What to do in New York: viewpoints, museums and essential places
The Big Apple is a fascinating city full of places to discover. What to do in New York for free or on a budget. Advice.
The City that Never Sleeps, the Big Apple, the Rome of America. These are just a few ways to call New York City. Its large size, the number of people who inhabit it, and the cultural diversity that define it, make it one of the most visited and famous in the world. We tell you what to do in New York at any time of the year. Free or with a low budget, the best tips to enjoy it.
In principle, one of the most outstanding characteristics of this city are its tall skyscrapers and its cosmopolitan air. Its architecture impacts and the urban design will surprise you with innovative details, which always make tourists feel as excited as on their first visit.
There is so much to see and learn that it is difficult to put together a complete list of what to do in New York without admitting to the reader that the mission will be a failure: it is an impossible city to cover. But still, let's try.
If you take a trip to New York, you will be surprised by the pace of the city and the number of options you have to do and enjoy.
What to do in New York at any time of the year
"Enormous". "Impossible to go all over." These are some very common thoughts when starting your New York itinerary. do not despair Take it easy. It is true that it is a very large city and it is difficult to cover it all in a few days.
That is why below we recommend the best options and places to visit in New York. It will help you organize your trip well and prioritize the places that you are most interested in knowing or the most curious about. Good luck!
The Vessel
The Vessel is the novelty of this moment. It is a curious and gigantic sculpture with a great resemblance to a spaceship. It is located in Hudson Yards, a new neighborhood in Manhattan, between 10th and 11th avenues and 30th and 34th streets.
This impressive and strange structure is one of the most complex steel buildings in the world. It is formed by a series of endless stairs that will take you to the heights and nowhere at the same time.
To be exact, The Vessel is made up of 150 stairs that connect to each other, which in turn add up to about 2,500 steps, and also has 80 platforms so that you can observe the magnificent view. There are almost 1.6 kilometers of vertical trails.
It is one of the most recent attractions in New York. We recommend you visit it to take photos and contemplate fantastic views of the city from this work of art. And don't worry about your fitness: there are elevators.
What to do to visit The Vessel? Although admission is free, to enter you have to register through their website.
Central Park New York
Central Park is the great lung of The City that Never Sleeps. Visiting it is one of the best things to do in New York. It is almost 4 kilometers long and about 800 meters wide. Its neighbors are some of the most popular and charming buildings and neighborhoods in the city.
If you are wondering what to do in Central Park, we answer: everything. You can ride a bike, skates, skateboard, scooter. You can have a picnic on a sunny day. You can also walk it and visit the large number of works of art, monuments and fountains. Some examples are the Christopher Columbus monument or the “Imagine” mandala, dedicated to John Lennon.
What you do will mainly depend on the time of year you visit New York. If it is very hot, it will be difficult for you to ride a bike. Or if it is snowing or it is very cold it will be difficult for you to walk it, unless you cover yourself with many layers like an onion.
Skyscrapers and viewpoints in New York
Instead of cramping your neck looking up to see the top of the skyscrapers, we recommend that you go up to these magnificent viewpoints of the city. They are a perfect place to have a different perspective of this beautiful city, and why not to take some photos.
Similarly, not all viewpoints in the city are skyscrapers. Here we recommend some of the most popular viewpoints in New York:
Empire State Building observation deck.
One World Observatory.
Viewpoint of the Top Of The Rock.
Cable car to Roosevelt Island.
Staten Island
If you want views of New York City and the famous Statue of Liberty for free, then the Staten Island Ferry is for you. We clarify that this ferry does not stop at Ellis Island (where the Statue of Liberty is), but we still recommend you to do this beautiful journey.
The ferry is orange in color and runs throughout the year, at all hours, 365 days a year. To board it you must go to the Whitehall terminal, in the south of Manhattan. You will not need to register anywhere or have a ticket.
Travel Tip: One of the most common street scams in New York is trying to sell tourists tickets for this ferry. We repeat: You do not need a ticket!
High line
The High Line in New York is a park that runs along what used to be elevated train tracks above the streets of the city. Today it is a beautiful elevated park that has an extension of 2.3 kilometers and is located to the west of Manhattan, crossing the Meatpacking District and the Chelsea neighborhood.
As color data we tell you that: access to this high-altitude park is completely free, it was being built in sections between 2006 and 2014, it was built on the initiative of several residents of the Chelsea neighborhood when they saw the abandonment of these roads train.
It is a very good place to take photos and contemplate incredible views of the city. You can walk or sit on one of its modern benches or on the grass. In spring, the High Line has a special charm, as the plants bloom.
In addition, in spring and summer there are food stalls throughout the park and also music from artists who are going to play there. To access the High Line you can do it by stairs and elevators located on various streets from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street.
Stairs: Gansevoort Street, 14th St, 16th St, 18th St, 20th St, 23rd St, 26th St, 28th St, 30th St and 34th St.
Elevators (for wheelchair access): Gansevoort Street, 14th St, 16th St, 23rd St and 30th St, and ramp at 34th St.
Chelsea Market
Visiting the Chelsea Market is a great option for a rainy or polar cold day. It's a mix of restaurants, shops and offices offering plenty to see, eat and be entertained. It is very close to the High Line
The main floor is occupied by the market: restaurants, bars, cafes and shops. The floors above are offices, and are occupied by large corporations like Google or YouTube. In 2017, Chelsea Local was inaugurated, an underground floor with food stores and first-rate products.
New York museums
New York is full of very interesting museums, both for those who love them and for those who don't. We recommend that you visit some of them. Here is a list with our suggestions.
9/11 Memorial Museum
If you want to learn more about the history of New York City, this is the place. It was inaugurated in 2011, 10 years after the 2001 tragedy. You can take a guided tour in Spanish, through a kind of IPod with headphones included. Although there is a designated tour, you can do it however you want, moving the audio tracks forward or backward.
Natural History Museum
This museum was the setting for Ben Stiller's funny movie, “A Night at the Museum”, so surely you have already seen this place a little. But nothing compares to seeing it live and direct. It is one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. It can be a very nice place to visit with children. It is located opposite Central Park.
MET
The Metropolitan Museum of Art or MET owns more than two million works of art from around the world. It is an incredible museum if you like the diversity of art and go through the history of different cultures and artists in one place. It is huge, a single day will not reach you if you want to go all over it.
Guggenheim
In the past its name was "Museum of Abstract Painting". When its founder, Solomon R. Guggenheim, died, the museum took his name.
The Guggenheim is another of the museums that you can visit in New York. You will be able to recognize it because its building has a very particular appearance. The special thing about this museum is that in addition to the works exhibited throughout the year and its striking building, it has different temporary exhibitions throughout the year.
MoMa
The Museum of Modern Art, better known as MoMa, is one of the largest museums in the United States. As its name says, its objective is to bring people closer to current, contemporary art. It is located in Midtown Manhattan.
It has several important works such as Picasso's "Las Demoiselles d'Avignon", Van Gogh's "The Starry Night", and works by famous American artists Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock. It is worth visiting if you like the art of our times.
Times square
If you decide to travel to New York, a visit to the iconic Times Square is a must on your itinerary. Here you can feel the accelerated pulse of the city with all your senses.
People dressed as characters like Mickey Mouse, Pluto or Donald Duck. Gigantic advertising screens that illuminate so much that it seems that it never gets dark. Street vendors of all kinds of objects. Tourists everywhere. The bustle of cars and the city itself. All this and more you can see and experience in Times Square.
We recommend that you buy tickets for one of the famous Broadway musicals. If you have never been to one, we recommend you see the Lion King: it is one of the most awarded and critically acclaimed. You will surely like it.
Also, we recommend you dine at Ellen's Stardust Diner. It is a restaurant where the waiters themselves sing live. It is a good place to live a nice “Broadway experience”.
Grand central terminal
Grand Central is the main station in New York. And it is one of the most beautiful in the world. You just have to visit it to confirm it. It is one of the architectural treasures of the Big Apple.
If you visit it, we recommend that you look at its beautiful aqua-green ceiling with paintings of the signs of the zodiac. We also recommend that you go to Grand Central Market, where you can see or buy from the most exclusive gourmet food stalls in New York.
Also, if you want to take an original souvenir from the city, you can go to the New York Transit Museum. There you will see a nice model of New York. For a quick snack, visit the Dining Concourse. Its emblematic and oldest venue is The Oyster Bar.
The oculus station
Oculus is the new subway station of the World Trade Center. We recommend you visit it. You will not regret. It is not only a metro station, it is also a shopping center. It was inaugurated in 2016 and created by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect.
You will be struck by the whiteness of its floors and walls, and its shape very similar to the skeleton of a whale or a flying bird. If you are inside it is very possible that you feel inside the belly of a whale.
Its construction generated controversy among the inhabitants of New York. The inauguration was delayed quite a bit and also twice the budget was spent than the one originally stipulated. Today Oculus is the most expensive metro station in the world.
We imagine that it is already clear to you what to do in New York. It's a fantastic city. Being organized helps to fully enjoy the trip. Good luck!
