Recently, another NYC-based publication bravely ventured across the Hudson to express awe at the hidden gems in New Jersey. Really? So we figured it was a good moment to return the favor.

Guys, you better be paying attention, because we’re about to blow the lid off New York City, the metro area’s best-kept secret.

For years, we assumed the towering structures across the Hudson River were relics of a time past, or an elaborate tarp covering an extension of the Fresh Kills landfill. We had to know for sure. We bravely traversed the Hudson River to investigate.

To our shock, there are people living here — living breathing mammals like you and I. Quite a few of them in fact! More astonishing yet, these people seem to have built a world for themselves, complete with culture and entertainment. And when we realized these people were actually pleasant to talk to and be around, well our heads nearly exploded on the spot.

But it’s true. The city we thought was lost to the crime wave of the 1970s and 1980s is totes having a moment RN, and you need to check it out.

Now, we concede it isn’t the easiest place to access. Your only options as of this writing are two tunnels, four bridges, nine train lines, the PATH, ferries, hundreds of buses, helicopter and, for the truly brave, paddle board. As the crow flies, it’s a seemingly unthinkable one-and-a half-miles from downtown Jersey City.

But it’s so worth it.

Just sitting in one of their many Starbucks, Think Coffees, Pink Berrys or Red Mangoes (their economy appears to be based on yogurt and caffeine), there’s a tremendous diversity of people. A man on the street told us New York is the most diverse place on the planet, so we’ll take that as empirical evidence that it’s true.

And the food! Guys, the food. These pugnacious people have even tried their hand at New Jersey mainstays like pizza and bagels. And you know what? They aren’t half bad! For a moment we found ourselves thinking that traveling a few thousand feet to the east has no effect on the regional cuisine. Preposterous, we know, but they’ve got this guy Ray, who’s evidently both famous and original, and he knows his way around a pie.

We were knocked off our feet by the amount of entertainment here. There’s a little theater district, locally called Broadway, with seemingly dozens of upstart troupes vying to be the next Paper Mill Playhouse. People raved about sports teams like the Giants, Jets and Red Bulls but couldn’t seem to recall where they played. There’s even a park at the center of town — think a miniature Pine Barrens if it were surrounded by towers of rich people that blocked out the sun. Fab!

You simply must traverse the city’s many local neighborhoods. There’s Greenwich Village, a leafy hamlet you might as well call Maplewood East. Further south, a buried gem called SoHo seems to be fashioning itself as the next Short Hills mall — some of their clothing stores only had seven articles of clothing but we’re confident they’ll get there. Then there’s Times Square, a bedazzled jewel in the center of the city, where the neon glow is not unlike Atlantic City, and somehow both less and more sad.

There’s simply too much to do for one day — we spent most of our time catching our breath from the shock that there’s anything here at all! Legend has it four sister cities called The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, are not far off. But historians say visiting them would require traversing two bodies of water in one day, a feat not yet accomplished by man.

But after a whirlwind day in New York, we were plum tuckered. We finished our adventure on the river’s edge in Chelsea as the sun set. When the light is just right, and you squint, you might even think you’re in Weehawken. Until you realize you’re actually looking at Weehawken, which is 3,500 feet away.