Little Italy and Chinatown are two of New York’s most famous ethnic neighborhoods. Walking through the streets beneath the fire escapes of turn-of-the-century tenements, your taste buds go wild and your senses are tempted by the sights, sounds, and smells of the Italian and Chinese cuisines and cultures emerging from the restaurants and shops around you.

Both Little Italy and Chinatown have remained traditional immigrant communities and both have retained their unique cultural personalities. Chinatown Starts on Canal Street with its business storefronts flowing onto the sidewalk where the art of negotiation is the name of the game. Little Italy extends north of Houston Street up Sullivan and Thompson Streets where small coffee shops and traditional family restaurants are everywhere tempting the passersby to stop in and taste the homemade cooking.

The local architecture is comprised of traditional New York walk-ups. Although the buildings are the same as anywhere else in the city, each community has made significant efforts in transforming their living and work environments into more traditional and for them familiar settings. And thus, it is not rare that you enter a street where all signs are in Chinese or Italian and where the stores are run without any English-speaking representatives.

Rents and sales prices vary from block to block and can go from some of the cheapest you’ll find anywhere in the city to fairly high and expensive.

A majority of visitors come down here for authentic cuisine amidst the exotic atmosphere. You’ll find the majority of dining choices along the narrow, winding Mott and Mulberry Streets just below Canal Street. Chinatown closes quite early compared to regular NYC standards. Many of the businesses close by 6 p.m. and restaurants by 11 p.m.

Another major attraction of the neighborhood is local festivals. Every September, Little Italy hosts the San Gennaro festival and every February the Chinese celebrate their New Year with dragon dances and other traditional ceremonies. Thousands of tourists, residents and visitors partake in the festivities.