Wallpaper* City Guide: New York

Wallpaper* City Guide: New York is a New York City guidebook geared toward the design-oriented traveler. Whether you're looking to see New York City's architectural landmarks or stylish hotels, the Wallpaper* City Guide: New York will ensure your design desires are satisfied.

For the traveler looking to experience New York City's impeccable style, Wallpaper* City Guide: New York is a good choice. Write-ups are candid and honest, focusing on properties and locations that are recommended, while honestly identifying strengths, weaknesses and strategies for making the most of the experience. Unlike many other guidebooks, you get a clear sense that the authors have not only visited the properties featured in the listings, but have actually stayed in the hotels, eaten in the restaurants, and patronized the bars.

The 24 Hour Itinerary offers an exciting (if exhausting) sampling of New York City, safely managing to avoid cliches without ignoring some classic New York City spots.

Landmarks and Architour sections feature buildings representing the diverse architecture and design of New York City, with interesting historical background and pictures of each building.

Listings in the Shopping and Sports and Spas sections are handpicked and while there are references to some of New York City's big department stores and areas with American chain stores, there are only a handful of stores with detailed listings.

Travelers thinking of leaving town might be inspired by the Escapes section, with listings including New Canaan, Connecticut (home to Philip Johnson's Glass House) and Shelter Island, but this section is more of an afterthought than a resource.

Critical information is packed into the Resources section at the rear of the book, which keeps the book uncluttered, but requires page flipping to figure out how much hotels cost, as well as addresses, phone numbers and websites for relevant listings. The Resources section parallels the order of the book instead of having the listings in alphabetical order, which I find counterintuative.