10 culture breaks you need to take this year

New York

What to do: 721 art galleries, 420 theatres, 220 public libraries, 100 markets, 62 Michelin star restaurants, 48 comedy clubs and five national museums. New York crams a lot of culture into a relatively small, yet skyscraper-filled, space. It can claim prominence in many of these fields but it is in the theatre where New York most dominates global culture. A visit to Broadway is considered among the great American experiences and visitors can choose from experimental avant-garde theatre and major multi-million dollar productions.

Must see: Manhattan’s ‘Museum Mile’ is the name given to a section of the world famous Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest concentrations of culture anywhere in the world. From the soon-to-be-opened Museum for African Art to the well-established Guggenheim Museum and Goethe Institute it is a cultural explorer’s paradise. The pinnacle is the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (known to New Yorkers as The Met) which reportedly houses more than 2 million separate works in 19 different sections.

Where to stay: You’re never far away from culture of some sort in New York. But setting up base in Manhattan gives visitors excellent opportunities for exploration. The Ritz-Carlton, Battery Park has views across the Hudson to the Statue of Liberty and is walking distance from a great number of the city’s premier attractions. The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian is only a couple of blocks away, as is an impressive Skyscraper Museum. The fascinating Ellis Island Museum is just a two-minute ferry-journey from the hotel entrance and Broadway should take just 15 minute by iconic yellow cab.

The Ritz-Carlton, Battery Park