Discover the Latest in New York City: Trendy Hotels, Exciting Restaurants, and Broadway Must-Sees

If you ask a New Yorker about the latest buzz in the city, you might hear about congestion pricing (a fee imposed on vehicles traveling below 60th Street in Manhattan to ease traffic and improve air quality). Additionally, the NYC/NJ region has secured the honor of hosting the 2026 FIFA Club World Cup. New York City is ever-evolving, showcasing the ups and downs of a major metropolis, yet 2024 continues to thrive with innovation and growth.

This spring, visitors can look forward to a vibrant season of performing and visual arts: Broadway is launching numerous new productions, many of which have already captivated audiences Off Broadway this winter. Alicia Keys is everywhere this season, with a new musical depicting her teenage years in Hell’s Kitchen and an exhibit featuring her husband, Swizz Beatz, at the Brooklyn Museum. Getting around the city has significantly improved, thanks to substantial investments in local airports and train stations. Don't limit your visit to Manhattan; the boroughs are thriving, with exciting new restaurants in Brooklyn and the legendary Second City comedy troupe opening a location in Williamsburg.

Here are some of the most thrilling new openings, changes, and experiences to enjoy in New York City this spring.

Must-visit new hotels to explore

In the wake of the pandemic, NYC has witnessed the revival of legendary hotels—starting with the Hotel Chelsea, and this summer, The Surrey will reopen as a Corinthia hotel, marking the first of its kind in North America. The former Relais & Châteaux property shut its doors in 2020 due to the pandemic; prior to that, it was a well-known Upper East Side residence for celebrities (think Bette Davis and JFK) seeking exclusive service and luxurious amenities.

We’re also observing the transformation of the dynamic NoMad neighborhood (North of Madison Square Park), which has experienced a hotel surge, recently adding a Virgin Hotel and the city’s second Ritz-Carlton, as reported by Nicholas DeRenzo late last year. The talk of the town is the 153-room Fifth Avenue Hotel, situated within a historic bank building alongside a new 24-story glass tower at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 28th Street. “Behind the hotel’s limestone facade lies a vibrant explosion of colors and textures, echoing the audacious spirit of the late 19th-century Gilded Age,” DeRenzo shares. Reserve your stay now.

Dining destinations to center your trip around

Inside the Fifth Avenue Hotel is one of the city’s trendiest dining spots: Café Carmellini, exuding classic Old New York supper club charm, where a who's who of the culinary world fills the plush banquettes. Yet, as The New Yorker notes, “thank goodness that, for all its elegance, it’s also just a lot of fun.” This latest venture from James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Carmellini marks his return to fine dining, featuring dishes like lobster cannelloni with golden caviar and oysters a la pomme, served by bow-tied waitstaff. Reservations are available 14 days in advance.

Another must-book reservation: Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi. Located in a somewhat formal setting at Lincoln Center, the restaurant’s lively menu, atmosphere, and music reflect chef Kwame’s Afro-Caribbean Bronx heritage. The shareable dishes are prepared with care and include braised oxtail, crispy okra, honeynut piri piri salad, and unique seafood boils that stand out in the city.

Another culinary icon, chef Marcus Samuelsson, presents his new restaurant Metropolis in the lobby of the new Perelman Performing Arts Center NYC. This James Beard Award-winning chef draws inspiration from the diverse immigrant communities across the five boroughs; expect flavors like Flushing-style oysters with XO sauce, smoked hamachi tacos, and aged Long Island duck served with mole and winter plums.

Key cultural events to catch in 2024

Download TodayTix now to secure your tickets for the high-profile plays and musicals premiering on the Great White Way this April; meanwhile, the vibrant art scenes from the Bronx to Brooklyn are beckoning.

Theater, Off Broadway

Can the excitement of nighttime at the Apollo get any larger? Absolutely. In February, the iconic 90-year-old theater expanded its reach by adding the refurbished Victoria Theater, which includes two new black box theaters. The Apollo has transformed into an arts campus in Harlem, according to NYC Tourism, attracting dancers, spoken word artists, and even more newcomers chasing their dreams.

Off Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company is gearing up for a particularly star-studded spring/summer season. Sandra Oh will grace the stage in Lucy Kirkwood’s The Welkin, set in rural England in 1759, which follows 12 women determining the fate of a young woman who claims to be pregnant to escape execution. Additionally, Shayan Lotfi’s What Became of Us explores themes of immigration and diaspora, featuring two siblings—one born in the old country and the other in a new one. The show boasts two casts: BD Wong and Rosalind Chao (May 17–June 15), followed by Shohreh Aghdashloo and Tony Shalhoub (June 10–29).

Laura Winters’ All of Me, presented by The New Group, is both a romantic comedy and a poignant exploration of disability and class in the U.S. This love story centers on two characters who rely on mobility devices (he uses a wheelchair, she a scooter) and text-to-speech technology to communicate. Joining lead actors Madison Ferris and Danny J. Gomez is Kyra Sedgwick, marking her return to the New York City stage after several years.

Theater, Broadway

Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, and the Greasers make their Broadway debut in The Outsiders, a musical adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s 1967 coming-of-age novel (opens April 11). Alicia Keys provides the lyrics and music for this modern take on growing up, capturing the musician's journey to find her voice in Hell’s Kitchen during the ‘90s, featuring both new and familiar songs alongside an award-winning creative team (opens April 20). Following a successful run at the Park Armory, the Sufjan Stevens–written musical Illinoise (another dialogue-free coming-of-age story based on his 2005 concept album, Illinois) will graduate to Broadway (opens April 24).

Fans of HBO should snag tickets for An Enemy of the People, a Henrik Ibsen drama featuring Succession’s Jeremy Strong as a small-town doctor struggling to warn locals about an impending environmental crisis. Co-starring White Lotus’s Michael Imperioli as his brother and primary adversary, the mayor, this is a limited engagement running through June 6. Steve Carell joins the Broadway scene alongside Alfred Molina, Alison Pill, and Anika Noni Rose in the Chekhov comedy Uncle Vanya at Lincoln Center Theater. As Vulture notes, be prepared to laugh while grappling with an “existential crisis about climate change” (April 24–June 16).

Comedy

The Second City has officially landed in NYC with an expansive 12,000-square-foot venue in Williamsburg, featuring two cabaret-style theaters, a restaurant and bar, plus training spaces for aspiring comedians and corporate team-building activities.

Visual art exhibits and installations

Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys, life partners and influential figures in their fields, have curated an impressive art collection over the years, including works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lorna Simpson, and Kehinde Wiley. The Brooklyn Museum showcases this collection in the major exhibit “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys (through July 7), highlighting Black diasporic artists.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently hosting the first museum survey of “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” in New York City since the late 1980s. This thoughtfully curated exhibit offers new perspectives on 1920s–40s Harlem and the early Great Migration through 160 pieces—including sculptures, paintings, photographs, films, and ephemera—paired with representations of international African diasporan subjects by European artists such as Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, and Pablo Picasso. Many works are on loan from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (through July 28).

The 81st Whitney Biennial—the longest-running survey of contemporary American art in the nation—just reopened on March 20, featuring 71 artists and collectives across the Whitney Museum, which itself is a work of art. It's best to explore freely and let chance lead the way (through Aug. 11).

Fun for the Entire Family

The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx is always full of enchantment. This May, a surrealist version of Alice in Wonderland takes over as “Wonderland: Curious Nature” features whimsical installations by Yoko Ono, Oscar de la Renta, and others, along with afternoon tea parties and scavenger hunts guided by the Cheshire Cat (May 18–Oct. 27).

The Intrepid Museum has just launched its largest temporary exhibit to date, “Apollo: When We Went to the Moon,” showcasing interactive media, photographs, and artifacts from the Apollo program and NASA’s Moon to Mars mission (through Sept. 2).

5 Reasons to Visit Brooklyn Right Now

As Brooklyn curator Casey Burry gears up for the launch of her travel-themed pop-up shop, Take Me With You, at the Ace Hotel Brooklyn, she encourages visitors to explore deeper into BK. “I recently moved to the border of Columbia Waterfront/Red Hook, and while it’s a quaint little corner near Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Brooklyn Heights, the culture here is vibrant,” Burry shares. “When we take the kids out, we like to reserve a table at Cafe Spaghetti, a charming new Italian eatery by chef Sal Lamboglia. Popina is another excellent spot with a happy hour for pasta.”

“I’m looking forward to the opening of the next New York branch of Cafe Gitane this spring. I’m also a huge fan of everything happening at Pioneer Works. This arts organization has a strong focus on science, offering everything from quantum physics talks to artist residency exhibitions and intimate concerts. I caught Sampha there last fall, and it was a truly memorable experience.”

Fly into . . .

Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport, if your routes permit. Once the butt of jokes among NYC airports, it has transformed into one of the best in the country following an $8 billion renovation. Some Dinogo editors prefer arriving at LaGuardia early just to enjoy the new Chase Sapphire Lounge by the Club, which opened in January.

Reported by Nicholas DeRenzo.