.

FACT FILE

CityPASS saves 40% of the combined price of admission to top attractions: citypass.com

bigbustours.com

windowswear.com

9/11 Tribute Centre: tributewtc.org

nywatertaxi.com