But New York City should also be known as the metropolis that never gives up. Despite events like 9/11 and recent economic woes, it actually gets better with adversity: in the last decade some of its best new hotels have opened, overpriced and not particularly good restaurants have been shuttered and replaced with excellent better-priced choices, and up and coming neighborhoods have flourished as new boutiques, bars and museums have sought out new stomping grounds at cheaper rents.

The immense diversity of choice from shopping to hotels to eateries means that now is a buyer’s market and prices here have rarely included more bargains (when booking a hotel for example, always look for special offers as the price tag can turn out to be much less than officially advertised).

Another added draw is how much safer the city has become in the last ten years; after a draconian approach to crime by ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a lighter touch by Michael Bloomberg, New York truly has seen a huge reduction in everything from petty attacks to homicide--in fact the figures for 2009 were the lowest since they started recording them.

In addition to tourist must sees like the legendary Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty, and iconic museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, save a number of your days for getting off the beaten track to neighborhoods like the Lower East Side where old school enclaves like Chinatown and Little Italy are home to some of the city’s best ethnic restaurants.

Brooklyn is another fast changing borough and areas like Carroll Gardens, Fort Greene and Red Hook are becoming foodie destinations in their own right with one-of-a-kind restaurants and old speakeasy-type bars. And architecture buffs shouldn’t miss the new buildings that have grown up in the last few years like Renzo Piano’s new extension at the Morgan Library as well as the New York Times HQ, the new delightful expansion of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) by Yoshio Taniguchi, and the New Museum on the Bowery, which has given new cultural life to Downtown.

Whether you are an avid culture hound, a traveling gourmet, an avid shopper looking to pack your suitcases with loot, or a nightlife fiend, you’ll find there is no limit to the adventure you’ll find in New York City. In fact you might have to go home and recover from the sheer excitement of it all.