Seniors Enjoy…#1 Tourist Attraction

Lonely Planet has just selected Queens as the top place to visit in 2015.  How about that, senior travelers? Forget Brooklyn! New York City borough of Queens is named best place to visit in US in 2015. South Dakota is No 2 and New Orleans No 3.

The borough has been described as the ‘global melting pot of New York’. Praised for its microbreweries, beaches, food and ‘world-class’ art scene. This senior did now know that Queens had a beach, did you? So lo and behold, check out Rockaway Beach in Queens.

Queens has a history going back beyond colonial times. Geographically it is part of Long Island and was the home of Native American Lenape people. English and Dutch colonists made their settlements in Maspeth and Vlissingen (now Flushing) in the 1640s. It was part of the New Netherlands colony.

Destination For Senior Food Lovers

Senior visitors will note that there is a plethora of languages spoken, 138 to be precise. I always wonder who counted them. That makes for a “true melting pot”. And with that many different nationalities, you will discover an incomparable array of world cuisines making Queens a destination for food lovers from all parts of New York City and beyond.

Wandering from borough to borough and neighborhood to neighborhood, senior visitors can take a virtual trip around the world, sampling the flavors of China, India, Russia and beyond—without ever leaving the city, right in the heart of Queens. Lonely Planet has chosen well and encourages readers to explore the borough.

Seniors Enjoy The Diversity

Queens is the easternmost and largest in area of the five boroughs of New York City, geographically adjacent to the borough of Brooklyn at the western end of Long Island. Queens’ biggest strength is its remarkable diversity. Among the 2.2 million people living within its 109 square miles, there are immigrants from more than 100 different countries.

Keep your senses ready and senior visitors will learn about ethnic groups you may not have even heard of, and sample some unbelievably authentic fare. Roosevelt Avenue, a central Queens corridor, goes through Southeast Asia, India, South America, China and Korea in only a couple of miles.

Queens is also a premier sporting destination, with both Citi Field, home base for the New York Mets and Arthur Ashe Stadium, where tennis greats vie for the U.S. Open title each year.

As if you needed any more coaxing to visit Queens, here is what a local resident notes…”Queens is, in my opinion, hands down the best borough. I moved here from Russia at three years old. Living here for 17+ years, I can without a doubt say that it’s absolutely wonderful. From restaurants to schools queens has it all. The streets are kept clean and you can always feel safe. Dozens of things to do, at anytime of any day.”

So set your sites on Queens on your next trip to NY City.  You will not be disappointed.  -jeb