New York, New York, has some of the world's best restaurants, hotels, museums, and other attractions. There's so much to do that whether you're a tourist or a permanent resident, it's tough to decide what to check out next. Here are some of the best things to do in New York City.
Visit the Met
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has pieces from all over the world and more than 5,000 years of human history. The Met on Fifth Avenue has paintings by European masters, ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, clothing by iconic fashion designers, and more. Seeing all the exhibits would take days, so it's a great place to come back to again and again. Many of the exhibits change regularly, so you can always see something new and different, even if you're a regular visitor.
The British Galleries has almost 700 works of art from 1500 to 1900, including a staircase from a manor house built in the 1700s and 100 teapots. The Crossroads exhibit examines how cultures all over the world have interacted and influenced each other's art.
There's also a second museum called the Met Cloisters. The Cloisters is at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, and it overlooks the Hudson River. The building was constructed in 1933, but it has a medieval style. The museum is all about the art and culture of the Middle Ages, and it's the only one dedicated exclusively to the subject in the United States. You can see several gardens, the iconic Unicorn Tapestries, and medieval architecture. Both locations are open Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and reservations are highly recommended.
Explore Central Park
This is another place that you'll need to visit several times to see completely. Central Park covers 843 acres, and it includes gardens, forests, meadows, and rolling hillsides. It has 58 miles of paths, monuments, sculptures, bridges, 21 playgrounds, and a lake. The park's beautiful gardens make it a popular venue for weddings and other events, and the vintage carousel is one of the largest in the United States.
You can go fishing as long as you release your catch, rent a boat, or take a gondola ride. There's also a beach volleyball court, and pets are welcome. Visitors can run, hike, bike, skate, bird-watch, or rollerblade as well. See Cleopatra's Needle, an obelisk from ancient Egypt taken to New York in the late 1800s, and Belvedere Castle. The castle was constructed in 1872 on top of Vista Rock, the second-highest natural point in the park. It has beautiful views, and scientists use instruments there to measure weather conditions.
Check Out the American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History is another enormous attraction, and it's right across the street from Central Park. It covers four city blocks, and it has more than 30 million artifacts. It's a good idea to look at the floor plan before you start so that you can see the exhibits that interest you most.
You can look at dinosaur fossils, animal dioramas, a huge replica of a blue whale, and many different gems and minerals. These include the Star of India sapphire, which weighs 56 carats, and the Willamette Meteorite, which weighs 15.5 tons, making it the largest iron meteorite found in the United States. The Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium are part of the museum as well. You can visit from Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and reservations are required.
See Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center has 19 buildings, and 14 of them are in the Art Deco style of architecture. The Rockefeller family built this place, and it has a variety of great shops and restaurants. Its Christmas tree and ice skating rink are popular during the holidays, and the Top of the Rock has a spectacular view of many of the city's skyscrapers and Central Park.
This building has 70 floors, three levels of observation decks, and an open-air roof for panoramic views of the city. The Radiance Wall by Swarovski has glass and crystal panels, fiber optic lighting, and tiny crystal figurines. The Joie Chandelier is also a Swarovski creation. It has 14,000 crystals, and it hangs three stories above the Grand Atrium lobby. The Top of the Rock is open every day from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the last elevator goes up at 8:10 p.m. If visibility is poor because of bad weather, you can visit on another day at no charge.
Take a Walk on the High Line
The High Line is a 1.5-mile railroad track that once carried freight trains from the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street. It was abandoned in the 1980s, and Piet Oudolf, a Dutch landscape architect, transformed it into a park in 2009. It has many beautiful views of the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline, and the elevated path has plenty of benches, lounge chairs, trees, and bushes.
The gardens have a natural look and more than 100,000 plants. You can reach the High Line with an elevator, and the path is about 30 feet above the street. It has an open-air food court and a variety of art installations that change often.
View The Vessel
This art installation at Hudson Yards, near the High Line, is a collection of 154 interconnected, soaring staircases with almost 2,500 steps and 80 landings. The Vessel gets its name because the outlines of the staircases look like a giant vase. You can view this unique sculpture from below or climb some of the stairs. That way, you'll get a variety of excellent views of the city along with a great workout.
These are just some of the awesome activities and attractions available in New York. You can also check out some of the amazing restaurants in the city or explore some interesting shops. What are your favorite things to do in New York City? Contact us at Martin Busch Jewelers and let us know what you enjoy in the area.