Attractions
Must-see attractions
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Upper East Side
What started with a handful of paintings brought over from Europe or donated by a coterie of philanthropically minded robber barons in the 19th century…
Central Park
Upper West Side & Central Park
One of the world’s most renowned green spaces, Central Park comprises 843 acres of rolling meadows, boulder-studded outcroppings, elm-lined walkways,…
Ellis Island
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
Located in New York Harbor, Ellis Island is the US's most famous and historically important gateway and is home to one of the country’s most moving…
Empire State Building
Midtown
The Chrysler Building may be prettier, and One World Trade Center taller, but the queen bee of the New York skyline remains the Empire State Building. NYC…
One World Observatory
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
Spanning three levels at the top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, One World Observatory offers dazzling panoramic views over Manhattan's…
Guggenheim Museum
Upper East Side
A New York icon, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, more commonly known as the Guggenheim, is an internationally-renowned art museum and one of the most…
Statue of Liberty
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
It’s been over a century since Lady Liberty made her debut appearance on the New York skyline, but this iconic statue is still one of the city’s most…
National September 11 Memorial Museum
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
When the twin towers of the World Trade Center toppled during the awful events of 11 September 2001, it led to years of soul-searching about what would be…
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Top picks from our travel experts
15 of the best things to do in New York City in 2024
Curated by
Ethan Gelber
Chrysler Building
Midtown
Designed by William Van Alen and completed in 1930, the 77-floor Chrysler Building is the pinup for New York's purest art deco architecture, guarded by…
Rockefeller Center
Midtown
This 22-acre 'city within a city' debuted at the height of the Great Depression, with developer John D Rockefeller Jr footing the $100-million price tag…
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Upper East Side
What started with a handful of paintings brought over from Europe or donated by a coterie of philanthropically minded robber barons in the 19th century…
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
New York City
Opened in 1911 and now one of Brooklyn's most picturesque sights, this 52-acre garden is home to thousands of plants and trees and a Japanese garden where…
Bronx Zoo
The Bronx
This 265-acre zoo is the country’s biggest and oldest, with over 6000 animals and re-created habitats from around the world, from African plains to Asian…
High Line
West Village, Chelsea & Meatpacking District
It’s hard to believe that the 1½-mile-long High Line – a shining example of brilliant urban renewal – was once a dingy freight line that anchored a rather…
Museum of Modern Art
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Superstar of the modern-art scene, MoMA's galleries are a Who’s Who of artistic heavyweights: Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rothko,…
Empire State Building
Midtown
The Chrysler Building may be prettier, and One World Trade Center taller, but the queen bee of the New York skyline remains the Empire State Building. NYC…
Ellis Island
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
Located in New York Harbor, Ellis Island is the US's most famous and historically important gateway and is home to one of the country’s most moving…
Brooklyn Museum
New York City
This encyclopedic museum, imagined as the centerpiece of the 19th-century Brooklyn Institute, occupies a five-story, 560,000-sq-ft beaux-arts building…
Top of the Rock
Midtown
When it comes to views in New York City, you’ll be spoiled for choice. The One World Observatory may have the edge for height, and the Empire State…
Luna Park
New York City
The original Luna Park, the most famous of Coney Island's competing amusem*nt parks, opened in 1903 and reigned for decades until destroyed by fire in the…
Statue of Liberty
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
It’s been over a century since Lady Liberty made her debut appearance on the New York skyline, but this iconic statue is still one of the city’s most…
National September 11 Memorial Museum
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
When the twin towers of the World Trade Center toppled during the awful events of 11 September 2001, it led to years of soul-searching about what would be…
Central Park
Upper West Side & Central Park
One of the world’s most renowned green spaces, Central Park comprises 843 acres of rolling meadows, boulder-studded outcroppings, elm-lined walkways,…
Coney Island
New York City
About an hour by subway from Midtown, this popular seaside neighborhood makes for a great day trip. The wide sandy beach has retained its nostalgic,…
New York Botanical Garden
The Bronx
Founded back in 1891, this welcome expanse of green takes in 50 acres of old-growth forest, alongside lush gardens, ornate greenhouses and water features …
Times Square
Midtown
Love it or hate it, the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Ave (aka Times Square) pumps out the NYC of the global imagination – yellow cabs, golden…
Nathan’s Famous
New York City
The hot dog was invented in Coney Island in 1867, which means that eating a frankfurter is practically obligatory here. The top choice: Nathan’s Famous,…
Industry City
New York City
These six towering warehouses by the Brooklyn waterfront have been repurposed as a 35-acre hub for shops, design studios, start-ups and nonprofits. The…
Yankee Stadium
The Bronx
The Boston Red Sox like to talk about their record of nine World Series championships in the last 90 years…well, the Yankees have won a mere 27 in that…
Grand Central Terminal
Midtown
Completed in 1913, Grand Central Terminal – commonly, if incorrectly, called Grand Central Station – is one of New York’s most venerated beaux-arts…
American Museum of Natural History
Upper West Side & Central Park
Founded back in 1869, this venerable museum contains a veritable wonderland of more than 34 million objects, specimens and artifacts – including armies of…
Met Cloisters
Harlem & Upper Manhattan
On a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River, the Cloisters is a curious architectural jigsaw, its many parts made up of various European monasteries and…
Radio City Music Hall
Midtown
This spectacular moderne movie palace was the brainchild of vaudeville producer Samuel Lionel 'Roxy' Rothafel. Never one for understatement, Roxy launched…
Madison Square Garden
Midtown
NYC's major performance venue – part of the massive complex housing Penn Station – hosts big-arena performers, from Kanye West to Madonna. It’s also a…
Citi Field
Queens
The home of the New York Mets, the city's underdog baseball team, Citi Field opened in 2009, replacing the earlier Mets HQ, Shea Stadium. In contrast to…
21 best free things to do in New York City
Curated by
Robert Reid
Green-Wood Cemetery
New York City
If you want to enjoy a slice of scenic Brooklyn in total peace and quiet, make for Green-Wood Cemetery. This historic burial ground set on the borough’s…
New York Public Library
Midtown
Loyally guarded by 'Patience' and 'Fortitude' (the marble lions overlooking Fifth Ave), this beaux-arts show-off is one of NYC's best free attractions…
Museum at FIT
Midtown
Fashionistas won't want to miss a visit to the fabulous sartorial exhibits at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), which holds one of the world's…
David Zwirner
West Village, Chelsea & Meatpacking District
David Zwirner operates several galleries around Chelsea, including this five-story, sustainability-certified building with 30,000 sq ft of exhibition…
Blue Note
West Village, Chelsea & Meatpacking District
With the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie gracing its stage since it opened in 1981, Blue Note is one of NYC's premier jazz…
High Line
West Village, Chelsea & Meatpacking District
It’s hard to believe that the 1½-mile-long High Line – a shining example of brilliant urban renewal – was once a dingy freight line that anchored a rather…
Hudson Yards
Midtown
After six years of construction and $25 billion of investment, the first phase of Manhattan's new megadevelopment 'neighborhood' on the Hudson finally…
National Museum of the American Indian
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, this elegant tribute to Native American culture occupies Cass Gilbert's spectacular 1907 Custom House, one of…
Delacorte Theater
Upper West Side & Central Park
Every summer the Public Theater heads here to present its fabulous free productions of Shakespeare in the Park, which founder Joseph Papp began back in…
Public Theater
SoHo & Chinatown
This legendary theater was founded as the Shakespeare Workshop back in 1954 and has launched some of New York's big hits, including Hamilton in 2015…
Statue of Liberty
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
It’s been over a century since Lady Liberty made her debut appearance on the New York skyline, but this iconic statue is still one of the city’s most…
Central Park
Upper West Side & Central Park
One of the world’s most renowned green spaces, Central Park comprises 843 acres of rolling meadows, boulder-studded outcroppings, elm-lined walkways,…
SoHo & Chinatown
The world's first museum dedicated to LGBTIQ+ themes stages six to eight annual exhibitions of both homegrown and international art. Offerings have…
Strawberry Fields
Upper West Side & Central Park
Standing inside the park across from the famous Dakota Building, where John Lennon was fatally shot in 1980, is this poignant, tear-shaped garden – a…
New York Earth Room
SoHo & Chinatown
Since 1980 the oddity of the New York Earth Room, the work of artist Walter De Maria, has been wooing the curious with something not easily found in the…
Socrates Sculpture Park
Queens
First carved out of an abandoned dump by sculptor Mark di Suvero, Socrates is now a city park on the river's edge with beautiful views and a rotating…
Prospect Park
New York City
Brooklyn is blessed with a number of historic, view-laden and well used green spaces, but its emerald is Prospect Park. The designers of the 585-acre park…
Pace Gallery
West Village, Chelsea & Meatpacking District
With seven galleries across the world – including this eight-story Chelsea flagship – and decades of experience showing the work of such artists as Willem…
American Folk Art Museum
Upper West Side & Central Park
This small institution offers rotating exhibitions in three small galleries. Past exhibits have included quilts made by 19th-century soldiers and…
General Ulysses S Grant National Memorial
Harlem & Upper Manhattan
Popularly known as Grant’s Tomb (‘Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?’ ‘Who?’ ‘Grant, stupid!’ goes a classic joke), this landmark holds the remains of Civil…
Barbès
New York City
This compact bar and performance space, named after a neighborhood in Paris with a strong North African flavor, is owned by French musicians (and longtime…
Village Vanguard
West Village, Chelsea & Meatpacking District
Possibly NYC's most prestigious jazz club, the Vanguard has hosted literally every major star of the past 50 years. Starting in 1935 as a venue for beat…
African Burial Ground National Monument
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
In 1991, construction workers here uncovered more than 400 stacked wooden caskets, just 16ft to 28ft below street level. The boxes contained the remains…
Battery Park
Financial District & Lower Manhattan
Skirting the southern edge of Manhattan, this 12-acre oasis lures with public artworks, meandering walkways and perennial gardens. Its memorials include…
Bronx Museum
The Bronx
Culture vultures will enjoy the Bronx Museum for its its well-executed exhibitions of contemporary and 20th-century art. The Bronx Museum has a strong…
