Times Square

Day or night, the place blazes. Giant screens climb the buildings on every side, flashing colour and motion; crowds flood the pavements; yellow taxis push through the traffic; and the noise never quite stops. This is Times Square, the bright, loud crossroads at the heart of midtown and one of the most visited spots on earth.

It sits where two great avenues cross, a busy junction that took its name from a newspaper that built its headquarters here more than a century ago. The paper has since moved on, but the name stuck, and the square became famous far beyond the city.

The screens are the point. By law and custom, the buildings here are required to carry bright signs, so the square is wrapped in glowing advertising that turns night almost into day. It is one of the few places where the billboards are the attraction rather than a nuisance.

It is also the heart of the theatre district. The streets around the square hold the famous Broadway theatres, where the big musicals and plays run, and much of the evening crowd is heading to or from a show, which gives the area its particular buzz after dark.

Once a year the square draws the whole world's attention, when vast crowds gather on the last night of the year to watch a lit ball slide down a pole at midnight. The celebration is broadcast everywhere, and it has made the square a symbol of the turning year.

The square has changed a great deal. Decades ago it was seedy and run-down, known more for vice than for family outings; a long clean-up turned it into the bright, crowded, heavily commercial place it is now, for better and, some old-timers would say, for worse.

Part of the street is now closed to cars, with seating where people sit among the lights, watch the crowds, and have their photographs taken with costumed characters. It is chaotic, commercial, and not to everyone's taste, but its sheer energy is undeniable.

For all its fame, locals tend to avoid it, seeing it as a crowded, overpriced place to pass through rather than linger. Knowing that helps set expectations: come for the spectacle, not for a quiet meal or a bargain.

The spectacle is best after dark. The screens have most effect at night, when the colour fills the whole square and the crowds peak, so an evening visit, perhaps before or after a show, shows the place at full strength.

It is easy to reach and hard to miss, sitting on top of one of the city's busiest transport hubs and within walking distance of the park, the main shops, and the theatres, so almost every visitor passes through it at some point.

A few practical notes. Keep a firm hand on your belongings in the crowds; agree a price before posing with any costumed character, as they expect a tip; and step onto a side street for food and drink at saner prices. Come for the experience, then move on.

Stand still for a minute in the middle of it all, with the screens blazing on every side and the crowd flowing around you, and simply take in the sheer overload. Few places are so purely about light, noise, and spectacle. Then slip away down a side street, and the ordinary city returns within a block.