Access New York City 13e (Access Guides)

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.


Glad I bought it.   October 30, 2003
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

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."


A Frenchman's New York   March 25, 2003
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I found this book to be an excellent guide for New York because it focuses on places to go, not so much the history of the place like other guidebooks. I don't know who comes to New York just for the history, anyway! (There's Paris for that.)But for restaurants, hotels, and even some clubs ACCESS was better than even my hotel concierge. Although there was no way to try everything mentioned in the book, every place I did go to, or restaurant I dined at, was current and good even though sometimes the chef was different. Maybe even more details on the downtown scene would be good, instead of pages on boring Upper West Side, etc., but overall this is a tres bon map to a good time to what is still the greatest city in the world. And that's coming from a Frenchman...vive le New York!


New York user's manual   March 24, 2003
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

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 There could have been more listings downtown and some of the gay listings are out of date but for restaurants and hotels the book can't be beat.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.


Very disappointed in the newest edition   February 2, 2003
 15 out of 16 found this review helpful

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.