This guide of New York's best museums It will help you to know an important part of the cultural offer of this impressive city.
With numerous museums of all kinds of themes, this city has many museums located among the most important in the world such as the Metropolitan, the MoMa or the Natural History Museum, among many others.
In addition, so that the culture is available to everyone, several museums are free although a suggested price is shown, given the quality of the collections they host and used for maintenance, it is quite reasonable and we always recommend respect For this suggested price, continue to be maintained and do not have fixed prices.
Based on the two times we visited the city of skyscrapers, the first on an 11-day trip to New York and the second living a month and a half in an apartment, during which we wrote this guide to travel tips New York and This complete guide to New York, we have made this list of 10 essential New York museums. We start!
1. Natural History Museum
The American Museum of Natural History, located opposite Central Park, is one of the New York's best museums and one of the most important in the world dedicated to science.
Suitable for children and adults, the museum is located in 27 interconnected buildings with 46 rooms that exhibit a small part of the 35 million pieces of its collection, considered the most extensive in the world.
Among its most outstanding rooms are that of minerals and meteorites, with several unique specimens in the world, that of dinosaurs and that of the blue whale, 29 meters long.
Although you can enter this museum for free, it has a suggested price of $ 23.
Visiting hours: every day from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Natural History Museum, one of the best museums in New York
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Entering the Metropolitan Museum of Art or MET, located on Fifth Avenue and with one of the most important art collections in the world, is another of the best things to do in New York.
This museum located among the 10 most visited in the world, has masterpieces by Picasso, Velázquez, Rafael, Monet, Van Gogh, as well as valuable treasures of antiquity located above all, in the area of the Ancient Roman Empire and Ancient Egypt, as the Temple of Dendur.
In addition to completing a tour of the most important rooms that will take you about 2 or 3 hours, we recommend you go up to the terrace with beautiful views of Central Park.
The entry of 25 dollars is included, as in many other museums in New York, if you have one of the most recommended tourist cards to save money and time in the queues, such as the New York Explorer Pass, the CityPass and the New York Pass .
If you do not have any of these cards you can buy this ticket without queues in advance.
Visiting hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday until 9 p.m.
Metropolitan Art Museum
3. Museum of 9/11
The 9/11 Museum pays tribute to the more than 3,000 killed in the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001.
Before entering the museum, we advise you to approach the 9/11 Memorial, located right in the place where the two Twin Towers occupied, where you will find two great fountains in which the names of the deceased can be registered, 2,753 in this place .
The visit to the museum is very emotional when watching the videos of the testimonies of survivors, memories and objects of the victims and material that was recovered from the towers.
The $ 26 entry is included if you have the New York Explorer Pass, the New York CityPASS and the New York Pass.
If you don't have any card, you can save yourself the longest line by booking this ticket in advance.
Visiting hours: from Sunday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday closes at 9 p.m.
11-S Museum
4. MoMA, one of essential New York museums
The MoMa is the most famous modern art museum in the world and another of the essential New York museums.
Considered a temple of impressionism and surrealism, it has some masterpieces by world-famous artists such as Pollock, Andy Warhol, Van Gogh, Picasso, Frida Kahlo or Dalí, as well as an extensive exhibition of graphic design, film and photography.
Among the works you cannot miss are "The starry Night" from Van Gogh, "The Misses of Avignon" from Picasso, "The Persistence of Memory" from Dalí, "Campbell soup cans" from Warhol, "Number 31" from Pollock e"Dutch interior I" by Joan Miró.
On Fridays from 4pm to 8pm you don't have to pay admission, making it one of the best free things in New York you can do.
The $ 25 entry is also included in the New York Pass and if you don't have the card, you can buy it here in advance.
Visiting hours: from Saturday to Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Fridays are extended until 8 p.m.
MoMA, another of the best museums in New York
Our recommended hotel in New York
Our recommended accommodation in the city is the Holiday Inn Times Square, located a few minutes walk from Times Square. Also if you take one of the rooms on the high floors, you have incredible views of the Empire State from the bed.
For more information you can consult this post about the best neighborhoods and hotels to stay in New York.
5. Intrepid Museum
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, located on the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier on Pier 86 of the Hudson River, is another of our New York's favorite museums.
At the top of this huge vessel, which intervened in World War II and the Vietnam War, are some of the best fighter planes in history, the Blackbird spy plane and several combat helicopters.
You can also complete the visit by viewing the British Airways Concorde aircraft, the only commercial aircraft to break the sound barrier, the Enterprise space shuttle and entering the Growler Submarine.
You can save the 33 dollars of the ticket with the New York Explorer Pass card, the New York CityPASS and the New York Pass.
Visiting hours: every day from April to November from 10am to 5pm, the other months on Monday is closed.
Intrepid Museum
6. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
One of the New York museums What we liked most during our last trip was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, both for its architecture and for some of its works.
This cylindrical building designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright and located on Fifth Avenue, has an important collection of impressionist art, modern art and contemporary art with works by Van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Picasso and Kandinsky.
To go up the floor you have an incredible spiral ramp, which also works as a gallery with several exhibits and that will take you to the top where there is a dome with skylight.
Admission is $ 25 and is included in the New York Explorer Pass and the New York Pass. On Saturdays from 5pm the entrance is free or you can pay the amount you want.
Visiting hours: from Friday to Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., on Saturdays it closes at 7:45 p.m.
Guggenheim museum
7. Madame Tussauds, the most fun New York museum
Another of the most fun places to visit in New York is Madame Tussauds, located a few meters from Times Square and with more than 200 wax figures of famous people.
Almost exact reproductions of movie stars like Woody Allen or Johnny Depp, singers like Frank Sinatra or Justin Bieber, personalities like the Dalai Lama or Albert Einstein and presidents of the United States, will leave you speechless and confuse more than one.
If you want to release some adrenaline you can cross the hall "Scream", where the wax figures are mixed with real actors.
You can save the ticket price of $ 37 with the New York Explorer Pass and the New York Pass.
Visiting hours: from Sunday to Thursday from 10am to 8pm, on Fridays and Saturdays it closes at 10pm.
Madame Tussauds, one of the best museums in New York
Recommended travel cardsRemember that in order not to pay commissions and always have the current change we recommend you use the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.
8. Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum, founded in 1930 by the millionaire Gertrude Vandelbilt Whitney, has the most important collection of American art of the twentieth century.
In its 7 floors there is an excellent sample of its more than 18 thousand works such as those of the American painter Edward Hopper or Jackson Pollock, among other artists.
It is also worth reaching the terrace to enjoy good views of the Hudson River and Meatpacking District.
If you do not have the New York Explorer Pass or the New York Pass, you can pay a smaller amount of the 25 dollars that the entrance costs, on Fridays from 7pm to 10pm.
Visiting hours: Wednesday to Monday from 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday closes at 10 p.m.
Whitney Museum in New York
9. Immigration Museum
After visiting the famous Statue of Liberty, we recommend you make a stop on Ellis Island to learn about the history of millions of immigrants.
Since 1892 and for 35 years, over 8 million people passed through this checkpoint who wanted to start a new life in the land of opportunities and freedom.
It is estimated that 2% failed to enter and were deported for sanitary and other reasons, for this reason it began to be known as the island of tears.
Today the island is an immigration museum, which invites reflection thanks to the documentation, photographs and objects of that time.
To visit this interesting New York museum You can book this tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in advance that departs from the pier near Battery Park. The ferry is also included in the New York Explorer Pass and the New York Pass.
Visiting hours: every day from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Immigration Museum, one of the most interesting museums in New York
10. The Frick Collection
One of the New York's most interesting small museums It is The Frick Collection, which has one of the most important art collections in the country.
In the 18 rooms of the luxurious mansion of the steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, there are works by Goya, Rembrandt, El Greco and Velázquez, among many others.
Visiting hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sundays from 11am to 5pm.
All these museums are in the usual tourist routes, which you can organize following these optimized guides, according to the days you have:
If you feel like helping us complete the list of the 10 best museums in New York, add yours in the comments.
