101 Things to do in New York       

See also some useful New York web sites and suggested New York itineraries.

New York is one of the world's most exciting and interesting cities. Whoever you are - culture vulture, bar hound, party beast, nature lover - there's something for everyone here in 101 Things to do in New York.

1. Visit the Empire State Building. This national historic landmark, soars more than a quarter of a mile into the atmosphere above the heart of Manhattan.
   
   
2. NY Skyride. The Skyride takes you on an aerial NYC tour 'lifting off' from atop the Empire State Building Observatory while never leaving the second floor of the building. online!
   
   
3. Take a stroll in Central Park - over 840 acres of landscaped and recreational areas that include a zoo, a theatre, sports facilities, lakes, food, entertainment and lots more.
   
   
4. Visit the Central Park Wildlife Center and encounter more than 1,400 animals / 130plus species.
   
   
5. Go boating in Central Park. The twenty two acre Central Park lake offers one of the most peaceful and bucolic settings existing at the centre of any city in America. April through October, weather permitting, rowing boats can be rented at the Loeb Boathouse. Or, if you're lazy, have someone do the hard work for you and take a goldola ride.
   
   
6. Rockefeller Center - one of New York's most popular destinations, Rockefeller Center is a hub of activity, with thousands of visitors and New Yorkers alike taking in an array of exciting attractions.
   
   
7. Go to the Top Of The Rock.
   
   
8. Trinity Church, a distinctive Gothic-revival church at the end of Wall Street, is one of the earliest existing churches in New York.
   
   
9. Visit Gracie Mansion - home of the Mayor of New York.
   
   
10. See a show or sporting event at Madison Square Garden is home to the NY Knicks, NY Rangers, NY Liberty and a variety of family shows, concerts and sporting events. An 'All Access' tour is also offered in which visitors get a behind-the-scenes look at what makes the Garden The World's Most Famous Arena.
    
    
11. Staten Island Ferry - New York City's best free ride - a 25-minute trip across New York Harbour.
    
    
12. Historic Richmond Town is New York City's living history village and museum complex. Visitors can explore the diversity of the American experience, especially that of Staten Island and its neighbouring communities, from the colonial period to the present.
    
    
13. Snug Harbor Cultural Center, a distinguished Smithsonian affiliate, is Staten Island's premier destination for culture and entertainment. Set within a stunning 83-acre park-like setting, Snug Harbor presents a unique blend of gardens, museums, theatres, educational opportunities, and seasonal festivals.
    
    
14. Ground Zero - where 3,000 died after the Al-Qaeda attack. Witness the re-birth of after this appalling tragedy. Visit the Ground Zero Museum and Workshop .
    
    
15. Federal Reserve Bank of New York - visit the Gold Vault, learn about the Federal banking system and experience the beautiful ironwork and architecture of the building itself.
    
    
16. Grand Central Terminal - renovations since its opening in 1913 have turned Grand Central into much more than just a hub for transportation.
    
    
17. Walk across Brooklyn Bridge (Brooklyn to Manhattan) - unforgettable views. Take the A or C subway train to High Street.
    
    
18. Go clubbing - take your pick.
    
    
19. Times Square. Named after the New York Times, which moved here in 1924, the "square" is a vibrant, neon-lit area in the heart of the Theatre District.
    
    
20. St. Patrick's Cathedral - the largest decorated gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United States, recognized throughout its history as a centre of Catholic life in the USA.
    
    
21. Cathedral St. John The Divine is the mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the seat of its Bishop
    
    
22. Little Italy. Walking beside the narrow, cobble-stoned streets beneath the fire escapes of turn-of-the-century tenements, you're tempted by the sights, sounds and smells of Italian cuisine and culture emanating from the restaurants surrounding you at every step.
    
    
23. Overlooking the Hudson River in lower Manhattan, the World Financial Center is home to major international financial firms, a dynamic Arts and events program, scores of fine shops and restaurants, and beautiful public spaces connecting the office towers include the spectacular Winter Garden and the Courtyard, which provide venues for many notable events.
    
    
24. Sight Seeing Cruise. Whether you are exploring New York for the first time or you just want to see a different side of New York, a sightseeing cruise is a relaxing and fun way to see the world's most famous skyline - Circle Line and NY Waterway.
    
    
25. South Street Seaport, one of New York City's premier attractions featuring a variety of shops, restaurants, activities and The South Street Seaport Museum.
    
    
26. United Nations Tours - Guided tours of the United Nations offer a brief overview of the Organization and its structure. The main part of the tour consists of a visit to the chambers of the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Economic and Social Council, which are located in the Conference Building.
    
    
27. Columbia University. In 1754 a Church of England minister was made the first president of what was then known as King's College. After the Revolutionary War, it was renamed Columbia University. Today, Columbia is one of the top academic and research institutions in the world.
    
    
28. The Time Warner Center surrounds half of Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan. The shops at Columbus Circle Mall features not only some of the biggest (and most expensive) names in retail, they also offer shopping with a view of Central Park. The complex is also home to a 1,200 seat theatre for Jazz at Lincoln Center as well as CNN studios.
    
    
29. Take a Helicopter Tour. New York City by air is a phenomenal experience. Several companies offer this experience including: Liberty Helicopters, New York Helicopter Tours and Zip.
    
    
30. Wall Street in lower Manhattan runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River through the historical centre of the Financial District. Several major U.S. stock and other exchanges remain headquartered on Wall Street and in the Financial District.
    
    
31. When the Museum of Sex first emerged on New York City's Fifth Avenue on October 5, 2002, it was without precedent in the museum world - an institution unlike any other, one wholly dedicated to the exploration of the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality.
    
    
32. Ripleys Believe it or Not - is a collection of over 500 unusual artefacts from all over the world, representing the places and cultures visited by Robert Ripley during his travels.
    
    
33. Check out the wax figurines of many celebrities and experience many hands-on exhibits at Madame Tussauds New York wax museum.
    
    
34. Greenwich Village. For over 100 years, this small area below 14th Street and west of Broadway has been a Mecca to the creative, rebellious and Bohemian. Although today no starving artists could afford to live here, the vibe still lingers and the beat goes on.
    
    
35. Go to a ball game (April - October). See the New York Yankees at famous Yankee Stadium or the New York Mets at their new stadium Citi Field.
    
    
36. Go to a football game (American Football, September - February). See the New York Giants or the New York Jets.
    
    
37. Take a stroll round Battery Park. The Battery is one of New York City's oldest public open spaces. Dutch settlers landed here in 1623 and the first "battery" of cannons was erected to defend the young city of New Amsterdam.
    
    
38. Chinatown. New York's Chinatown is a cultural haven full of ancient and exotic traditions, and a huge amount of restaurants. This bustling and crowded neighborhood is home to over half of the city's Chinese population.
    
    
39. Sony Wonder Technology Lab. Hosted by the fabulous talking robot, B.B. Wonderbot, Sony Wonder Technology Lab is an interactive hi-tech playground which is a great place for kids, and the best part is that it is free.
    
    
40. Have a NY cocktail - choose your bar.
    
    
41. Radio City Music Hall. America's most popular entertainers have thrilled audiences at Radio City Music Hall since its doors opened December 27, 1932. Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett to mention only a few of the celebrities and luminaries to grace the Great Stage.
    
    
42. The New York Aquarium - situated on 14 acres by the sea in Coney Island, is home to over 350 species of aquatic wildlife and over 8,000 specimens.
    
    
43. The Fashion Institute of Technology - The Museum at FIT is dedicated to the art of fashion. It has a collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present. Entrance is free.
    
    
44. Cast aside caution at Abercrombie & Fitch - "The highest quality, casual, All-American lifestyle clothing for aspirational men and women." 720 Fifth Avenue.
    
    
45. The American Museum of the Moving Image is dedicated to educating the public about the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media, and to examining their impact on culture and society.
    
    
46. The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts presents more than 350 live performances each year through six distinguished performance programs which bring music, opera, theatre, dance, puppetry, circus, and cultural expression from around the globe to Lincoln Center stages.
    
    
47. Grand Central Oyster Bar Restaurant. Tourists as well as locals visit this iconic restaurant famed its variety of oysters and fresh seafood.
    
    
48. The Whitney Museum of American Art houses one of the world's foremost collections of twentieth-century American art. The Permanent Collection of some 12,000 works encompasses paintings, sculptures, multimedia installations, drawings, prints, and photographs-and is still growing.
    
    
49. Gift shopping in Greenwich Village. The West Village is great for browsing and gift shopping. Specialty bookstores and record stores, antiques and craft shops, and gourmet food markets dominate. On 8th Street, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, you can find trendy footwear and affordable fashions.
    
    
50. The excerpts etched into the New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial were chosen from letters, diary entries, and poems written by Americans during the Vietnam Era.
    
    
51. The Guggenheim Museum is Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece of modern architecture. The museum is home to a fine collection of 20th century art, including works by Chagall, Degas, Kadinsky, Picasso and Van Gogh.
    
    
52. Treat yourself at The Tavern on the Green. Magical, resplendent and enchanting all these words describe dining in Tavern on the Green's glittering Crystal Room, which looks out onto the glorious Central Park. On a spring day, eating in the flower-filled garden is equally divine. The restaurant may attract a lot of tourists, but many New Yorkers also come to enjoy the wonderful view of the park.
    
    
53. The New York Transit Museum is home to 100 years of transit lore and memorabilia. The Museum is housed in an authentic 1930s subway station containing vintage subway and elevated cars, antique turnstiles, a working signal tower, and much more.
    
    
54. Eat a hot dog at Nathan's Famous. - 251 E 14th Street and other locations.
    
    
55. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the world's great art galleries, features a collection which now contains more than two million works of art from all points of the compass, ancient through modern times.
    
    
56. The Cloisters is the medieval outpost of the Metropolitan Museum of Art . Overlooking the Hudson River with a collection of five thousand works of art from medieval Europe, dating from about the ninth to the fifteenth century. The building and its cloistered gardens-located in Fort Tryon Park in Northern Manhattan-are treasures in themselves.
    
    
57. Go browsing in Bloomingdales - the quintessential New York department store - 59th Street & Lexington Avenue.
    
    
58. Visit City Island, a historic town settled just beyond Pelham Bay in the Bronx. Originally an Indian settlement, the area has a very interesting history which is celebrated at the City Island Museum. This area also has wonderful restaurants with delicious fresh seafood - it's an especially nice trip in the summer.
    
    
59. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the history of immigrants from many nations who lived on NY's Lower E Side.
    
    
60. National Museum of the American Indian - The museum's collections include more that 800,000 works of aesthetic, religious, and historical significance, as well as articles produced for everyday utilitarian use, and spans all major culture areas of the Americas.
    
    
61. Ellis Island. Some 12 million steerage and third class steamship passengers immigrants were processed on Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954.
    
    
62. Statue of Liberty - a gift to the United States in honour of the friendship established during the French Revolution. The Statue of Liberty has become the American symbol of freedom and welcome to the immigrants who come to the USA looking for a better life.
    
    
63. New Museum of Contemporary Art. Founded in 1977, the New Museum is the premier contemporary art museum in New York City and internationally renowned, presenting a wide range of installations, videos, paintings, and sculptures from around the world.
    
    
64. Retail therapy in Fifth Avenue & 57th Street. The heart of Manhattan retail ranges up Fifth Avenue to 57th Street and across.
    
    
65. Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is dedicated to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world. The collection has grown to include more than 100,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects.
    
    
66. See a Broadway show.
    
    
67. New York Hall of Science - one of America's premier science and technology museum. Enjoy more than 225 hands-on exhibits and have a fun-filled educational experience. Ages from 6 up.
    
    
68. Go bird watching in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. A birder's paradise, the refuge contains 9,155 acres of diverse habitats, including salt marsh, upland field and woods, several fresh and brackish water.
    
    
69. The New York City Fire Museum displays one of the most comprehensive collections of fire-related art and artefacts from Colonial times to the present.
    
    
70. Do a date with a diva - see an opera at The Met.
    
    
71. Be delighted by dance. Whether you are new to dance or have a deep appreciation for it, The Joyce offers a unique opportunity to get closer to the art. Experience a range of movement styles and traditions in the renowned Joyce Theatre, an intimate, 472-seat venue in Chelsea-or at Joyce SoHo, a more intimate and unique dance venue in Lower Manhattan.
    
    
72. The Children's Museum of Manhattan offers 5 floors to inspire children and families to learn about themselves and our culturally diverse world through a unique environment of interactive exhibitions and programmes.
    
    
73. Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum - Part of the Smithsonian Institute, the museum draws on more than a century of collecting, documenting, and studying design.
    
    
74. Shop in Soho.People love to complain about super-fashionable SoHo - it's become too trendy, too tony, too Mall of America. But SoHo is still one of the best shopping neighbourhoods in the city - and few are more fun to browse. The elegant cast-iron architecture, the cobblestone streets, and the distinct rich-artist vibe: SoHo has a look and feel unlike any other Manhattan neighborhood.
    
    
75. Museum of the City of New York - holds one of America's most important photographic collections, a world renowned collection on American theatre, and the finest and most complete collection of Currier and Ives hand-coloured lithographs.
    
    
76. Union Square/The Flatiron District. The hottest shopping/eating/hanging-out neighbourhood in the city may be Union Square. The long-forlorn south side of the square is now a mega-shopping area with Whole Foods, Filene's Basement, and DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse). Just to the right is a Virgin Megastore. On the north side, Barnes & Noble is situated in a beautifully restored 1880 cast-iron building. The beating heart of Union Square is the 4-days-a-week Greenmarket, the biggest farmers market in the city.
    
    
77. Union Square Café. USC has twice garnered The New York Times' three-star rating, and also earned Zagat Survey'sNo.1 ranking as New York's Most Popular Restaurant for an unprecedented eight years.
    
    
78. The Jewish Museum is one of the world's largest and most important institutions devoted to exploring the scope and diversity of Jewish culture. The museum features a vibrant, two-floor exhibition which tells a story spanning 4,000 years, from ancient times to the present.
    
    
79. The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust displays more than 2,000 photographs, 800 artefacts, and 24 original documentary films.
    
    
80. Explore the Lower East Side - the old immigrant neighbourhood that have given New York its unique flavour. The Jewish community, China Town and Little Italian all have their own shops and cuisine.
    
    
81. Museum of American Finance is dedicated to celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship and the democratic free market tradition.
    
    
82. Carnegie Hall. On the opening night of this famous music house, Tchaikovsky conducted and New York's elite waited in line to enter. Many musicians claim it has the best acoustics in the world.
    
    
83. The American Museum of Natural History houses the world's largest collection of vertebrae fossils including dinosaurs, ancient fishes and mammals and is renowned for its collections and exhibitions that illuminate millions of years of the earth's evolution, from the birth of the planet through the present day.
    
    
84. Broadway City is an interactive amusement centre just off Times Square. Experience the latest high tech video games, simulators, virtual reality, authentic New York food, New York memorabilia and lots more.
    
    
85. The Frick Collection. This impressive Fifth Avenue mansion was the former residence of coke and steel magnate Henry Clay Frick. His wish was that his art collection, which includes masterpieces by Vermeer, Goya and Rembrandt, remained on display there after his death.
    
    
86. Bargemusic is a unique floating chamber music concert hall. The 102-foot long converted barge offers a splendid performance space with wood panelling, a fireplace, and spectacular views of the lower Manhattan skyline along the East River.
    
    
87. The Forbes Galleries. This museum is filled with the splendorous items that the Forbes family collected over the years. Its Faberge Imperial Easter Egg collection is the largest in the world. An eclectic and fascinating display from one of the United States' elite families. Admission is free.
    
    
88. The Intrepid Museum. Situated in a World War II aircraft carrier, on the Hudson River, this naval museum also traces the progress of flight and undersea exploration. Features aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the destroyer USS Edson, submarine USS Growler and over 25 aircraft.
    
    
89. The Morgan Library and Museum. Located in midtown Manhattan at Madison Avenue and 36th Street, the Morgan houses one of the world's greatest collections of artistic, literary, and musical works, from ancient times to the medieval and Renaissance periods to the present day.
    
    
90. Explore NY by bike. Bike rental from $8/hr or $30/day. Ot take a bike tour of Central Park.
    
    
91. Williamsburg. The majority of visitors to New York City have never even heard of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But if you are one of the many trend-conscious visitors to New York and you are wondering whether a trip just across the East River is worth your time, the answer is almost certainly yes - Williamsburg has become the ultra-trendy successor to the East Village. There are many bars, live music venues, art galleries, shops and more to explore. Just a few stops away from Union Square on the L train.
    
    
92. Visit the Fraunces Tavern. Nestled in the heart of New York's financial district, the historic 18th century Fraunces Tavern, along with four adjacent 19th century buildings, houses a fine museum that is dedicated to the study and interpretation of early American history and culture.
    
    
93. Listen to jazz at The Blue Note
    
    
94. Walk the Museum Mile - 5th Avenue between E 70th and E 92nd street and see the best remaining examples of New York's turn of the century gilded age.
    
    
95. Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan's oldest surviving house atop Harlem Heights, is a monument to colonial grandeur.
    
    
96. The Merchant's House Museum. New York City's only family home preserved intact - both inside and out - from the 19th-century. Discover what life was reallylike in mid-19th century.
    
    
97. Do art galleries in Chelsea and the Meat-Packing District. Almost overnight it seems this area has been transformed and more than 200 galleries have sprouted up in a once-moribund enclave of repair shops and warehouses. Most are between 20th and 26th streets between Tenth and Eleventh avenues.
    
    
98. Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite. Today, transformed, it is an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program that also serves as a New York City park offering a wide variety of public services.
    
    
99. Go fishing
    
    
100. Wander in the New York Botanical Garden - Founded in 1891 and now a it is one of the greatest botanical gardens in the world and the largest in any city in the United States, distinguished by the beauty of its diverse landscape and extensive collections and gardens.
     
     
101. The Bronx Zoo is the largest metropolitan zoo in the nation, with more than 6,000 animals and many award-winning exhibits.