This busy traffic circle at Central Park's southwest corner anchors the Upper West Side and makes a good starting place for exploring the neighborhood if you're coming from south of 59th Street. The central 700-ton granite monument (capped by a marble statue of Christopher Columbus) serves as a popular meeting place.

To the west looms the Time Warner Center, its 80-story twin glass towers designed by skyscraper architect David M. Childs. The concave front of its lower floors envelops Columbus Circle's curve, while the upper towers mirror the angle of Broadway and the lines of the city's street grid. It houses an array of shops on the first three floors, among them Sephora, Borders, and Coach. The third and fourth floors have restaurants, including outrageously priced and acclaimed sushi restaurant Masa (a meal for two starts at $800), plus Thomas Keller's takeout-friendly Bouchon Bakery, and Gray Kunz's Café Gray. Above are luxury condos, offices, and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, whose restaurant and bar make a bird's-eye perch for surveying the city below. The performing arts center Jazz at Lincoln Center is also in the complex.

Just north of Columbus Circle, the Trump International Hotel and Tower fills the wedge of land between Central Park West and Broadway; it's also home to the self-named Jean-Georges restaurant, where the celebrity chef works his culinary magic. On the south side, at 2 Columbus Circle, is the former Huntington Hartford building, built in 1964 and vacant since 1998, currently undergoing extensive renovations to open in fall 2008 as the new home of the Museum of Arts & Design.