What is the number one thing to do in New York?

On this site's list: take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Then spend a morning at the Met, and go up the Empire State Building. The order is this site's own: what a first visit should do first.

What can you do in New York for free?

7 of the 20 things on this list cost nothing: Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, The High Line, Staten Island Ferry, Greenwich Village, Chinatown and Little Italy and Harlem.

What is there to do in New York when it rains?

10 of the 20 are under a roof: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9/11 Memorial and Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Times Square and Broadway, American Museum of Natural History, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt and Grand Central, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, One World Observatory, Whitney Museum of American Art and The Frick Collection.

What is there to do in New York at night?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Top of the Rock, Times Square and Broadway, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt and Grand Central, One World Observatory, Staten Island Ferry, Greenwich Village, Whitney Museum of American Art, Chinatown and Little Italy and Harlem are all at their best after dark.

How many days do you need in New York?

The 20 things on this list that are in the city add up to between 38 and 56 hours of visiting, by this site's estimates, without the time to get between them. At about six hours of visiting a day, that is 7 to 10 days for all of them, and three or four days for the first ten.

The 20 best, in orderBest things to do in New York

What to do in New York, from the first morning to the last night: the 20 things worth your time, in the order this site would do them, with how long each takes, what it costs and when to go.

20
Things to do, in order: 7
Cost nothing: 10
Are under a roof, for a wet day: 8
Take two hours or less

Show

All 20

1Monument
Take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Monument, New York Harbor
The statue that met every ship coming into the harbour, and the island where twelve million people landed. One ferry ticket covers both. Go early and give it half a day.
Time to allow
4 to 5 hours
Cost
Ferry ticket
Best time
The first ferry of the morning
4.7112,776 Google ratingsFrom $32.50
Read the guide
2Museum
Spend a morning at the Met
Museum, Upper East Side
Five thousand years of art in one building on the edge of Central Park: an Egyptian temple, a hall of armour, Vermeer, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. Choose three departments and leave the rest for next time.
Time to allow
3 to 4 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
At opening, or a Friday or Saturday evening
4.895,441 Google ratingsFrom $59
Read the guide
3Monument
Go up the Empire State Building
Monument, Midtown
The tower that was the tallest in the world for forty years, with an open-air deck on the 86th floor. It stands in the middle of Manhattan, so the whole city is laid out around you.
Time to allow
1.5 to 2 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
An hour before sunset, or late in the evening
4.7130,280 Google ratingsFrom $50.08
Read the guide
4Garden
Walk through Central Park
Garden, Between the Upper East and Upper West Sides
Four kilometres of meadows, woods and water in the middle of Manhattan, every hill and lake of it designed. Free, open every day, and the best rest there is between two museums.
Time to allow
2 to 4 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
A weekday morning, or the hour before sunset
4.8302,985 Google ratings
Read the guide
5Museum
Picture: NormanB, CC BY-SA 3.0
Visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum
Museum, World Trade Center, Lower Manhattan
Two square pools mark where the Twin Towers stood, with the names of the dead cut into their edges. The museum is underneath, at the towers' foundations. It is the hardest visit in New York and one of the most worth making.
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Memorial free, ticket for the museum
Best time
Early in the day, before the plaza fills
4.895,470 Google ratingsFrom $25
How to do it
6Museum
Picture: Jim Henderson, CC BY 4.0
Stand in front of The Starry Night at MoMA
Museum, Midtown
The museum that wrote the history of modern art, and still owns the proof: The Starry Night, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Monet's Water Lilies, Warhol's soup cans. Start on the fifth floor and work down.
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
At opening, on a weekday
4.661,377 Google ratingsFrom $30
Read the guide
7Walk
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
Walk, Between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn
Half an hour on a wooden walkway above the traffic, between stone towers and a web of steel cable, with the skyline ahead of you. Start in Brooklyn and walk towards Manhattan.
Time to allow
1 to 2 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
Early morning, or at sunset from the Brooklyn side
4.893,990 Google ratings
Read the guide
8Monument
Picture: Glenn Beltz, CC BY 2.0
See the skyline from Top of the Rock
Monument, Rockefeller Center, Midtown
The observation deck at the top of Rockefeller Center. It is lower than the others, and better placed: Central Park fills one side and the Empire State Building stands in the middle of the other.
Time to allow
1 to 1.5 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
The hour before sunset
4.792,260 Google ratingsFrom $45.73
How to do it
9Show
Picture: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0
See a Broadway show
Show, Theater District, Midtown
Five blocks of screens as bright as day at midnight, and round them the forty-one theatres that are Broadway. Look at the square for ten minutes, then go and see a show.
Time to allow
2.5 to 3.5 hours
Cost
Square free, ticket for a show
Best time
After dark, before an evening curtain
4.7248,802 Google ratingsFrom $99.61
How to do it
10Garden
Walk the High Line
Garden, Chelsea and the Meatpacking District
A freight railway on stilts, turned into a garden that runs for more than two kilometres above the streets of the West Side. Walk it from the Whitney to Hudson Yards, in that order.
Time to allow
1 to 2 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
A weekday morning, or the last light of the day
4.768,598 Google ratings
Read the guide
11Museum
Picture: Breakyunit, CC BY-SA 3.0
Meet the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History
Museum, Upper West Side
Dinosaur skeletons four floors up, a blue whale hanging over a hall, and the old dioramas of animals that are small masterpieces of their own. The best museum in the city for anyone under twelve, and most people over.
Time to allow
2.5 to 4 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
A weekday, at opening
4.626,976 Google ratingsFrom $37
How to do it
12Monument
Picture: Corsario CL, CC BY-SA 4.0
Go up SUMMIT One Vanderbilt from Grand Central
Monument, Midtown East
The newest of the city's observation decks is three floors of mirrors and glass more than three hundred metres up, with the Chrysler Building at arm's length. Underneath it is the finest railway station in America, which is free.
Time to allow
2 to 2.5 hours
Cost
Ticket, station free
Best time
Late afternoon, into dusk
4.737,325 Google ratingsFrom $47.91
How to do it
13Museum
Walk down the spiral of the Guggenheim
Museum, Upper East Side
Frank Lloyd Wright's white spiral on Fifth Avenue, where you take the lift to the top and walk down a single ramp past the art. The building is the first exhibit, and for many the best.
Time to allow
1.5 to 2 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
A weekday morning
4.326,884 Google ratingsFrom $30
Read the guide
14Monument
Picture: Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0
Look down on the harbour from One World Observatory
Monument, World Trade Center, Lower Manhattan
The highest viewpoint in the city, on the hundredth floor of the tallest building in the western hemisphere. It is all indoors, behind glass, and looks out over the harbour, the bridges and the whole island going north.
Time to allow
1 to 1.5 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
A clear morning, or dusk
4.726,380 Google ratingsFrom $30.49
How to do it
15On the water
Picture: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ride the Staten Island Ferry for nothing
On the water, New York Harbor, from the Battery
A big orange commuter boat that crosses the harbour day and night and charges nothing. It passes the Statue of Liberty on the way out and faces the skyline of Lower Manhattan on the way back.
Time to allow
1 to 1.3 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
At sunset, coming back towards Manhattan
4.79,834 Google ratingsFrom $25
How to do it
16Walk
Get lost in Greenwich Village
Walk, Downtown, west of Broadway
The one part of Manhattan where the streets bend. Brick houses, a square with an arch and a fountain, the bar where a movement began, and the cafés and jazz cellars that made the place a legend.
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
Late afternoon, staying into the evening
4.633,459 Google ratingsFrom $47
How to do it
17Museum
Picture: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0
See Hopper at the Whitney
Museum, Meatpacking District
The museum of American art of the last hundred and twenty years, in a building by Renzo Piano at the foot of the High Line. It has more Edward Hopper than anywhere, and terraces that look over the river and the city.
Time to allow
1.5 to 2.5 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
Late afternoon, for the terraces at sunset
4.515,223 Google ratingsFrom $30
Read the guide
18Museum
Picture: Joyofmuseums, CC BY-SA 4.0
See the Frick's Vermeers in the house they were bought for
Museum, Upper East Side
A steel baron's mansion on Fifth Avenue, hung with old masters as he left them: three Vermeers, Rembrandt, Holbein, Bellini. Small, quiet, and newly reopened after five years of work.
Time to allow
1.5 to 2 hours
Cost
Ticket
Best time
A weekday afternoon
4.65,116 Google ratingsFrom $30
How to do it
19Walk
Picture: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0
Eat your way through Chinatown and Little Italy
Walk, Lower Manhattan, either side of Canal Street
Two immigrant quarters back to back. One is a few blocks of red sauce and striped awnings. The other is a whole working city of markets, dumpling houses and temples, growing round it.
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
Late morning, in time for lunch
From $28
How to do it
20Walk
Picture: Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0
Hear gospel in Harlem
Walk, Upper Manhattan, north of Central Park
The capital of Black America for a century: the Apollo Theater, the churches where gospel is sung on Sundays, streets of fine brownstone houses, and the cooking of the South.
Time to allow
2.5 to 4 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
Sunday morning, for the church services
4.68,382 Google ratingsFrom $49
How to do it

How long each one takes

The time to allow for each, shortest first, so you can see what fits into a spare hour and what needs a day. These are this site's estimates for an unhurried visit.

Staten Island Ferry1 to 1.3 hours
Top of the Rock1 to 1.5 hours
One World Observatory1 to 1.5 hours
Brooklyn Bridge1 to 2 hours
The High Line1 to 2 hours
Empire State Building1.5 to 2 hours
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum1.5 to 2 hours
The Frick Collection1.5 to 2 hours
Whitney Museum of American Art1.5 to 2.5 hours
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt and Grand Central2 to 2.5 hours
9/11 Memorial and Museum2 to 3 hours
The Museum of Modern Art2 to 3 hours
Greenwich Village2 to 3 hours
Chinatown and Little Italy2 to 3 hours
Times Square and Broadway2.5 to 3.5 hours
Central Park2 to 4 hours
American Museum of Natural History2.5 to 4 hours
Harlem2.5 to 4 hours
The Metropolitan Museum of Art3 to 4 hours
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island4 to 5 hours

The track is eight hours long. The bar ends at the longest visit, and the line inside it marks the shortest.

What visitors say

Each place's overall rating on Google, and how many people have given one. The longer the bar, the more people have been and said so.

Central Park4.8302,985 Google ratings
Times Square and Broadway4.7248,802 Google ratings
Empire State Building4.7130,280 Google ratings
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island4.7112,776 Google ratings
9/11 Memorial and Museum4.895,470 Google ratings
The Metropolitan Museum of Art4.895,441 Google ratings
Brooklyn Bridge4.893,990 Google ratings
Top of the Rock4.792,260 Google ratings
The High Line4.768,598 Google ratings
The Museum of Modern Art4.661,377 Google ratings
SUMMIT One Vanderbilt and Grand Central4.737,325 Google ratings
Greenwich Village4.633,459 Google ratings
American Museum of Natural History4.626,976 Google ratings
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum4.326,884 Google ratings
One World Observatory4.726,380 Google ratings
Whitney Museum of American Art4.515,223 Google ratings
Staten Island Ferry4.79,834 Google ratings
Harlem4.68,382 Google ratings
The Frick Collection4.65,116 Google ratings

Read on Google Maps. Ratings change, and so will this.

Where they are

Each number is a thing on the list, where it stands in New York: the blue is the Hudson, the East River and the harbour, the green blocks are the parks, gardens and cemeteries. North is up and each square of the grid is one kilometre, so you can see what is next to what and plan a day on foot.

Things to do in New York: common questions

What is the number one thing to do in New York?: On this site's list: take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Then spend a morning at the Met, and go up the Empire State Building. The order is this site's own: what a first visit should do first.
What can you do in New York for free?: 7 of the 20 things on this list cost nothing: Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, The High Line, Staten Island Ferry, Greenwich Village, Chinatown and Little Italy and Harlem.
What is there to do in New York when it rains?: 10 of the 20 are under a roof: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9/11 Memorial and Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Times Square and Broadway, American Museum of Natural History, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt and Grand Central, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, One World Observatory, Whitney Museum of American Art and The Frick Collection.
What is there to do in New York at night?: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Top of the Rock, Times Square and Broadway, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt and Grand Central, One World Observatory, Staten Island Ferry, Greenwich Village, Whitney Museum of American Art, Chinatown and Little Italy and Harlem are all at their best after dark.
How many days do you need in New York?: The 20 things on this list that are in the city add up to between 38 and 56 hours of visiting, by this site's estimates, without the time to get between them. At about six hours of visiting a day, that is 7 to 10 days for all of them, and three or four days for the first ten.

Where to eat in New York

All 20 restaurants in New York, ranked

Where to stay in New York

All 20 hotels in New York, ranked

How the list is made

The choice and the order are this site's: what a first visit to New York should do first. Nobody has paid to be on the list or to be higher on it. The times are estimates for an unhurried visit, not measurements.

Where a row shows a price, it is the lowest price of the ticket or tour its page links to, as its seller showed it on the day the page was checked. The ratings are Google's and change over time.

Museums and attractions in New York Things to do, by city