The Upper East Side is known for its luxury boutiques, proximity to Central Park and world-famous cultural attractions—in particular Museum Mile, the stretch of nine museums that line Fifth Avenue between 82nd and 105th Streets. A stroll along Park, Madison or Lexington Avenues finds the elegant townhouses and brownstones frequently associated with the neighborhood , long home to some of the city's wealthiest residents.
 
On the corner of Lexington and 59th Street is Bloomingdale' s—one of New York City's shopping icons, a beloved sanctuary for stylish consumers. Experience unique shopping at Dylan's Candy Bar (1011 Third Avenue, 646/735-0078), which offers an assortment of gift baskets, scented spa items, novelty candies, lollipops and more. On Madison Avenue, window shopping can be intoxicating.

The stretch of Fifth Avenue between 82nd and 105th Streets has been renamed Museum Mile because of its astonishing number of world-class cultural treasures and some of New York's most distinguished architecture such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum. It is lined with the former mansions of the Upper East Side's more illustrious industrialists and philanthropists.

The neighborhood is a cornucopia of treasures, including the intimate Frick Collection, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the National Academy Museum. The Jewish Museum's Gothic-style mansion bursting with artwork and ceremonial objects tracing over 4,000 years, and the graceful Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution (pictured at left). An added attraction to strolling along Fifth and Park Avenues are the many fascinating non-museum displays on view to the careful observer. 

The mayor calls this neighborhood home, but surprisingly to some, not in Gracie Mansion. Gracie Mansion, the usual mayoral abode, is a historic house on 88th Street and East End Avenue overlooking the East River and surrounded by a waterfront park.

Central Park lines Fifth Avenue. Discover a zoo, a castle, a reservoir, an an ice-skating rink, a boathouse where you can rent rowboats, a gorgeous conservatory garden and plenty of trails for walking, jogging and bicycling. It's a park for all seasons, from ice-skating in winter to free, summertime performances of Shakespeare's plays and concerts on the Great Lawn that crescendo to dazzling displays of fireworks. After the show,  head over to the bar at one of the neighborhood's tony hotels, like The Carlyle, the Loews Regency or the Hotel Plaza Athenee.