Top 10 Things to Do in NYC

Our Local Expert Says:

The Costume Institute, a curatorial department of the Met, does not have a permanent installation but hosts two special exhibitions each year featuring items from its vast collection. Past events dedicated to star designers like Chanel and Versace have drawn huge crowds.

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Don't expect to fully take in all that this enormous museum has to offer in one visit. With the finest collection of American art in the world, a collection of more than 3,000 European paintings, an expansive array of art from ancient Egypt, and recently renovated halls of Greek, Roman, Cypriot, and Asian art, there is a reason the Metropolitan Museum is considered the foremost symbol of arts and culture in a city chock-full of arts and culture. Often referred to simply as "The Met", the museum is located on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, on the eastern edge of Central Park and at the center of the so-called "Museum Mile".

First opened in 1872, the Met has been significantly expanded over the years, and its permanent collection now contains more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. In addition to its giant holdings of American, European, Egyptian, African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine, and Islamic art, the museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. A number of notable interiors, ranging from 1st century Rome through modern American design,... read more

Our Local Expert Says:

For just a few of the many diversions available in the park, check out some advanced roller blading skills at "The Hill" west of Sheep's Meadow, or have a drink/meal at the Boathouse, near 74th Street on the east side of Rowboat Lake and open all summer.

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The idea for Central Park was born in 1858, which a competition was held to choose a design for what would be the first public park built in America. The winners were Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, whose Greensward plan proposed an entirely man-made park that would be intended only for public use, as a refuge from the relentless rhythms of New York City's already overcrowded streets. It took more than 15 years and $14 million (the equivalent of about $200 million today) to build the Park, with its 843 acres and six-mile perimeter extending from Central Park West to Fifth Avenue and from 59th Street to 110th Street. Those 843 acres include 136 acres of woodlands, 250 acres of lawns, and 7 different bodies of water totaling some 150 acres.

Starting in 1980, a public-private partnership between New York City and the Central Park Conservancy restored and preserved Central Park, and attendance has only been rising in recent years. Now, more than 25 million visitors per year stroll its 58 miles of pedestrian paths, go horseback riding on 4.5 miles of bridle paths, bike or jog on its 6.5 miles of winding roads, or simply relax on the grass or on the nearly 9,000 benches provided.... read more

Our Local Expert Says:

The best views are from the outdoor observatory on the 86th floor (1,050 feet high), which spans the building's circumference. High-powered binoculars (bring quarters!) offer views of up to 80 miles on clear days.

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This 102-story Art Deco skyscraper, located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street, has been one of New York's most notable landmarks since its completion in 1931. Built as part of an intense competition to build the world's tallest building, the Empire State Building overtook its rivals - 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building - to gain the distinction, which it held for four decades, before the World Trade Center towers were completed in 1971. With the destruction of the World Trade Center in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City. It was designed by Gregory Johnson and his architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon.

The building's façade is classic, with modernistic stainless steel canopies marking the entrances on 33rd and 34th Streets and leading to corridors surrounding a core of 67 elevators. Though the Chrysler Building is undoubtedly the more attractive of New York's two Art Deco towers, the Empire State Building has earned its reputation as a top destination largely due to the popularity of its indoor and outdoor observation decks. The outdoor observatory on the 86th floor,... read more

Our Local Expert Says:

For views that rival the Empire State Building's famous 86th-floor observatory, head to Top of the Rock, which boasts a more spacious observation deck and equally stunning views (from a slightly lower height).

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A major commercial center covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets and 5th and 7th Avenues in Midtown Manhattan, Rockefeller Center is one of the city's foremost shopping and entertainment destinations. Oil billionaire and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. leased the site from Columbia University in 1929 with plans to build a new home for the Metropolitan Opera. After the stock market crash of that year, plans were changed. Now, 19 buildings constructed in the Art Deco style house shops, restaurants, and offices, along with Radio City Music Hall.

The centerpiece of Rockefeller Center is the 70-floor, 872-foot GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (aka "30 Rock") - formerly known as the RCA Building - centered behind the complex's sunken plaza. The building is the headquarters of NBC and houses most of the network's New York studios, including the legendary Studio 8H, home of Saturday Night Live. The windows of the studio where NBC's Today Show is filmed are usually mobbed by crowd jostling for a look of the show's hosts and guests. Tours of the NBC studios are also available, and many visitors choose to wait in line for tickets to one of the many shows taped in the building. read more

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If you're in the mood for a little exercise, walk or ride your bike across this famous bridge for some of the best views of the city.

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Opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. It stretches 5,989 feet (1825 meters) across the East River and connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. At the time of its construction, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. The bridge was designed by the New Jersey architect John Augustus Roebling, who died before construction began after he contracted tetanus from a wound sustained in a ferry accident during surveys for the bridge project. Built from limestone, granite, and cement, the Brooklyn Bridge is an example of Gothic-style architecture, with its characteristic pointed arches topping twin passageways through huge stone towers. Because Roebling designed a bridge and truss system six times stronger than he thought it needed to be, the Brooklyn Bridge is still standing, while many other bridges built around the same time have had to be replaced.

In the past, the inside lanes of traffic on the bridge carried the elevated trains of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transport (BMT) Corporation from stations in Brooklyn to a terminal at Manhattan's Park Row. Streetcars shared the... read more

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Natives may avoid Times Square whenever possible, but its neon lights and cast of weird characters (including the Naked Cowboy) make it a must-see for the first-time visitor.

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Located at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Street, its glittering lights and neon signs make Times Square one of the most iconic sights of New York City. Formerly the property of fur trading and real estate tycoon John Jacob Astor, the square got its name in the early 1900s when the New York Times moved into a new skyscraper on 42nd Street. After new subways brought thousands of commuters to 42nd Street, the city's theaters moved up from the Bowery and lower Broadway, and the area is now the center of New York's bustling theater district.

In the decades after the Great Depression, Times Square became known as a dangerous neighborhood and a symbol of the city's decline and corruption from the 1960s to the 1990s. After a long-term development plan and a comprehensive crackdown on crime by the city government, the infamous center of pickpockets and porno theaters has been thoroughly reinvented and filled with more upscale and tourist-friendly attractions, hotels, vendors, and street performers.

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Located within the Standard Oil Building, just south of the World Trade Center, the Tribute WTC Visitor Center was created in the wake of September 11, 2001. Tribute offers visitors to the World Trade Center site a place where they can connect with people from the September 11th community. Through walking tours, exhibits and programs, the Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers "Person to Person History," linking visitors who want to understand and appreciate these historic events with those who experienced them.

The space features interactive exhibits and five galleries that deal with different aspects of the 9/11 tragedy. All walking tours make five stops while traveling around the site. Most of the tour takes place indoors, traveling along the windows of the World Financial Center and looking out onto Ground Zero. Guides share key facts and reveal specific events of the day while weaving their personal experiences of survival, loss, and healing throughout the tour, giving visitors an unparalleled opportunity to connect with history first-hand.

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The Statue of Liberty's original 1886 torch is included among the exhibits contained in the statue's base.

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This iconic copper statue was presented to the U.S. by France in 1886 as a commemoration of the U.S. centennial and a gesture of friendship between France and the U.S. Since then, it has stood at Liberty Island in New York Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and Americans returning from abroad. Construction of the statue, supervised by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and engineer Gustave Eiffel (mastermind of Paris's famous tower), began in France in 1875 and was completed in 1884, after which the statue was dismantled and transported across the Atlantic to be reassembled.

Lady Liberty stands approximately 151 feet tall and weighs 225 tons (450,000 pounds). Visitors used to be able to climb the 354 steps to peer at the view through the windows in her crown, but this option is no longer available. Currently, the museum and ten-story pedestal are open for visitation but are only accessible if visitors have a "Monument Access Pass" which is a reservation that visitors must make at least two days in advance of their visit and pick up before boarding the ferry. There are a maximum of 3000 passes available each day (with a total of 15,000 visitors to the island daily). read more

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After viewing such masterpieces as Monet's Water Lilies, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, and van Gogh's Starry Night, visitors to the MoMA can relax and recover in the museum's stunning restaurant, the Modern.

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Opened in 1929, the Museum of Modern Art was one of the first museums with a focus on modern art, and it boasts one of the world's most comprehensive collections. Its permanent collection numbers 135,000 paintings, prints, photographs, drawings, sculptures, films, and design objects, including works by Picasso, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Dalí, O'Keeffe, Pollock, Warhol, and some of the best more contemporary artists, like Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, and Chuck Close.

MoMA reopened in 2004 following a $425 million expansion program that marked the museum's 75th anniversary. Led by the Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, the renovation nearly doubled the capacity of the original building and revamped its appearance completely, starting with the striking entrance. A 110-foot-high atrium towers over an indoor walkway, extending over 53rd Street to a new entryway on 54th Street. The new six-story David and Peggy Rockefeller Building houses the main collection and temporary exhibition galleries, while the restored and expanded sculpture garden, named for museum founder Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, boasts more than 30 masterworks of modern sculpture. The MoMA's sleek next-door restaurant,... read more

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At the northern end of Bronx Park, adjacent to the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden spreads its lush greenery across 250 sprawling acres. Founded in 1891 by botanist Nathaniel Lord Britton, the garden is a National Historic Landmark and one of the most outstanding horticultural and educational resources in the world. Its scope is immense, with dozens of separate gardens and plant collections (including daylilies, herbs, native plants, perennials, alpine plants, roses, annuals, magnolias, and tulips), and 40 acres of untouched woodland, the last of the forest that once covered all of New York.

The centerpiece of the Botanical Garden is the gorgeous Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a Victorian-style glass house that is home to "The World of Plants". A tour through the conservatory takes visitors through 11 different habitats, including several types of tropical rain forest, a cactus-filled desert, and an ever-changing landscape of flowers and foliage. There are also exhibits of aquatic and carnivorous plants. The conservatory also houses the Botanical Garden's seasonal events, such as the Orchid Show and the Holiday Train Show.