The Best Museums in New York City
New York has some of the greatest museums on earth, more than you could see in a lifetime of visits. I get to New York a few times a year, and these are the ones I love most and send people to.
My favorites
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), one of the greatest museums in the world; the Met alone can fill a day.
- American Museum of Natural History, dinosaurs, the blue whale, and the planetarium, a favorite for all ages.
- MoMA, modern masterpieces from Van Gogh’s Starry Night onward.
- The Guggenheim and the Whitney, as much about the buildings as the art.
- The 9/11 Memorial & Museum, moving and essential.
How to do it
Do not try to do more than one big museum a day, they are enormous. Pair a museum morning with a walk in Central Park (the Met and the Natural History Museum both sit right on it). For the rest of the city by season, see my New York guides for summer, fall, and Christmas.
The part that goes wrong on your own. The blockbuster exhibitions release timed slots weeks ahead and vanish, one big museum truly is a full day so you cannot stack two, and crosstown at rush hour can turn a quick trip into a one to two hour crawl. Getting the right museum paired with the right neighborhood on the right day is the whole game, and it is what I plan for you.
Why plan with me
Timed tickets and special exhibitions sell out, and the smart move is pairing the right museum with the right neighborhood. I plan it all, in English or Español.