NEW YORK CITY · USA
The bright lights are just the beginning.
Broadway and the bright lights of Times Square. The view from the Empire State, the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial downtown and the great museums uptown. Every way to see New York, in one place.
Only here
Some things only happen in New York.
Plenty of cities have a skyline and good food. A Broadway opening, the ferry out to Lady Liberty, and standing where the Twin Towers stood belong to New York alone.
Lights up at eight
A Night on Broadway
Broadway is where the modern musical was made, and the forty-one theatres packed into a half-mile of Midtown still set the standard the rest of the world tours years later. From the long-running giants to the show that opened last month, this is the room where it happens.
- 1 New York City: Aladdin on Broadway Entry Tickets
- 2 New York City: The Lion King Broadway Entry Tickets
- 3 NYC: Moulin Rouge! The Musical Broadway Tickets
Out in the harbor
Liberty & Ellis Island
The ferry crosses New York Harbor to the statue that has met arrivals since 1886, then carries on to Ellis Island, where twelve million immigrants first set foot in America. Two small islands that hold a surprising amount of the country’s story, and the only way out is by boat.
- 1 New York City: Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with Ferry
- 2 Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Tour: All Options
- 3 NYC: Statue of Liberty Express Skip-the-Box-Office Cruise
Where the towers stood
The 9/11 Memorial
Two square reflecting pools fall into the exact footprints of the Twin Towers, the names of the nearly three thousand lost cut into the bronze around the edge. One World Trade rises 1,776 feet above them. It is the most moving hour you will spend in the city.
- 1 NYC: 9/11 Memorial & Museum Timed-Entry Ticket
- 2 9/11 Memorial, Ground Zero Tour with Optional 9/11 Museum Ticket
- 3 9/11 Memorial Museum Admission Ticket
The one everyone books
The single most popular thing to do in New York.
More visitors book this than anything else in the city. If you only do one thing, this is where most people start.
The classics
New York’s Most Popular Tickets & Tours
The Empire State, the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Museum and the Circle Line. The experiences almost every first-timer books.
Where to begin
The experiences that define a New York trip.
The view from the top, the harbor cruises, the museums, the food, the helicopters and the walking tours. The handful of guides most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The classic NYC dilemma
Which view from the top?
New York has five world-famous observation decks within a few subway stops of each other, and choosing one is the question every visitor asks. Here is how the big three compare.
Museum Mile
The greatest museums in the country, on one island.
From the Met’s two million works on Fifth Avenue to MoMA’s Starry Night, the blue whale at the Museum of Natural History and the spiral ramp of the Guggenheim, New York holds more world-class museums than most countries do. Skip-the-line tickets to all of them, in one place.
Read the guide: the best museum tickets in New York →843 acres
The backyard in the middle of Manhattan.
Central Park is 843 acres of meadows, lakes and wooded paths dropped into the dead centre of Manhattan, and the most filmed park on earth. See it the unhurried way: a pedicab along the loop, a horse-drawn carriage, or a bike out to Bethesda Fountain and the Bow Bridge.
See the best ways to tour Central Park →The skyline
The view you already know by heart.
Even first-timers recognise it: the Empire State and the Chrysler, One World downtown, the wall of glass along the harbor. New York’s skyline is the most photographed on earth, and it somehow looks even better in person, by day and lit up after dark.
See it from the top →Food
Eat your way across the five boroughs.
New York runs on its food: a folded dollar slice, a bagel with lox, soup dumplings in Flushing, cannoli in Little Italy, the ninety-year-old delis and the halal carts. A good food tour hits the spots locals actually line up for, with the stories behind each one.
- 1 NYC: Chinatown & Little Italy Food Tour with 7 Flavorful Tastings
- 2 Original NYC Guided Food Tour of Chinatown and Little Italy
- 3 NYC: Greenwich Village Food Tour with 6 Locals Favorites Dishes
On the water
The whole skyline, from the deck of a boat.
The best view of Manhattan is not from inside it, it is from the harbor looking back. Sightseeing cruises round the southern tip past the Statue of Liberty and under the Brooklyn Bridge, and the sunset sailings catch the skyline just as the lights come on.
See all 52 harbor cruises →By place
Pick a corner of the city.
Downtown for the harbor and Ground Zero. Central Park for the green. Harlem for the gospel and the soul food. Brooklyn for the bridge and the view back at Manhattan. The high points for the skyline from above.
By experience
Pick how you want to see it.
On foot with a guide, up an observation deck, out on a harbor cruise, over the city by helicopter, or front-row at a Broadway show. Twelve ways into New York.
Plan it
Your first three days in New York.
First time in the city? Three days that cover the must-sees, downtown to uptown, without a wasted hour.
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