Sights and attractions, experience Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City

Address
Fifth Ave at 82nd St, Upper East Side, 10153
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Phone
212 535 7710
Website
www.metmuseum.org
Transport
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underground rail: 4, 5, 6 to 86th St
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Lonely Planet review

What can you say about this gorgeous behemoth? Its size, and the depth and breadth of its collection, simply overwhelms. More than five million come a year for special exhibits, or just to see the cavernous Great Hall entrance, the Temple of Dendur, the Tiffany windows in the American Wing, the collection of African, Oceania and other works.

Also great is the famed European Collection on the 2nd floor - it's a city within a city, really, and its easier to get lost here than in Central Park outside. Avoid rainy Sundays in summer if you don't like crowds. But, during horrible winter weather, you might find the 17-acre museum deserted at night - a real NYC experience. The rooftop garden is also a find, especially in the summer, when it becomes a wine bar on weekend evenings.

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I love the Met. Always have. I thought it was the best art museum in the world until I visited Paris. The Louvre makes the Met look like one of its many wings. The Louvre doesn't have anything created after about 1850 or so, but otherwise there's no contest at all.

I don't know if the Met is the worlds best museum, but it is certainly a mind blowing experience. I'm not an art buff by any stretch - however as I walked from room to room, I constantly found myself recognizing one amazing piece of Art after another. I really felt like I was walking through the pages of an Art calendar. So if housing the biggest names in Art makes a museum the worlds best - then the Met must be hard to beat - but perhaps the 'worlds best museum' criteria is a bit more sophisticated than that...

The Met is incredible - kinda overwhelming but if you pick and choose your favourite eras to tackle and come out for regular bursts of fresh air and coffee on the steps, it's much more manageable. Don't think you can tackle it meaningfully in a day otherwise you'll be doing a marathon sprint past most of the collection. I saw an amazing show of Russian graphic design from 1940s a few years ago there and it was a great way to spend a couple of hours.

The Met is extraordinary. You could spend days in here and still not scratch the surface. Pick a focus and stick with it, rather than trying to see the whole thing. The Asian art collection is amazing, as is the Egyptian section.