Neighborhood Overview: Upper East Side

Subway Line: 4,5 (express) 6 (local)
Overall, you'd have to call the UES Ritzy/Gossip-Girly/Old School/Very wealthy/somewhat beyond parody. It's staid and elegant and not at all hip. But it's the home of upper Madison Avenue and the "Museum Mile" (the Frick, the Met, the Guggenheim, Neue Gallery and the Jewish Museum to name but a few) and a natural spot to visit. Lovely for walking - on 5th, or in Central Park, or up and down Madison.


I also really like The Museum of the City of New York a bit further uptown.



Foodwise, it's not a booming scene, and most of it's fancy, but there are several eminently civilized spots for coffee etc.


To the East, you've got Yorkville. This is now a rather douchey assemblage of young financial types etc. but traditionally, this was NYC's German neighborhood, and there are a few vestiges that are neat if you're in the area. Hit Glaser's Bakery, Schaller & Weber's deli/grocery or the Heidelberg Restaurant for beer, old-school German food, and elderly waitresses in dirndls! For a snack, your best bet is the (modern, non-German) Two Little Red Hens Bakery.