#A, #B, #C, #D, #1, or # 2 to 59th Street.

Columbus Circle , at the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West and 59th Street, is a pedestrian's worst nightmare but a good place to start investigating the Upper West Side nonetheless.

You'll immediately spy the glittering Trump International Hotel , a new luxury hotel and residential condo, that was touted as "The World's Most Prestigious Address" - just the most recent example of Donald Trump's extraordinary hubris.

For relief, go west a few blocks and contemplate the Church of St Paul the Apostle , 9th Avenue between 59th and 60th streets, a beautiful Old Gothic structure housing Byzantine basilica features.

At 2 Lincoln Square (at Broadway and 66th St) the Museum of American Folk Art (Tues-Sun 11.30am-7.30pm; suggested admission $3; tel 212/595-9533, www.folkartmuseum.org ) has occasionally interesting (if a little recondite) exhibitions of multicultural folk art from all over the US, with a permanent collection that includes over 3500 works from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries.

Columbus Circle and around

• Columbus Circle and around

New York cities


All U.S. city guides