Why Go To New York City
Cool, cosmopolitan, crowded, constantly evolving … the Big Apple blends big city splendor with small-town charm. Amid Gotham's iconic landmarks and towering skyscrapers, you'll experience a vibrant culture permeating each of the city's distinctive neighborhoods and boroughs.
Follow trendsetters to the East Village and Brooklyn to check out indie boutiques, iconic bakeries and trendy coffee shops. Afterward, peruse the racks of the sleek shops lining Fifth Avenue, admire the cutting-edge art collections at the MoMA and the Met, catch a memorable show on Broadway or sit down for a meal at the latest "it" restaurant.
As the most populous city in the U.S. – set at the forefront of food, fashion and the arts – NYC requires stamina. But don't let the Big Apple's frenetic sights and sounds intimidate you from soaking up its grandeur. Enlist the help of a local to help you navigate it all. Wander through the concrete jungle and you'll discover roaring taxis zipping down bustling blocks, fast-paced pedestrians strolling past on their way to marquee galleries and trendy cocktail bars, and Times Square's neon lights flickering at all hours.
A yet the city's twinkling lights and chaotic corners also invite you to embrace every New York minute, explore every enclave and create your own urban adventure. There are endless ways to spend your time in the city that never sleeps, but before you leave, stop and look around – what's here today will be transformed into something bigger and better tomorrow.
Let’s explore the best things to do in NYC:
1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Source: Anton_Ivanov / shutterstockBacking onto Central on Fifth Avenue, the immense Metropolitan Museum of Art charts 5,000 years of applied and fine arts from all ends of the earth.
At the largest gallery in the United States you can chase your sense of curiosity down any number of rabbit-holes, marvelling at Sumerian cuneiform tablets, Chinese calligraphy, Classical sculpture, Egyptian mummies, Old Masters, Moorish textiles, Rococo fashion, armour worn by European monarchs, invaluable musical instruments, and that’s just to get started.
You could spend a whole day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and leave knowing that there was more to see.
But a few of the indispensible exhibits are the transposed Egyptian Temple of Dendur (15BC), Raphael’s altar painting of Madonna and Child (1504), Rembrandt’s Aristotle with a Bust of Homer (1653), Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze (1851) and van Gogh’s Self Portrait with Straw Hat (1887).
2. Central Park
Source: GagliardiPhotography / shutterstockNew York’s population doubled in the 30 years up to 1855, by which time the burgeoning city was in desperate need of more green space.
The answer was to cut a giant strip from the middle of Manhattan’s grid system, from 5th to 8th Avenue, and from 59th to 110th Street.
On 843 acres, this captivating landscape was drawn up by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and officially completed in 1873. Within Central Park’s boundaries are ponds, a central lake, a reservoir, public art, schist outcrops, almost 50 fountains, 21 playgrounds, complete sports facilities, more than 25,000 trees and dozens of interesting landmarks like the stately Bethesda Terrace.
The list of things to do is almost endless, and includes a zoo, boating, yoga classes, outdoor theatre and horse-drawn carriage tours.
Such is the size of Central Park, two wheels might be a better way to get around than two feet, and you can hire a bike
3. National 9/11 Memorial and Museum
Source: anderm / shutterstockSombre but necessary, the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum is on the site of the World Trade Centre.
The National September 11 Memorial is a jarring tribute to the 2,977 people killed in the attacks in 2001, as well as the six who died in the 1993 bombing.
There are twin reflecting pools here, an acre in size, marking out the exact footprints of the Twin Towers and walled with the largest man-made waterfalls in North America.
The bronze panels on parapets surrounding these pools are inscribed with the names of every person who died in the two attacks.
The Memorial Museum recalls the events of 9/11, the weeks leading up to the attack, and its aftermath, but also goes into depth on the lives of those who perished.
Among the exhibits are the monumental Last Column, fragments from the aircraft and a damaged fire truck.
4. Empire State Building
Source: cocozero / shutterstockIt’s a sign of New York’s sheer ambition in the 20s and 30s that nearly 90 years after it was topped off, the timeless Empire State Building is still the 44th tallest skyscraper in the world.
The roof of this Art Deco tower is 380 metres over the Midtown streets, and the highest visitable point in the city from 2001 until the One World Trade Center Observatory opened in 2011. The Main Deck on the 86th floor is open until 02:00 for a late-night perspective of the city that never sleeps, while in clear weather by day the panoramas scroll out for 80 miles, as far as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Further up there’s an indoor observatory on the 102nd floor, once part of a docking station for airships, and accessed with an upgrade.
Make sure to soak up the Art Deco opulence of the Lobby on Fifth Avenue, with marble floors and the unmistakeable image of the tower behind the main desk.
5. Statue of Liberty
Source: spyarm / shutterstockFrom 1886, immigrants making the voyage to New York for a new life would be greeted by this inspiring symbol of freedom, conceived by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and with a metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel.
The 93-metre Statue of Liberty depicts the Roman goddess Libertas, striding free of the shackles at her feet, holding aloft a torch in her right hand and carrying a tablet in her left hand bearing the date of the Declaration of Independence, “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI” (1776). New York’s main point of departure for Liberty Island is Battery Park.
The queues for the ferry and new Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island can be long and slow, which is why it’s well worth getting “skip the line” Priority or Flexible Statue of Liberty Tickets with GetYourGuide.com, which include a complimentary audio guide and optional access to the pedestal.
Trips to the top of the crown are highly coveted, so you have to book well in advance.
6. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Source: Anton_Ivanov / shutterstockSome of the modern age’s most celebrated art is on show at the world-famous MoMA, one of the largest and most important museums for modern and contemporary art in the world.
The collection runs to 150,000 pieces, comprising a good many masterpieces.
Among them are The Starry Night by van Gogh, Picasso’ s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory, The Dance by Matisse, Painting 1946 by Francis Bacon and a triptych from Monet’s Water Lilies series.
This incredible reserve is matched with high-profile temporary exhibitions: The work of Degas, Jackson Pollock, Picasso, Gilbert & George, Miró has starred in solo shows in the last few years, along with many more enlightening survey shows and transformative installations.
All year round, MoMA throws open its doors for free on Friday nights from 16:00 to 20:00.
7. Rockefeller Center
Source: stockelements / shutterstockThe proportions of this vertical complex in Midtown are astonishing, especially when you remember that it was built throughout the Great Depression.
The Rockefeller Center is made up of 19 buildings (14 Art Deco, five International Style), broken by a sunken central plaza, all commissioned by the Rockefeller family, who first made their money in the oil industry.
We’ll talk about the Top of the Rock observatory and Radio City below, but there’s much at street level at the Rockefeller Center that you’ll have seen many times before in movies.
You’ve got the Atlas statue (1936) facing St Patrick’s Cathedral across Fifth Avenue, Prometheus (1934) on the west side of the famous sunken plaza and a majestic accompaniment to the much-loved skating rink and Christmas tree.
8. Brooklyn Bridge
Source: IM_photo / shutterstockYet another landmark that makes New York, well… New York, the Brooklyn Bridge links Manhattan to Brooklyn across the East River and became the world’s first steel wire suspension bridge when it was completed in 1883. At that time it was also the first permanent crossing on the East River.
In 1884 the showman P.T. Barnum led a parade of 21 elephants across the bridge to allay doubts about its structural integrity.
The structure’s sense of drama comes from its two neo-Gothic towers, composed of limestone and granite and rising to 84 metres, and anchoring the intricate cable system.
The Brooklyn Bridge is best crossed as a pedestrian on the elevated walkway above the road and through the very centre of the towers, for satisfying vistas of New York’s silhouette and the cables overhead.
9. Broadway
Source: Stuart Monk / shutterstockA byword for New York’s theatre district, and even musical theatre in general, Broadway has more than 41 venues with 500 seats or more.
Most of these are on or within a few blocks of Times Square, and helped to turn New York into the cultural capital of the West in the 20th century.
Broadway’s eye-catching signs go back as far as 1910, when theatre owners realised it was safer and cheaper to advertise their venues with electric lights.
White bulbs took longer to burn out, and so Broadway became known as the “Great White Way”. For many generations of visitors to New York, catching a musical has been an essential ritual, and attendances continue to rise, driven by appearances from Hollywood stars (Bryan Cranston, Adam Driver, Keri Russell and Daniel Radcliffe in 2019). The three ever-present productions are Phantom of the Opera (1988) at the Majestic, Chicago (1996) at the Ambassador, and the Lion King (1997) at the Minskoff Theatre, while Hamilton and the Book of Mormon are more recent sensations.
10. One World Trade Center Observatory
Source: Drop of Light / shutterstockOver almost a decade of construction between 2006 and 2015, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere took its place on the northwest corner of the World Trade Center site.
“One World Trade Center” comes from the north skyscraper of the Twin Towers and as of 2019 is the sixth tallest building in the world at 541.3 metres.
The height in feet is 1776, referring to the year the Declaration of Independence was signed, and you’ll rocket up 102 storeys in just 47 seconds.
The Observatory grants a 360° view, which at this end of Manhattan means you can look down on the Upper New York Bay and the Statue of Liberty, as well as the Brooklyn Bridge and up to the cluster of Midtown skyscrapers.
Come just before sunset to watch the city lighting .
11. High Line
Source: Marco Rubino / shutterstockThis railway viaduct, cutting down the west side of Midtown Manhattan, belongs to the West Side Line but had been effectively abandoned from 1980 until it was turned into an elevated linear park, 1.45 miles long.
Taking cues from the Coulée verte René-Dumont in Paris the High Line opened in 2009 and threads through Chelsea, with occasional views across the Hudson River at the south, and to the towers of the slick new Hudson Yards development in the north.
The gardens were designed by Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf, and have a continuous pebble-dash concrete walkway flanked by beds growing the hardy plant species that sprouted in the gravel on the disused line, like coneflowers, blazing stars and a variety of grasses and trees.
Unveiled in June 2019, the Plinth at 10th Avenue and 30th Street is a space devoted to a rotating series of monumental, contemporary art commissions, kicking off with Simone Leigh’s Brick House.
12. Staten Island Ferry
Source: Diego Grandi / shutterstockOne of the great free things to do in New York, the Staten Island Ferry zips across the Upper New York Bay 25 hours a day, seven days a week.
This crossing is one of the last survivors of a whole system of ferries that shuttled people over the city’s waterways before the bridges were constructed.
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