Experience the best of Newark

Newark was founded in 1666 by Puritan settlers from Connecticut and grew into the main industrial and port city of New Jersey, on Newark Bay and the Passaic River. Its skyline is anchored by the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a Gothic Revival church begun in 1898, and by the Newark Museum of Art, whose collections range from American art to Tibetan altars. The New Jersey Performing Arts Center hosts concerts and theatre.

Branch Brook Park, designed by the Olmsted firm, has thousands of cherry trees that bloom in April, said to outnumber those in Washington. The Ironbound, a neighbourhood enclosed by railway lines, is the Portuguese and Brazilian heart of the city, around Ferry Street. Manhattan lies about fifteen kilometres to the east, reached by train in under half an hour, and the Jersey Shore lies about an hour and a half to the south-east.

The Ironbound's restaurants serve grilled fish, salt cod, chouriço sausage and custard tarts, and Brazilian churrascarias carve meat at the table. Newark also has Portuguese bakeries, Italian delis and Caribbean kitchens. The city is hot and humid in summer, cold in winter, and best in spring when the cherry trees bloom.