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Things to Do in NYC: 100+ Landmarks, Sights & Attractions Across the City

Plan your visit · Updated for 2026

Looking for the best things to do in NYC? New York packs more landmarks and places to visit per square mile than almost anywhere in the country — over 100 sights across five boroughs…

100+

Named landmarks
Covered across this guide, from icons to hidden corners.

5

Boroughs
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island.

65M

Visitors a year
New York is the most-visited city in the United States.

1626

City founded
As New Amsterdam, on the southern tip of Manhattan
Empire State Building view from the bottom, NYC

New York City packs more landmarks per square mile than almost anywhere else in the country — over 100 sights across five boroughs, from Times Square's 330,000 daily pedestrians to the quiet reflecting pools at the 9/11 Memorial. With 65 million visitors a year, knowing which New York attractions actually deserve your limited time is what separates a rushed trip from a great one.

Below, our licensed local guides cover the top attractions in NYC — organized by borough and category, with the nearest subway stop, walking time, and whether it's free or ticketed. Filter the list, or scroll straight through if you'd rather see it all. If you want to cover most of this page in a single afternoon, our half-day bus tour is linked at the bottom.

Start here

Iconic NYC Landmarks

The four landmarks every first-time visitor should see — drive a half-day walk around any of them.
Iconic

Empire State Building

20 West 34th Street
Iconic

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge, New York, NY 10038
Iconic

Central Park

Central Park, New York, NY 10024
Iconic

Statue of Liberty

Liberty Island, New York, NY 10004
big apple

Why New York City Tops Every Travel List

Five boroughs, hundreds of neighborhoods, and a skyline that has become shorthand for the American city itself. The Manhattan skyline alone is reason enough to come — few views are as instantly recognizable as the one from across the East River or the Hudson. But the magic of NYC isn't just the postcard moments. It's the mix: Broadway marquees glowing at night, kids chasing pigeons in Central Park, the rumble of the subway, and the smell of halal carts at 2 a.m.

Whether you have 48 hours or two weeks, you'll barely scratch the surface. That's part of the fun.

parks

Parks and Outdoor Spaces

Little Island view and downtown Manhattan in the background
Free

Little Island

Pier 55 at West 13th Street, New York, NY 10014

Little Island is a 2.4-acre park floating above the Hudson River on 132 tulip-shaped concrete columns, rising from the water off West 13th Street in the Meatpacking District like a garden lifted into the air. Opened in 2021 and designed by Thomas Heatherwick, it's one of the most striking new public spaces in New York City: winding paths over planted hills, overlooks with views of the Statue of Liberty and the skyline, and a 687-seat amphitheater facing the sunset that hosts free and low-cost summer performances. It stands on the site of Pier 54, where Titanic survivors came ashore in 1912. Free, open daily from 6am to 11pm, and a five-minute walk from the High Line and the Whitney, it's the perfect start to a West Side afternoon and the best free sunset seat in Manhattan.

A/C/E/L to 14th St–8th Ave
Washington Square Arch
Free

Washington Square Park

Washington Square, New York, NY 10012

Washington Square Park is the beating heart of Greenwich Village and one of the most alive public spaces in New York City, a ten-acre square at the foot of Fifth Avenue framed by the Washington Square Arch, a 77-foot marble monument designed by Stanford White in 1892. Surrounded by NYU and the townhouses where Henry James and Edith Wharton once lived, the park fills every day with musicians around the fountain, chess players at the southwest tables, students on the lawns, and the pianist who wheels a grand piano in most afternoons. It was the stage of the 1960s folk revival, it's been the backdrop for decades of protest and film, and it sits on top of a potter's field where 20,000 people lie buried. Free, open daily, and ten minutes from SoHo and the West Village, it's the place to feel what downtown New York is actually like.

A/B/C/D/E/F/M to W 4th St · N/R/W to 8th St–NYU
Bryant Park in NYC
Free

Bryant Park

41 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018

Bryant Park is the green heart of Midtown Manhattan, a nine-acre lawn behind the New York Public Library that is the most intensively used park in New York City and one of its most beloved. In spring and summer it's a living room for the city, with free yoga, outdoor movies on the lawn, ping-pong, a carousel, and thousands of movable green chairs. From late October through early March it becomes the Winter Village, the city's biggest holiday market, with more than 170 vendor kiosks, food stalls, and the only free-admission ice rink in Manhattan. Five minutes from Times Square and Grand Central, it's free to visit, open daily, and sits above the library's underground stacks. Whether you're skating in December or watching a film under the skyscrapers in July, Bryant Park is Midtown at its best.

B/D/F/M to 42nd St–Bryant Park · 7 to 5th Ave
Ticketed

Ellis Island

Ellis Island, New York, NY 10004

Ellis Island is the gateway through which more than 12 million immigrants entered the United States between 1892 and 1954, and today about 40 percent of Americans can trace an ancestor to its Great Hall. It sits in New York Harbor beside Liberty Island, and the same ferry ticket that takes you to the Statue of Liberty stops here. The restored Main Building holds the National Museum of Immigration across three floors of photographs, artifacts, and oral histories, with the vaulted Great Hall where arrivals waited to be inspected at its heart. Visitors can search ship manifests for their own relatives, walk the American Immigrant Wall of Honor, and, on the Hard Hat Tour, explore the abandoned hospital on the island's south side. Many visitors expect the statue to be the highlight of the trip and come away saying it was Ellis Island.

4/5 to Bowling Green · 1 to South Ferry (then ferry)
high line park nyc
Free

The High Line

Gansevoort Street to West 34th Street, New York, NY 10011

The High Line is a 1.45-mile elevated park built on an abandoned freight rail line 30 feet above Manhattan's West Side, running from the Meatpacking District through Chelsea to Hudson Yards. Opened in stages from 2009 to 2019, it's become one of the most visited attractions in New York City, with about eight million people a year walking its path of wildflower plantings, original rail tracks, rotating art installations, and skyline and Hudson River views. It's free, open daily, and fully accessible, with a dozen entrances along its route. The walk passes the Whitney Museum, cuts through Chelsea Market, and ends at the Vessel and the Edge observation deck at Hudson Yards, which makes it the spine of a perfect West Side afternoon. Walk it south to north, early in the morning, for the best light and the fewest people.

A/C/E/L to 14th St–8th Ave (south) · 7 to 34th St–Hudson Yards (north)
Free

Central Park

Central Park, New York, NY 10024

Central Park is the green heart of New York City — 843 acres of lakes, meadows, woodlands, and landmarks in the middle of Manhattan, and the most visited urban park in the United States with over 42 million visits a year. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and opened in 1858, the park is entirely man-made, yet it feels like a countryside escape from the city around it. Its famous landmarks include Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, Bow Bridge over the Lake, the elm-lined Mall, Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle, and the Central Park Zoo, and it has appeared in more than 300 films. Central Park is free and open daily from 6am to 1am. Whether you explore on foot, by bike, or on a guided pedicab tour, it's the one place every visitor to New York should see.

A, B, C, and D lines to Columbus Circle
planning

Best Time to Visit NYC

The best time to visit New York City depends on what you're after. Spring (April to June) and fall (September to early November) offer the most comfortable weather and the clearest skies for skyline photos. Fall also brings changing leaves to Central Park and the Hudson Valley.

Summer is hot, humid, and crowded, but it's packed with outdoor events, free concerts, and rooftop bars. Winter is cold — sometimes bitterly so — but if you visit in December, the holiday lights, the ice skating at Bryant Park, and the Rockefeller Center tree make it worth the chill. January and February tend to be the quietest months, which also means the best hotel rates.

Museums

Iconic Museums

American Museum of Natural History
Ticketed

American Museum of Natural History

200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest natural history museums in the world, a four-block complex on Central Park West across the park from the Met, holding more than 34 million specimens and drawing five million visitors a year. Its icons are the ones every child knows: the Tyrannosaurus rex in the world's largest dinosaur collection, the 94-foot blue whale hanging over the Hall of Ocean Life, the elephants and painted dioramas of the African mammals hall, and the Hayden Planetarium in its glass cube. The new Gilder Center added a butterfly vivarium and a live insectarium in 2023, and the whole museum is the setting of Night at the Museum. Timed tickets start around $28, residents pay what they wish, and it pairs perfectly with Central Park's west side and the Dakota a short walk away.

B/C to 81st St–Museum of Natural History · 1 to 79th St
Ticketed

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1000 5th Avenue

The Metropolitan Museum of Art — known to everyone simply as The Met — is the largest art museum in the United States and one of the most visited in the world. Standing on Fifth Avenue along Central Park's Museum Mile, the Met houses over two million works spanning 5,000 years of human creativity, from ancient Egyptian temples to European masterpieces to contemporary art. Highlights include the Temple of Dendur in its glass-walled gallery, the arms and armor collection, the American Wing, and the seasonal rooftop garden with its sweeping views over Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. Whether you're planning a focused visit to a few galleries or a full day among the masterpieces, the Met is one of the essential cultural experiences in New York City. Admission is pay-what-you-wish for New York State residents.

4, 5, and 6 to 86th St Station
Neighborhoods

Explore the Neighborhoods

NYC's neighborhoods are destinations in themselves.

  • Upper West Side — Classic pre-war apartment buildings, leafy streets, and two of the city's great museums. Great for brunch and a Central Park walk.
  • Greenwich Village — Tree-lined blocks, live jazz, and cafés with real history.
  • SoHo and Tribeca — Cobblestones, cast-iron architecture, boutiques, and celebrity-spotting potential.
  • Chelsea and the Meatpacking District — Galleries, the High Line, and the Whitney Museum.
  • DUMBO — Brooklyn waterfront views of the Manhattan Bridge and the Manhattan skyline.
  • Harlem — Soul food, historic churches, the Apollo Theater, and deep cultural roots.
  • Williamsburg — Brooklyn's creative hub, full of street art, rooftop bars, and vintage shops.
all sights

NYC Sights & Points of Interest

Inside Oculus in New York City
Free

Oculus

185 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007

The Oculus is the white, winged structure at the center of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, one of the most photographed interiors in New York City and, officially, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Designed by Santiago Calatrava to evoke a bird released from a child's hands and opened in 2016, it's the station for PATH trains from New Jersey, a link between a dozen subway lines, and a shopping concourse beneath a soaring main hall of white steel ribs and Italian marble. Its 330-foot skylight opens once a year, on September 11, for the 102 minutes of the attacks, letting sunlight cross the floor at the moment the North Tower fell. It's free, open daily, and it stands between the 9/11 Memorial pools and the museum, which makes it the hinge of any visit to the World Trade Center, and the place with the restrooms.

R/W to Cortlandt St · E to World Trade Center · 1 to WTC Cortlandt
Vessel in Hudson Yards NYC
Ticketed

The Vessel NYC

20 Hudson Yards, New York, NY 10001

The Vessel is the 150-foot honeycomb of interlocking staircases at the heart of Hudson Yards, designed by Thomas Heatherwick and opened in 2019 as a landmark meant to be climbed rather than merely seen. Its 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps, and 80 landings rise in a copper-clad lattice that widens from a 50-foot base to a 150-foot rim, offering views of the Hudson River and the West Side skyline that shift with every step, and it became one of the most photographed structures in the world within months of opening. After closing in 2021, it reopened for climbing in 2024 with new safety barriers and timed tickets. The plaza and base are free, it stands at the northern end of the High Line beside the Edge observation deck, and it's the centerpiece of any visit to New York's newest neighborhood.

7 to 34th St–Hudson Yards
Edge NYC
Ticketed

The Edge

30 Hudson Yards, New York, NY 10001

Edge is the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, a triangular platform extending 80 feet from the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards, 1,131 feet above Manhattan's West Side. Opened in 2020, it's the one major New York deck that puts you fully outside, with the wind, a glass floor looking straight down to the street, and angled glass walls to lean over. The view sweeps from the Empire State Building to One World Trade Center to the Statue of Liberty, with the Hudson River below. Edge also offers City Climb, the highest external building ascent in the world, taking harnessed visitors up an exterior stairway to the roof at 1,271 feet. Timed tickets start around $38, it's included in the CityPASS, and it sits at the northern end of the High Line, which makes it the natural finish to a West Side walk.

7 to 34th St–Hudson Yards
Little Island view and downtown Manhattan in the background
Free

Little Island

Pier 55 at West 13th Street, New York, NY 10014

Little Island is a 2.4-acre park floating above the Hudson River on 132 tulip-shaped concrete columns, rising from the water off West 13th Street in the Meatpacking District like a garden lifted into the air. Opened in 2021 and designed by Thomas Heatherwick, it's one of the most striking new public spaces in New York City: winding paths over planted hills, overlooks with views of the Statue of Liberty and the skyline, and a 687-seat amphitheater facing the sunset that hosts free and low-cost summer performances. It stands on the site of Pier 54, where Titanic survivors came ashore in 1912. Free, open daily from 6am to 11pm, and a five-minute walk from the High Line and the Whitney, it's the perfect start to a West Side afternoon and the best free sunset seat in Manhattan.

A/C/E/L to 14th St–8th Ave
Chrysler Building
Free

Chrysler Building

405 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10174

The Chrysler Building is the most beautiful skyscraper in New York City, a 1,046-foot Art Deco masterpiece at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street whose stainless-steel crown of sunburst arches has defined the Midtown skyline since 1930. Built for automaker Walter Chrysler and covered in tributes to the car, from eagle gargoyles to radiator-cap ornaments, it won the race for the world's tallest building with a spire assembled in secret and raised through the roof in 90 minutes, then lost the title to the Empire State Building eleven months later. There's no observation deck, but its lobby of red marble, chrome, and a 100-foot ceiling mural is free to enter on weekdays and is one of the finest interiors in the city. It stands one block from Grand Central, and its crown is the reason to look up from anywhere in Midtown.

4/5/6/7/S to Grand Central–42nd St
Coney Island in Brooklyn
Free

Coney Island

1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11224

Coney Island is New York City's original seaside playground, three miles of Atlantic beach and boardwalk at the southern tip of Brooklyn where the city has gone to ride, eat, and swim for more than 150 years. Its landmarks are living history: the Cyclone, a wooden roller coaster from 1927 still running its original track; the Wonder Wheel, a 150-foot Ferris wheel from 1920 with swinging cars; Nathan's Famous, selling hot dogs on Surf Avenue since 1916; and the Parachute Jump towering over the boardwalk. Luna Park and Deno's Wonder Wheel Park run from spring through fall, the beach is free all year, and the New York Aquarium sits on the boardwalk. It's an hour by subway from Midtown, and it's the one place in New York that feels like a beach town, with a summer Friday-night fireworks show to prove it.

D/F/N/Q to Coney Island–Stillwell Ave
American Museum of Natural History
Ticketed

American Museum of Natural History

200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest natural history museums in the world, a four-block complex on Central Park West across the park from the Met, holding more than 34 million specimens and drawing five million visitors a year. Its icons are the ones every child knows: the Tyrannosaurus rex in the world's largest dinosaur collection, the 94-foot blue whale hanging over the Hall of Ocean Life, the elephants and painted dioramas of the African mammals hall, and the Hayden Planetarium in its glass cube. The new Gilder Center added a butterfly vivarium and a live insectarium in 2023, and the whole museum is the setting of Night at the Museum. Timed tickets start around $28, residents pay what they wish, and it pairs perfectly with Central Park's west side and the Dakota a short walk away.

B/C to 81st St–Museum of Natural History · 1 to 79th St
Staten Island Ferry with Statue of Liberty in the background
Free

Staten Island Ferry

4 Whitehall Street, New York, NY 10004

The Staten Island Ferry is the best free thing to do in New York City: a 25-minute ride across New York Harbor from the tip of Manhattan to Staten Island and back, passing within a half mile of the Statue of Liberty and delivering the full Lower Manhattan skyline on the return, all at no charge and with no ticket. It runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year, every 15 to 30 minutes from the Whitehall Terminal beside Battery Park. Most of the 70,000 daily riders are commuters; the visitors who know about it get the same view that costs $26 on the tourist boats, for free. Ride it at sunset, stand on the right side going out and at the front coming back, and you'll have one of the great experiences in the city without spending a dollar.

1 to South Ferry · R/W to Whitehall St · 4/5 to Bowling Green
Washington Square Arch
Free

Washington Square Park

Washington Square, New York, NY 10012

Washington Square Park is the beating heart of Greenwich Village and one of the most alive public spaces in New York City, a ten-acre square at the foot of Fifth Avenue framed by the Washington Square Arch, a 77-foot marble monument designed by Stanford White in 1892. Surrounded by NYU and the townhouses where Henry James and Edith Wharton once lived, the park fills every day with musicians around the fountain, chess players at the southwest tables, students on the lawns, and the pianist who wheels a grand piano in most afternoons. It was the stage of the 1960s folk revival, it's been the backdrop for decades of protest and film, and it sits on top of a potter's field where 20,000 people lie buried. Free, open daily, and ten minutes from SoHo and the West Village, it's the place to feel what downtown New York is actually like.

A/B/C/D/E/F/M to W 4th St · N/R/W to 8th St–NYU
Flatiron Building NYC
Free

Flatiron Building

175 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010

The Flatiron Building is one of the most photographed buildings in the world, a 22-story wedge of limestone and terra cotta that has stood at the triangle of Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and 23rd Street since 1902. Designed by Daniel Burnham on a lot so narrow its point is just six feet wide, it was among the city's first great skyscrapers and became an icon of modern New York in the photographs of Stieglitz and Steichen. It's the Daily Bugle in Spider-Man and it gave its name to the Flatiron District around it. There's no public access inside, and there doesn't need to be: the building is meant to be seen, and the plaza across 23rd Street with Madison Square Park behind you is the spot. Free, always visible, and ten minutes from the Empire State Building, it belongs on any walk down Fifth Avenue.

N/R/W to 23rd St · 6 to 23rd St
Visiting New York Public Library with tour guide
Free

New York Public Library

476 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10018

The New York Public Library's main branch on Fifth Avenue is one of the most beautiful public buildings in America and one of the great free experiences in Midtown Manhattan. Opened in 1911 and guarded by the marble lions Patience and Fortitude, this Beaux-Arts landmark welcomes visitors to its white marble Astor Hall, its grand staircases, and the Rose Main Reading Room, a hall nearly two city blocks long beneath a painted sky where anyone can sit and read. The library holds a Gutenberg Bible, Jefferson's handwritten Declaration of Independence, and the original Winnie-the-Pooh toys, and it has appeared in Ghostbusters, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Sex and the City. It's free to enter, offers free daily tours, and sits between Bryant Park, Grand Central, and Times Square, a five-minute walk from each.

7 to 5th Ave · B/D/F/M to 42nd St–Bryant Park
Bryant Park in NYC
Free

Bryant Park

41 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018

Bryant Park is the green heart of Midtown Manhattan, a nine-acre lawn behind the New York Public Library that is the most intensively used park in New York City and one of its most beloved. In spring and summer it's a living room for the city, with free yoga, outdoor movies on the lawn, ping-pong, a carousel, and thousands of movable green chairs. From late October through early March it becomes the Winter Village, the city's biggest holiday market, with more than 170 vendor kiosks, food stalls, and the only free-admission ice rink in Manhattan. Five minutes from Times Square and Grand Central, it's free to visit, open daily, and sits above the library's underground stacks. Whether you're skating in December or watching a film under the skyscrapers in July, Bryant Park is Midtown at its best.

B/D/F/M to 42nd St–Bryant Park · 7 to 5th Ave
Ticketed

Ellis Island

Ellis Island, New York, NY 10004

Ellis Island is the gateway through which more than 12 million immigrants entered the United States between 1892 and 1954, and today about 40 percent of Americans can trace an ancestor to its Great Hall. It sits in New York Harbor beside Liberty Island, and the same ferry ticket that takes you to the Statue of Liberty stops here. The restored Main Building holds the National Museum of Immigration across three floors of photographs, artifacts, and oral histories, with the vaulted Great Hall where arrivals waited to be inspected at its heart. Visitors can search ship manifests for their own relatives, walk the American Immigrant Wall of Honor, and, on the Hard Hat Tour, explore the abandoned hospital on the island's south side. Many visitors expect the statue to be the highlight of the trip and come away saying it was Ellis Island.

4/5 to Bowling Green · 1 to South Ferry (then ferry)
high line park nyc
Free

The High Line

Gansevoort Street to West 34th Street, New York, NY 10011

The High Line is a 1.45-mile elevated park built on an abandoned freight rail line 30 feet above Manhattan's West Side, running from the Meatpacking District through Chelsea to Hudson Yards. Opened in stages from 2009 to 2019, it's become one of the most visited attractions in New York City, with about eight million people a year walking its path of wildflower plantings, original rail tracks, rotating art installations, and skyline and Hudson River views. It's free, open daily, and fully accessible, with a dozen entrances along its route. The walk passes the Whitney Museum, cuts through Chelsea Market, and ends at the Vessel and the Edge observation deck at Hudson Yards, which makes it the spine of a perfect West Side afternoon. Walk it south to north, early in the morning, for the best light and the fewest people.

A/C/E/L to 14th St–8th Ave (south) · 7 to 34th St–Hudson Yards (north)
Visiting Chelsea Market in New York City
Free

Chelsea Market

75 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Chelsea Market is New York City's most famous food hall, a block-long indoor passage of more than 35 vendors inside the former Nabisco factory in Chelsea where the Oreo cookie was invented in 1912. Opened as a market in 1997, it draws about six million visitors a year to its stalls of tacos, lobster rolls, hand-pulled noodles, brownies, and everything in between, all under the original factory's exposed brick and iron. The High Line runs directly overhead with an entrance from the market's 16th Street side, so the two make a natural pair: eat in the market, then walk the elevated park north to Hudson Yards. It's free to enter, open daily, and quietest on weekday mornings, which is when you should go if you want Los Tacos No. 1 without the line.

A/C/E/L to 14th St–8th Ave
Free

Wall Street

Wall Street & Broad Street, New York, NY 10005

Wall Street is the most famous street in global finance and the historic heart of Lower Manhattan, an eight-block stretch from Trinity Church on Broadway to the East River that holds more American history per square foot than almost anywhere in the country. The New York Stock Exchange has traded at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets since 1903; across from it, Federal Hall marks the spot where George Washington was sworn in as the first President in 1789. A block south stands the Charging Bull, the 7,000-pound bronze that has become the most photographed sculpture in Lower Manhattan. The street takes its name from a real wall the Dutch built in 1653. Everything here is free to see, it's a ten-minute walk from the 9/11 Memorial, and it's best experienced early on a weekday morning as the traders arrive.

2/3 or 4/5 to Wall St · J/Z to Broad St
One World Observatory in New York City
Ticketed

One World Observatory

117 West Street, New York, NY 10007

One World Observatory is the highest observation deck in New York City, occupying floors 100 to 102 of One World Trade Center, the 1,776-foot tower at the World Trade Center site and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Opened in 2015, it begins with the best elevator ride in the city: 47 seconds to the top while screens show Manhattan rising from forest to skyline around you. At 1,268 feet, the main deck's 360-degree view is the finest in New York for the harbor, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Lower Manhattan, reaching 50 miles on a clear day. Timed tickets start around $44, and it pairs naturally with the 9/11 Memorial directly below. Fully enclosed behind glass, it's comfortable in any weather and the right finish to a day at the World Trade Center.

1 to WTC Cortlandt · E to World Trade Center · R/W to Cortlandt St
Free

St. Patrick's Cathedral

5th Avenue between 50th & 51st Streets, New York, NY 10022

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest Gothic Revival Catholic cathedral in the United States and one of the most visited churches in the world, standing on Fifth Avenue in the heart of Midtown Manhattan directly across from Rockefeller Center. Opened in 1879 and crowned by twin marble spires that rise 330 feet, the cathedral welcomes more than five million visitors a year to its vaulted interior of stained glass, marble altars, and the great rose window over the entrance. It's free to enter, open daily from early morning until late evening, and holds several Masses a day that visitors of any faith can attend. Between the Christmas tree across the street, the Fifth Avenue windows, and the cathedral itself, this single block is the center of Midtown's holiday season, and a landmark worth stepping into any day of the year.

E/M to 5th Ave–53rd St · B/D/F/M to 47–50 Sts
Ticketed

Summit One Vanderbilt

45 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017

Summit One Vanderbilt is New York City's newest and most immersive observation deck, occupying the top three floors of the 1,401-foot One Vanderbilt tower beside Grand Central Terminal. Opened in 2021, it's less a lookout than an art installation with a view: the mirrored rooms of Air reflect the skyline infinitely, Levitation's glass boxes extend over Madison Avenue with nothing but the street 1,000 feet below, and Ascent, the world's largest exterior glass elevator, climbs the outside of the tower to 1,200 feet. The outdoor Apres terrace looks straight at the Empire State Building at nearly eye level. Timed tickets start around $43, sunset sells out first, and there's a dress code because of the mirrored floors. If you've already seen New York from the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock, Summit is the deck that shows you something new.

4/5/6/7/S to Grand Central–42nd St
Statue of Prometheus at Rockefeller Center in New York City
Free

Rockefeller Center

45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10111

Rockefeller Center is the beating heart of Midtown Manhattan — a 22-acre Art Deco complex of 19 buildings that has anchored New York City since the 1930s and draws tens of millions of visitors a year. It's home to the world's most famous Christmas tree, the ice rink beneath the gilded Prometheus statue, Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes, NBC Studios, and Top of the Rock, the observation deck many visitors consider the best view in the city because it takes in both the Empire State Building and Central Park. Free to walk through and open around the clock, Rockefeller Center sits directly across Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral and a five-minute walk from Times Square, making it the natural centerpiece of any Midtown itinerary, in any season.

B/D/F/M to 47–50 Sts–Rockefeller Ctr
Free

Dumbo

Washington Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201

DUMBO Brooklyn is one of New York City's most photographed neighborhoods, sitting on the waterfront between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, DUMBO is famous for the Washington Street photo spot, where the Manhattan Bridge frames the Empire State Building between cobblestone streets and converted warehouses. Beyond the iconic shot, DUMBO is home to Jane's Carousel, Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Time Out Market food hall, art galleries, and some of the best skyline views in the city. Whether you're chasing the perfect DUMBO photo, riding the carousel with kids, or watching the sunset over Lower Manhattan from the waterfront, this Brooklyn neighborhood packs more into a few blocks than almost anywhere in New York.

F to York St · A/C to High St
Hudson Yards view in New York City
Free

Hudson Yards

20 Hudson Yards, New York, NY 10001

Hudson Yards is the largest private real estate development in American history and one of New York City's newest must-see destinations, built over active rail yards on Manhattan's Far West Side. At its center stands the Vessel, a 150-foot honeycomb-like structure of interlocking staircases that has become an instant landmark. Hudson Yards is also home to the Edge, the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere, along with a seven-story mall of luxury shops, celebrated restaurants, and the cultural venue known as The Shed. Just south, the neighborhood connects to the High Line and the floating park Little Island. Whether you're photographing the Vessel, stepping onto the glass floor at the Edge, or shopping the Hudson Yards stores, this gleaming district represents the modern face of New York City.

7 to 34th St–Hudson Yards
Times Square in New York City
Free

Times Square

Times Square, Manhattan, New York, NY 10036

Times Square NYC is the most visited place on earth — drawing over 50 million visitors a year to the heart of times square, where Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street converge in a blaze of digital billboards, neon signs, and 24/7 energy. Known as the Crossroads of the World, nyc times square is the center of New York City's Theater District, home to the TKTS discount booth under the red steps, the annual New Year's Eve ball drop, and some of the most iconic stores and restaurants in the city. Whether you're browsing shops in times square nyc, catching times square at night from the red stairs, or hunting down the best restaurants near times square, this is the one part of New York City that never sleeps, never quiets down, and never stops putting on a show. Time square nyc is not just a destination — it's an experience.

1/2/3/N/Q/R/W to Times Square–42nd St
Ticketed

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1000 5th Avenue

The Metropolitan Museum of Art — known to everyone simply as The Met — is the largest art museum in the United States and one of the most visited in the world. Standing on Fifth Avenue along Central Park's Museum Mile, the Met houses over two million works spanning 5,000 years of human creativity, from ancient Egyptian temples to European masterpieces to contemporary art. Highlights include the Temple of Dendur in its glass-walled gallery, the arms and armor collection, the American Wing, and the seasonal rooftop garden with its sweeping views over Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. Whether you're planning a focused visit to a few galleries or a full day among the masterpieces, the Met is one of the essential cultural experiences in New York City. Admission is pay-what-you-wish for New York State residents.

4, 5, and 6 to 86th St Station
Ticketed

Empire State Building

20 West 34th Street

The Empire State Building is the definitive New York City skyscraper — a 1,454-foot Art Deco masterpiece that dominated the skyline as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years and remains one of the most photographed structures on earth. Standing in the heart of Midtown at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, it draws millions of visitors each year to its two observation decks: the open-air 86th floor deck and the enclosed 102nd floor top deck, each offering 360-degree views that stretch up to 80 miles on a clear day. Completed in 1931 in just 13 months during the Great Depression, the building has starred in over 250 films, from King Kong to Sleepless in Seattle. Whether you're booking Empire State Building tickets for sunset, catching the famous tower lights, or simply admiring it from the street, no first visit to New York is complete without it.

Any line to 34th Street
Free

Grand Central Terminal

89 East 42nd Street

Grand Central Terminal is far more than a train station — it's one of the most beautiful public buildings in America and a New York City landmark since 1913. Often called Grand Central Station, this Beaux-Arts masterpiece in the heart of Midtown draws over 750,000 people a day beneath its famous celestial ceiling, a turquoise mural of the zodiac painted with 2,500 stars. At the center of the Main Concourse stands the four-faced opal clock, the most famous meeting point in the city. Hidden throughout the terminal are secrets worth seeking out: the Whispering Gallery, where a murmur carries across a vaulted archway; a secret train platform beneath the Waldorf Astoria; and the Grand Central Oyster Bar, serving since 1913. Free to enter and open nearly 24 hours a day, Grand Central is an essential stop on any visit to New York.

4, 5, and 6 lines to Grand Central-42 St
Free

9/11 Memorial

180 Greenwich St

The 9/11 Memorial is one of the most moving places in New York City — a tribute to the 2,983 people killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Set at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, the memorial's two enormous reflecting pools sit in the exact footprints of the Twin Towers, with water falling 30 feet into voids below and every victim's name cut into the bronze parapets around them. Between the pools stands the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear pulled from the rubble and nursed back to life. The outdoor memorial is free and open daily; the 9/11 Memorial Museum beside it, built around the original foundations, requires a ticket. Whether you visit alone or with a guide who was in the city that day, the 9/11 Memorial is an essential and deeply affecting part of any trip to New York.

R, W, N lines to Cortland St
Free

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge, New York, NY 10038

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of New York City's most iconic landmarks and one of its greatest free experiences — a 140-year-old suspension bridge whose Gothic stone towers and web of steel cables connect Manhattan to Brooklyn across the East River. Completed in 1883 as the longest suspension bridge in the world, it's now walked by thousands of visitors every day along its elevated pedestrian promenade, which offers unmatched views of the Lower Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and the Manhattan Bridge. The walk takes about 30 to 40 minutes and ends in DUMBO, one of Brooklyn's most photogenic neighborhoods, with Brooklyn Bridge Park spread out along the waterfront. Whether you cross at sunrise, catch the skyline lit up at night, or join a guided Brooklyn Bridge walk, crossing this bridge is an essential New York experience.

4, 5, and 6 lines to Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall
Free

Central Park

Central Park, New York, NY 10024

Central Park is the green heart of New York City — 843 acres of lakes, meadows, woodlands, and landmarks in the middle of Manhattan, and the most visited urban park in the United States with over 42 million visits a year. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and opened in 1858, the park is entirely man-made, yet it feels like a countryside escape from the city around it. Its famous landmarks include Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, Bow Bridge over the Lake, the elm-lined Mall, Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle, and the Central Park Zoo, and it has appeared in more than 300 films. Central Park is free and open daily from 6am to 1am. Whether you explore on foot, by bike, or on a guided pedicab tour, it's the one place every visitor to New York should see.

A, B, C, and D lines to Columbus Circle
Ticketed

Statue of Liberty

Liberty Island, New York, NY 10004

The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island in New York Harbor as one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. A gift from the people of France to the United States, dedicated on July 4, 1884, Lady Liberty has welcomed millions of visitors and immigrants to American shores for over a century. She is officially named Liberty Enlightening the World — a title that captures everything the statue represents: freedom, democracy, and hope. Whether you're booking statue of liberty crown tickets to climb all the way to the top, purchasing ferry tickets to cross New York Harbor, or visiting the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island, a trip to see Lady Liberty is one of the most powerful experiences New York City has to offer. The statue is managed by the National Park Service and sits within the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

4/5 to Bowling Green · 1 to South Ferry
planning

Plan Your NYC Visit

Practical info every visitor asks about - gathered in one place.

Getting Around

The subway is faster than a taxi for almost every cross-town trip in Manhattan. A 7-day unlimited MetroCard or OMNY tap-to-pay covers most visitors' needs. Times Square, Grand Central and Rockefeller Center all sit on major transfer hubs, so most Midtown sights are one or two stops apart.

Best Time of Year

Spring and fall offer the most comfortable walking weather and the clearest observation-deck views. Summer is busiest and hottest; winter is quietest, with holiday windows and ice rinks at Rockefeller Center adding their own appeal despite the cold.

How Much Time to Plan

A minimum of three full days covers the landmarks on this page without rushing. Guided tours compress this significantly — a single half-day bus tour covers more ground than a full day of independent walking.

Self-Guided vs. Guided

Self-guided works well if you enjoy navigating and have time to spare. Guided works better if you're short on time, want the history and context behind what you're seeing, or want a route that's already been optimised for you.

see more, walk less

Tours and Experiences of NYC

Most Booked
Photo Stop to see the Empire State Building on a NYC Guided Tour
Half-Day Bus Tour of NYC Top Highlights
4 Hours
4.9
$
68
per Person
Check Availability
Most Booked
9/11 Memorial Pool in New York City
9/11 Memorial Tour with Optional Museum and One World Access
1.5 -5 Hours
5.0
$
36
per Person
Check Availability
Most Booked
Central Park Pedicab Tours
Central Park Pedicab Tours
30 - 120 Minutes
5.0
$
29
per Person
Check Availability
Questions

Frequently Asked

Quick answers to the things visitors ask us most.
What are the top things to do in NYC?
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