arts culture
Anthology Film Archives
📍 East Village
An East Village archive and cinema for avant-garde, experimental and rare films in an old courthouse.
Official site ↗
✈️ TRAVEL MODE · METRO AREA
New York City Metro Area
Top things to do for visitors, each linked to its official source.
METRO AREA
New York City Metro Area
other
Avant Garden
📍 Manhattan
A restaurant on Avenue A in Manhattan. Open seven days. What sets it apart: michelin (per its official site).
Official site ↗arts culture
Birdland
📍 Theater District
A Theater District jazz club named for Charlie Parker, with big bands, singers and dinner seating.
Official site ↗other
Bryant Park Grill
📍 New York
A restaurant on West 40th Street in Manhattan. Open seven days. What sets it apart: rooftop (per its official site).
Official site ↗arts culture
Children's Museum of Manhattan
📍 New York
A museum on West 83rd Street in New York. What sets it apart: interactive exhibits and programs built for kids ages 0–6 (per its official site).
Official site ↗arts culture
Film Forum
📍 Greenwich Village
A nonprofit cinema on Houston Street screening independent premieres and classic film series.
Official site ↗other
Hill Country Barbecue Market
📍 New York
A barbecue restaurant on West 26th Street in Manhattan. Open seven days. What sets it apart: live music (per its official site).
Official site ↗arts culture
IFC Center
📍 Greenwich Village
A Sixth Avenue art-house cinema with indie premieres, documentaries and cult midnight screenings.
Official site ↗arts culture
Jackie Robinson Museum
📍 New York
A museum on Varick Street in New York. In its own words: “Learn about the life and legacy of Jackie Robinson through artifacts, historical imagery and multilayered storytelling.” (official site)
Official site ↗arts culture
Le Poisson Rouge
📍 Greenwich Village
A Bleecker Street venue on the site of the old Village Gate, mixing concerts, classical music and comedy.
Official site ↗other
Merchant's House Museum
📍 NoHo
An 1832 rowhouse with its original furnishings intact, home to one family for nearly 100 years and said to be haunted.
Official site ↗arts culture
Metrograph
📍 Lower East Side
A Lower East Side cinema showing 35mm repertory and new releases, with a bookshop and restaurant.
Official site ↗arts culture
Museum of Arts and Design
📍 Columbus Circle
A Columbus Circle museum of craft, art and design, with artist studios and a restaurant overlooking Central Park.
Official site ↗arts culture
Museum of the City of New York
📍 East Harlem
A Fifth Avenue museum about New York's past and present, with a film on the city's history and rotating exhibits.
Official site ↗other
Naumburg Orchestral Concerts
📍 Central Park
A free summer classical series on the Naumburg Bandshell, the stone shell at the end of the Central Park Mall. It is one of the oldest outdoor concert series in the park.
Official site ↗arts culture
Neue Galerie
📍 Upper East Side
A Fifth Avenue mansion museum for German and Austrian art, home to Klimt's Woman in Gold and a Viennese café.
Official site ↗arts culture
New York Transit Museum Gallery
📍 Midtown
A small gallery and shop inside Grand Central Terminal with exhibits on the city's subways and buses.
Official site ↗arts culture
New-York Historical Society
📍 Upper West Side
New York's oldest museum, on Central Park West, covering American and city history, with Tiffany lamps and Hudson River School art.
Official site ↗arts culture
Poster House
📍 Chelsea
The first museum in the United States dedicated to posters, with shows on design, advertising and propaganda.
Official site ↗arts culture
Smalls Jazz Club
📍 West Village
A small West Village basement jazz club with sets late into the night and a friendly, musician-heavy crowd.
Official site ↗other
SummerStage in Central Park
📍 Central Park
City Parks Foundation's outdoor stage at Rumsey Playfield, where the summer season brings concerts in the park, from free shows to ticketed headliners, under the Central Park trees.
Official site ↗arts culture
Tenement Museum
📍 Lower East Side
Guided tours of restored Lower East Side tenement apartments that tell the real stories of immigrant families who lived there.
Official site ↗arts culture
The Drawing Center
📍 SoHo
A SoHo museum devoted to drawing, from old masters to contemporary artists.
Official site ↗arts culture
Village Vanguard
📍 West Village
A basement jazz club open since 1935, where legends like Coltrane and Bill Evans recorded live albums. Two sets nightly.
Official site ↗tours walksFREE
African Burial Ground National Monument
📍 Civic Center
A memorial and visitor center honoring the free and enslaved Africans buried here in the 1600s–1700s.
Official site ↗markets shoppingFREE
American Girl Place New York
📍 Rockefeller Center
Doll store with a doll hair salon and a café.
Official site ↗family kidsFREE
American Museum of Natural History: pay what you wish (NY State residents)
📍 Upper West Side
General admission is pay-what-you-wish for NY State residents with ID. Special exhibits cost extra.
Official site ↗markets shoppingFREE
Apple Fifth Avenue (the glass cube)
📍 Midtown
The glass cube on 59th St, open 24 hours. Free Today at Apple sessions.
Official site ↗arts culture
ARTE MUSEUM New York
📍 Chelsea
Immersive digital art halls of waves, flowers and light projected floor to ceiling.
Official site ↗arts culture
ARTECHOUSE NYC
📍 Chelsea Market
Room-sized digital art in an old boiler room under Chelsea Market. Now showing: Twilight Zone, an ocean show.
Official site ↗tours walksFREE
Big Apple Greeter
📍 All five boroughs
A free volunteer "greeter" shows you a neighborhood like a local. Request online in advance.
Official site ↗markets shoppingFREE
Books of Wonder
📍 Flatiron
NYC's classic kids' bookstore, with original illustration art and Oz rarities.
Official site ↗arts culture
BrainXcape
📍 Manhattan
Manhattan escape rooms for groups.
Official site ↗arts cultureFREE
Brookfield Place Winter Garden
📍 Battery Park City
A glass atrium with 16 palm trees overlooking the Hudson marina. Free to enter.
Official site ↗outdoorsFREE
Bryant Park
📍 Midtown
Midtown's lawn and reading room behind the library, with free programs most of the year.
Official site ↗fitness wellness
Bryant Park Winter Village Ice Skating
📍 Midtown
Skate in Midtown at Bryant Park's seasonal rink, where admission is free and you can bring your own skates or rent a pair. The 2026–27 season runs Oct 28 to Feb 28.
Official site ↗markets shoppingFREE
CAMP Flatiron
📍 Flatiron
A "family experience" toy store with a secret door and themed play areas.
Official site ↗outdoorsFREE
Carl Schurz Park Dog Runs
📍 Yorkville
Two fenced runs along the East River, from E 84th to 89th Streets near East End Avenue.
Official site ↗tours walksFREE
Castle Clinton National Monument
📍 The Battery
An 1811 fort in The Battery. Walk in free; it is also where Statue of Liberty ferry tickets are sold.
Official site ↗outdoorsFREE
Central Park
📍 Midtown to Harlem
843 acres of lawns, lakes, bridges and paths. Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge and the Ramble are free anytime.
Official site ↗outdoorsFREE
Central Park off-leash hours
📍 Central Park
Dogs may run off-leash in designated areas early morning and late night; leash them 9 AM–9 PM. Some spots, like the Ramble and Conservatory Garden, are always leash-only.
Official site ↗family kids
Central Park Zoo
📍 Central Park
Sea lions, penguins and snow leopards in the middle of Central Park. Sea lion and penguin feedings run through the day. Kids 2 and under free.
Official site ↗markets shoppingFREE
Chelsea Market
📍 Chelsea
A food hall in the old Nabisco factory. Free to browse; food is extra.
Official site ↗music nightlife
Chelsea Piers Bowling
📍 Chelsea
Lanes plus a bar and music; a classic date.
Official site ↗music nightlife
Chelsea Piers Golf Club
📍 Chelsea
Play-focused night out: games, golf or pinball.
Official site ↗tours walks
Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises
📍 Hell's Kitchen
City views from up high (or on the water). Tickets are timed, so book a slot.
Official site ↗outdoorsFREE
Conservatory Garden (Central Park)
📍 East Harlem
Central Park's only formal garden: Italian, French and English gardens behind a gilded gate.
Official site ↗markets shoppingFREE
Disney Store Times Square
📍 Times Square
Disney's two-floor Times Square store.
Official site ↗