Sights in New York City
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Metropolitan Museum of Art
With more than five million visitors per year, the Met is New York’s most popular single-site tourist attraction, with one of the richest coffers in the arts world. The Met is a self-contained cultural city-state, with two million individual objects in its collection and an annual budget of over $120 million. Since completing a multimillion-dollar remodeling project that brought works out of storage, renovated the halls of 19th- and early 20th-century paintings and sculptures, expanded the Ancient Hellenistic and Roman areas and sparklingly remade the American Wing, the place is looking more divine than ever – despite operating in the midst of a financial crisis that has…
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Central Park
Like the city’s subway system, the vast and majestic Central Park, an 843-acre rectangle of open space in the middle of Manhattan, is a great class leveler – which is exactly what it was envisioned to be. Created in the 1860s and ’70s by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux on the marshy northern fringe of the city, the immense park was designed as a leisure space for all New Yorkers, regardless of color, class or creed. And it’s an oasis from the insanity: the lush lawns, cool forests, flowering gardens, glassy bodies of water and meandering, wooded paths providing the dose of serene nature that New Yorkers crave.
Olmsted and Vaux (who also created Prospect…
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The High Line
For years now, the big buzz in Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen has been all about the coming of the High Line, the first section of which finally and officially opened to the public in the summer of 2009. Now you can stroll, sit and picnic 30ft above the city below on what was, since the 1960s, an abandoned stretch of elevated railroad track. The perks thus far are numerous, and include stunning vistas of the Hudson River, public art installations, fat lounge chairs for soaking up some sun, willowy stretches of native-inspired landscaping (including a mini-forest of trees), a cupcake vendor and a thoroughly unique perspective on the neighborhood streets below – especially at…
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Statue of Liberty
In a city full of American icons, the Statue of Liberty is perhaps the most famous. Conceived as early as 1865 by French intellectual Edouard Laboulaye as a monument to the republican principals shared by France and the USA, it's still generally recognized as a symbol for at least the ideals of opportunity and freedom to many. French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi traveled to New York in 1871 to select the site, then spent more than 10 years in Paris designing and making the 151ft-tall figure Liberty Enlightening the World. It was then shipped to New York, erected on a small island in the harbor and unveiled in 1886. Structurally, it consists of an iron skeleton…
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Brooklyn Bridge
A New York icon, the Brooklyn Bridge was the world’s first steel suspension bridge. When it opened in 1883, the 1596ft span between its two support towers was the longest in history. Although its construction was fraught with disaster, the bridge became a magnificent example of urban design, inspiring poets, writers and painters. Today, the Brooklyn Bridge continues to dazzle – many regard it as the most beautiful bridge in the world.
The Prussian-born engineer John Roebling, who was knocked off a pier in Fulton Landing in June 1869, designed the bridge, which spans the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn; he died of tetanus poisoning before construction of the…
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New York Public Library
Loyally guarded by 'Patience' and 'Fortitude' (the famous marble lions overlooking Fifth Ave), this beaux arts show-off is one of NYC's best free attractions. When dedicated in 1911, New York’s flagship library ranked as the largest marble structure ever built in the US, and to this day, its Rose Main Reading Room will steal your breath with its lavish, coffered ceiling.
The library's Exhibition Hall contains precious manuscripts by just about every author of note in the English language, including an original copy of the Declaration of Independence and a Gutenberg Bible. The Map Division is equally astounding, with a collection that holds some 431,000 maps, 16,000…
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Lower East Side Tenement Museum
This museum puts the neighborhood’s heartbreaking but inspiring heritage on full display in three recreations of turn-of-the-20th-century tenements, including the late-19th-century home and garment shop of the Levine family from Poland, and two immigrant dwellings from the Great Depressions of 1873 and 1929. The visitor center shows a video detailing the difficult life endured by the people who once lived in the surrounding buildings, which more often than not had no running water or electricity. Museum visits are available only as part of scheduled tours (the price of which is included in the admission), which typically operate daily. But call ahead or check the website…
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Bryant Park
European coffee kiosks, alfresco chess games, summer film screenings and winter ice-skating: it's hard to believe that this leafy oasis was dubbed 'Needle Park’ in the ’80s. Nestled behind the show-stopping New York Public Library building, it's a handy spot for a little time-out from the Midtown madness.
It's a shamelessly charming place, complete with a Brooklyn-constructed, French-inspired Le Carrousel offering rides for $2, and frequent special events, from readings to concerts. This is where the famed Fashion Week tent goes up every winter. It's also the site of the wonderful Bryant Park Summer Film Festival, which packs the lawn with post-work crowds…
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Grand Central Terminal
Completed in 1913, Grand Central Terminal – more commonly, if technically incorrectly, called Grand Central Station – is another of New York’s stunning Beaux Arts buildings, boasting 75ft-high, glass-encased catwalks and a vaulted ceiling bearing a mural of the constellations streaming across it – backwards (the designer must’ve been dyslexic). The balconies overlooking the main concourse afford an expansive view; perch yourself on one of these at around 5pm on a weekday to get a glimpse of the grace that this terminal commands under pressure. It’s quite amazing how this dramatic space evokes the romance of train travel at the turn of the 20th century while also enduring…
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Frick Collection
This spectacular art collection sits in a mansion built by prickly steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, one of the many such residences that made up Millionaires’ Row. The museum has 12 splendid rooms that display masterpieces by Titian, Vermeer, Gilbert Stuart, El Greco and Goya. The Oval Room is graced by Jean-Antoine Houdon’s stunning figure ‘Diana the Huntress.’
This museum is a treat for a number of reasons. One, it resides in a lovely, rambling beaux arts structure built from 1913 to 14 by Carrère and Hastings. Two, it is generally not crowded. And, three, it feels refreshingly intimate, with a trickling indoor courtyard fountain and gardens that can be explored…
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Radio City Music Hall
A spectacular art deco diva, this 5901-seat movie palace was the brainchild of vaudeville producer Samuel Lionel 'Roxy' Rothafel. Never one for understatement, Roxy launched his venue on 23 December 1932 with an over-the-top extravaganza that included a Symphony of the Curtains (starring... you guessed it... the curtains), and the high-kick campness of precision dance troupe the Roxyettes (mercifully renamed the Rockettes),
For a real treat, join a one-hour guided tour of the sumptuous interiors, designed by Donald Deskey. But first, eye-up the building's 50th St facade, where Hildreth Meière's whimsical brass rondels represent (from left to right) dance, drama and song.…
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Museum of Modern Art
Founded in 1929, MoMA is one of NYC’s most popular museums, home to more than 100,000 pieces of modern artwork, most by A-listers – Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rothko, Pollock, Bourgeois and many others. It’s dedicated to showcasing artwork based on the emerging creative ideas of the late 19th century through to those that dominate today. It’s easy to get lost in the vast collection for an entire day; if you want to maximize your time and create a plan of attack ahead of time, download the museum’s floor plan and visitor guide from the website beforehand. MoMA's permanent collection spans four levels, with prints, illustrated books and the unmissable…
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Ellis Island
An icon of mythical proportions for the descendents of those who passed through here, this island and its hulking building served as New York’s main immigration station from 1892 until 1954, processing the amazing number of 12,000 individuals daily, from countries including Ireland, England, Germany and Austria. The process involved getting the once-over by doctors, being assigned new names if their own were too difficult to spell or pronounce, and basically getting the green light to start their new, hopeful and often frighteningly difficult lives here in the teeming city of New York. In its later years, after WWI and during the paranoia of the ‘Red Scare’ in this…
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Lincoln Center
This stark arrangement of gleaming Modernist temples contains some of Manhattan’s most important performance spaces: Avery Fisher Hall (home to the New York Philharmonic), David H Koch Theater (site of the New York City ballet), and the iconic Metropolitan Opera House, whose interior walls are dressed with brightly saturated murals by painter Marc Chagall. Various other venues are tucked in and around the 16-acre campus, including a theater, two film screening centers and the renowned Juilliard School.
Built in the 1960s, this imposing campus replaced a group of tenements called San Juan Hill, a predominantly African American neighborhood where the exterior shots for…
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Rockefeller Center
This 22-acre 'city within a city' debuted at the height of the Great Depression. Taking nine years to build, it was America's first multiuse retail, entertainment and office space – a modernist sprawl of 19 buildings (14 of which are the original art deco structures), outdoor plazas and big-name tenants. Developer John D Rockefeller Jr may have sweated over the cost (a mere $100 million), but it was all worth it, the Center declared a National Landmark in 1987.
There are views, and then there is the view from the Top of the Rock. Crowning the GE Building, 70 stories above Midtown, its jaw-dropping vista includes one icon that you won't see from atop the Empire State…
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Top of the Rock
This open-air observation deck at the top of Rockefeller Center first wowed New Yorkers back in 1933. Designed in homage to ocean liners popular in the day, it was an incredible place – 70 stories above Midtown – from which to view the city. But it became off-limits for almost two decades starting in 1986, when renovation of the stunning Rainbow Room restaurant five floors below cut off access to the roof. The observation deck was reopened with much fanfare in 2005, and since then it’s been proving to be an even better bet than the Empire State Building: it’s much less crowded and has wider observation decks that span several levels – some are indoors, some are outside…
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Governors Island
Off-limits to the public for 200 years, former military outpost Governors island is now one of New York's most popular seasonal playgrounds. Each summer, free ferries make the seven-minute trip from Lower Manhattan to the 172-acre oasis. Among the island's draws is Picnic Point, an 8-acre patch of green with picnic tables and hammocks; Figment (www.figmentproject.org), a one-weekend-only interactive art festival in June; and Water Taxi Beach, a spit of sand that hosts events from dance parties to live concerts. Then there's the smooth, 2.2-mile bicycle path around the perimeter of the entire island, which you can pedal with rental bikes from Bike & Roll for $15 per two…
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Brooklyn Museum of Art
Though it’s the country’s biggest art museum after the Met, with 1.5 million pieces and the largest Egyptian collection in the Americas, it sees far fewer visitors. The five-floor Beaux Arts building – built by McKim, Mead and White to be the world’s biggest museum in 1897 – is big, yet only a fifth of its originally planned size. Highlights are many. For much of the year, visitors linger by the museum’s glass esplanade entry to watch the fountains. Inside, the African Arts display (near the ground-floor cafe) offers several short video loops about fascinating traditional masks and costumes; the huge Egyptian collection on the 2nd floor features 13th-century mummy boards.…
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Philadelphia Museum of Art
Just two short hours outside of NYC sits one of the most historic cities on the eastern seaboard, fairly overflowing with important sites from America’s colonial days and its fight for independence. But for most people, Philly is famous for one thing and one thing only: it was the gritty city that served as a backdrop for fictional underdog boxer Rocky Balboa. Who can resist temptation to shadow-box at the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, just like Rocky did?
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American Museum of Natural History
Founded in 1869, this classic museum contains a veritable wonderland of more 30 million artifacts, including lots of menacing dinosaur skeletons, as well as the Rose Center for Earth & Space, with its cutting-edge planetarium. From October through May, the museum is home to the Butterfly Conservatory, a glass-house featuring 500-plus butterflies from all over the world.
On the natural history side, the museum is perhaps best known for its Fossil Halls, containing nearly 600 specimens on view, including the skeletons of a massive mammoth and a fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex.
There are also plentiful animal exhibits (the stuffed Alaskan brown bear is popular), galleries devoted…
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Green-Wood Cemetery
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Brooklyn Academy of Music
Founded in 1861, BAM is the country’s oldest performing arts center and supplies New York City with its edgier works of modern dance, music and theater. The complex contains a 2109-seat opera house, an 874-seat theater and the four-screen Rose Cinemas. Its stage has showcased Mercer Cunningham retrospectives, contemporary African dance and avant-garde interpretations of Shakespeare.
Every fall, BAM hosts the Next Wave Festival, which presents an array of avant-garde works and artists talks. The on-site bar and restaurant, BAMcafé, stages free jazz, R&B and pop performances on weekends.
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South Street Seaport Museum
Recently renovated, this museum offers a glimpse of the seaport’s history and a survey of the world’s great ocean liners, with permanent exhibits and various other sites dotted around the 11-block area. Spanning three floors, the museum's new galleries include a battalion of model ships, antique shipping tools, and left-of-center shows covering anything from New York fashion to contemporary photography. The museum's booty also extends to a group of tall-masted sailing ships just south of Pier 17, including the Ambrose and Pioneer. Off-limits for restoration during research, access to their windswept decks and intimate interiors are normally included in the admission…
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African Burial Ground
In 1991, construction workers here uncovered over 400 stacked wooden caskets, just 16ft to 28ft below street level. The boxes contained the remains of enslaved Africans (nearby Trinity Church graveyard had banned the burial of Africans at the time). Today, a memorial and visitors center honors an estimated 15,000 Africans buried here during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The site is permanently protected as a National Historic Landmark, and today it’s part of the National Parks Service. The visitors center requires airportlike security screenings, so leave your nail files in the hotel.
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Yankee Stadium
The Boston Red Sox like to talk about their record of two World Series championships in the last 80 years, but the Yankees have won a mere 27 in that period. The team’s magic appears to have moved with them across 161st St to the new Yankee Stadium, where they played their first season in 2009 – winning the World Series there in a six-game slugfest against the Phillies. The Yankees play from April to October.
The new stadium offers hour-long guided tours of the on-site museum, the dugout, press box, clubhouse, field and Monument Park (with plaques commemorating greats like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio). You can purchase tickets in advance through Ticketmaster.
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