The 39 best museums in NYC

Opened in 1880 and situated along Central Park, this iconic New York institution contains 5,000 years of art — from prehistory to the latest in contemporary works — under one roof. That's range, folks. Its unparalleled collection comprises more than two million objects that include Old Master paintings, the Ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur and the museum’s famed period rooms. Sure, you'll never take it all in at once, but that's alright – just visit again and again!

Now on: "Ensemble" on the Met's rooftop

At this massive art institution, find the classics in contemporary art (Picasso, Matisse, Pollock), alongside art by new and up-and-coming artists, with a special focus on women and artists of color. The museum covers a whopping 708,000 square feet, and every inch is packed with paintings, sculptures and films.

The galleries are divided by era, so you can literally walk through the evolution of modern art. 

With its mind-boggling holdings of artifacts and specimens from around the globe, the American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, tells nothing less than the story of creation, from the Big Bang to the present. Its dazzling highlights include the 94-feet long blue whale, the Hayden Planetarium, and a butterfly vivarium. Like many of these monster museums, you won’t get around this properly within a day. 

See the stunning new Gilder Center wing.

Standing at the foot of the High Line along Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, the 63,000-square-foot facility features both indoor and outdoor exhibition space. True to its founder Gertrude Vanderbilt's wishes, the Whitney is dedicated to presenting the work of American artists. Its collection holds about 15,000 pieces by nearly 2,000 artists, including Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Edward Hopper (the museum holds his entire estate), Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Claes Oldenburg.

Three outdoor sculpture spaces provide views of the Hudson and the surrounding neighborhood. This is a goldmine for slightly lesser-known but fantastic exhibitions. 

Now on: "Amy Sherald: American Sublime"

Founded in 1804, the New-York Historical Society is NYC’s oldest museum. It's dedicated to the history of Gotham (not the Batman one) and its central place in American life, politics, and culture. 

The museum's collection and library contains more than 1.6 million items, including a gallery of Tiffany lamps, an outstanding cache of Hudson River School paintings, and James Audubon’s preparatory watercolors for his seminal study, The Birds of America. 

On view: "Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore"

The third-largest museum in the five boroughs, the Brooklyn Museum follows the encyclopedic template of the Metropolitan Museum with a collection housed in an 1897 Beaux-Art building packed with period rooms, ancient art and contemporary paintings, sculptures and more. Loads of things, all of the things.  

It boasts Egyptian, African, and Oceanic artifacts, as well as hotter contemporary art exhibits that rotate in and out. In fact, it has an entire wing devoted to the latest in feminist art, where you will find Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, a huge permanent installation that pays tribute to famous women throughout history.

Now on: "Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200"

In addition to a superb collection of Judaica, The Jewish Museum also mounts important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Housed in the 1908 Warburg Mansion, the museum maintains a collection of more than 28,000 works of art, artifacts and media installations. That's a lot of things. The museum aims to be at the intersection of art and Jewish culture for people of all backgrounds. 

On view: "Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston"

The place to explore NYC’s past, present, and future, the Museum of the City of New York on Fifth Avenue at 104^th Street takes visitors on a tour of the city’s 400-year history. Explore rotating exhibitions and its extensive collection of vintage photographs, costumes, textiles, theater memorabilia, furniture, decorative arts, and more. For the full New York experience, this place basically has to be on your list. 

On now: "Songs of New York"

The Transit Museum dives deep into one essential element of New York life: the public transit system. Opened in 1976 in a former IND subway station, the museum displays historic artifacts—including a collection of vintage train cars spanning the 20th century—as well as more timely pieces, such as works from the MTA’s Arts for Transit program. 

Don't miss: "Shining a Light on The Subway Sun"

You know the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and at the International Center of Photography Museum is where you should go to immerse yourself in the world visual storytelling. The institution caters to a wide audience—not merely shutterbugs and Instagram fans. 

Now on: "American Job: 1940-2011"

Frank Lloyd Wright broke the mold on museum design when he completed his building for the Guggenheim in 1959. Since then, millions of visitors have come to the Gugg to gawk at its spiraling rotunda, but they stay for its daring art shows and its collection, which includes Peggy Guggenheim’s trove of Cubist, Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist works, as well as the largest collection of Kandinskys in the United States. Beautiful and innovative both inside and out, what more inspiration do you need?

Now on: Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers

Situated in a former public school, MoMA PS1 hosts an international studio program in addition to mounting exhibitions (including career monographs) of cutting-edge artists. Affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art since 1999, MoMA PS1 is also known for its summer series of outdoor parties called “Warm Up.” If you find yourself in the area, you can basically guarantee popping by will be worth your time, whether it's for the exhibitions or just a hip event being hosted there. 

Go see: "DonChristian Jones: The Sumptuous Discovery of Gotham a Go-Go"

Once the private library of J. Pierpont Morgan, the Morgan Museum was gifted to the city by the Gilded Age financier along with his collection of artworks and rare books—holdings that include drawings by Michelangelo and three Gutenberg Bibles. There’s also a first edition of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that’s put on display every Christmas. A bookworm’s dream, there are also frequent special exhibitions, so keep an eye on their website. 

The biggest attraction at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is undoubtedly The Panorama of the City of New York, an exacting 9,335-square-foot scale model of the five boroughs created for the 1964 World’s Fair. In fairness, though, there are a lot of other great things to see. Check the website or just swing by. You'll likely end up making a day of it. 

Now on: "Tiffany’s Lamps: Lighting Luxury"

Located in Astoria, Queens, the Museum of the Moving Image presents exhibitions and screenings that relay the history and cultural impact of movies, television and digital media. In addition to a state-of-the-art 267-seat cinema, the museum features ongoing installations such as “Behind the Screen,” which examines the filmmaking process. Film-nerds, if you haven't already been, it's a must. 

Don't miss: The ongoing exhibit on Jim Henson

Besides shining a spotlight on neighborhood artists as well as on African-American, Asian and Latino artists from the 20th and 21st centuries, this multicultural museum founded in 1971 has the virtue of being free. Ideal. It’s also an internationally recognized cultural destination, with great educational resources, events, and exhibitions aplenty. 

On now: "Futura 2000: Breaking Out"

Devoted entirely to late-19th- and early-20th-century German and Austrian fine and decorative arts, this elegant addition to the city’s museum scene has the largest concentration of works by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele outside Vienna, including Klimt’s masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I. That's well worth a visit in itself, but there’s always plenty of great and undiscovered gems to view here. The Viennese-inspired cafe is excellent, too. 

To see: "Austrian Masterworks from The Neue Galerie"

A battle-hardened veteran of World War II, the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid at Pier 86 has been repurposed as a floating museum since 1982. With a collection of military aircraft crowding its flight deck, the Intrepid also features the space shuttle Enterprise and a British Airways Concorde. It's chock-full of educational facilities and is a non-profit institution, so your admission fee will be spent wisely!  

Now on view: A permanent new WWII exhibit

Situated on Columbus Circle, The Museum of Arts & Design mounts lively exhibitions dedicated to the latest in contemporary art and design. It's a beautiful and fascinating spot to check out after a morning stroll in nearby Central Park.

Now on: "OUT of the Jewelry Box," ongoing

Sure, MoSex is dedicated to elevating porn and erotica to institutional status, but not every exhibit there is presented just for titillation’s sake. Its exhibitions have included serious explorations of such issues as gender and the impact of new technologies on human sexual behavior. Interesting, right! Plus you know, you'll be forgiven for having a little giggle. 

One of two Smithsonian museums in NYC, the Cooper Hewitt is housed in a sumptuous former mansion and is dedicated to the field of design. It houses a collection of objects that span 3,000 years. Among the ongoing exhibits is the Immersion Room, which allows visitors to interact with digital projections of wallpaper. But there's endless rooms and objects to gaze at here. Plus, it's worth popping in just to nosy at what was someone's actual, very lavish, home. 

On now: "Making Home: Smithsonian Design Triennial"

Dedicated to Hispanic artists in the U.S. and Latin America, this museum located in East Harlem (a.k.a. El Barrio) holds a 6,500-piece permanent collection that ranges from pre-Colombian artifacts to contemporary installations. Very few places provide such depth on the history and culture of a region of the world. 

Go see: "Flow States LA TRIENAL 2024"

If you haven't been to the Fraunces Tavern Museum yet, it's definitely worth a visit. First of all, it's the oldest building in Manhattan, dating all the way back to 1719 and it has an important role in American history. These days, the museum operates on the upper floors of the building with exhibits focusing on George Washington and Revolutionary-era history. The tavern and restaurant serve hearty fare at lunch and dinner.

On view: "The Birch Trials"

The other branch of the Smithsonian Institution in NYC, along with the Cooper Hewitt, the National Museum of the American Indian displays its collection around the grand rotunda of the 1907 Custom House at 1 Bowling Green. In total, the museum contains some 825,000 items from 1,200 Indigenous cultures covering 12,000 years of Native American history. It's one of the world's most expansive collections of Native objects, all housed in a stunning building.

With 750,000 objects, The Hispanic Society Museum & Library boasts the largest assemblage of Spanish art and manuscripts outside Spain. The collection includes many religious artifacts, including 16th-century tombs from the monastery of San Francisco in Cuéllar, Spain. A permanent fixture of the museum, however, is Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida’s Vision of Spain, comprising 14 monumetal oil paintings commissioned by the Society in 1911. Each massive panel reflects a different region of Spain in vivid colors.

On view: "The Colorful World of Pancho Fierro, Afro-Peruvian Painter"

The Fashion Institute of Technology owns one of the largest and most impressive collections of clothing, textiles, and accessories in the world, including some 50,000 costumes and fabrics dating from the 5th century to the present. Overseen by fashion historian Valerie Steele, the museum showcases a selection from the permanent collection, as well as temporary exhibitions focusing on individual designers or the role fashion plays in society. Admission is free and no, you can't try on the clothing! This museum also offers a wide range of events and educational resources. 

Set in a lovely park overlooking the Hudson River, the Cloisters houses the Met’s medieval art and architecture collections. A path winds through the peaceful grounds to a castle that seems to have survived from the Middle Ages—even though it was built less than 100 years ago using material from five medieval French cloisters.

Be sure to check out the famous Unicorn Tapestries, the 12th-century Fuentidueña Chapel, and the Annunciation Triptych by Robert Campin. There's a focus on Romanesque and Gothic periods. The building is fascinating in itself, so even if you just marvel at the exterior, it'll be well worth a visit. 

As it names suggests, The Drawing Center is devoted to exhibiting and promoting works on paper, both historical and contemporary. A Soho stalwart since its founding in 1977, The Drawing Center is as much a museum as it is a gallery, but its wooden floors and cast-iron columns are reminiscent of Soho’s glory days as a gallery district. 

Now on: "John Zorn: Hermetic Cartography"

New York City’s only preserved 19th-century family home is an elegant, late Federal-Greek Revival house stocked with the same furnishings and decorations that filled its rooms when it was inhabited by hardware tycoon Seabury Treadwell and his descendants from 1835 to 1933. So if you're in NoHo and want the low-down on what the area used to be like, here's the place to start. 

When sculptor (and landscape architect and theatrical-set and furniture designer) Isamu Noguchi opened his Queens museum in 1985, he was the first living artist in the U.S. to establish such an institution. It occupies a former photo engraving plant across the street from the studio he had occupied since the 1960s to be closer to stone and metal suppliers along Vernon Boulevard. Twelve galleries and a garden are populated with Noguchi’s sculptures; also on display are drawn, painted and collaged studies, architectural models, and stage and furniture designs.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a tourist, commuter or longtime NYC resident: No visit to Lower Manhattan is complete without paying your respects at the September 11 Memorial & Museum. Both the outdoor memorial and accompanying museum are solemn, moving tributes to the nearly 3,000 victims who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and February 26, 1993. Designed by Israeli architect Michael Arad, two of North America’s largest man-made waterfalls mark the footprint of each tower, framing the perimeter and cascading into reflecting pools almost an acre wide. 

Mercer Labs, Museum of Art and Technology is a unique new immersive museum created by Roy Nachum, the artist behind Rihanna’s famous 2016 “Anti” album cover, and his business partner Michael Cayre, a real estate developer. The 36,000-square-foot space opened in early 2024 at 21 Dey Street, inside the bank building that used to be part of the now-nextdoor Century 21. 

There are a total of 15 different rooms to explore, each one attacking all the senses upon entrance. A mere walk through Mercer Labs makes one thing clear: the immersive space can be much more than that given its size and the clear technological capabilities embedded in each room.

Coming soon: Maestros and the Machines, opening April 24

As its name suggests, the American Folk Art Museum celebrates traditional craft-based works, but more than that, it has been instrumental in promoting the work of outsider, visionary, and other self-taught artists. You can teach yourself all about the concept while here. Admission is free, and there are also publications and educational programs if you want to learn more. 

The galleries at the Asia Society host major exhibitions showcasing art—both historical and contemporary—from Asia, the Philippines and the Indian subcontinent. It’s a non-profit focused on educating the world about Asia, and is one of several Asia Societies worldwide.

This museum serves as a love letter to the enigmatic street artist known only as Banksy. The Lower Manhattan venue features the largest collection of Banksy’s life-sized murals and artwork in the world. 

After passing through an industrial door, you'll see a city of walls a.k.a. Banksy's ideal canvas. By its nature, street art is impermanent, but this museum offers a long-term space for the ephemeral. Many of the re-creations at the museum no longer exist on the street. Expect to see more than 160 works on display in this celebration of the artist.

Just a programming note: The production at the museum is unauthorized and unaffiliated with the artist.

Opened as a foundation to promote LGBT artists by Charles Leslie and his late partner, Fritz Lohman, this Soho institution was granted museum status by New York State in 2011. Its program includes solo shows, as well as group shows organized around important LGBTQ+ themes such as identity and gender. There are around 30,000 items in their collection, so you can spend a lot of time here and not see the same thing twice. 

Go see: "Young Joon Kwak: RESISTERHOOD"

Housed in the former Gilded-Age mansion of Henry Clay Frick, The Frick maintains a collection of Old Master paintings (including works by Rembrandt, Holbein, and Vermeer) on par with the Met’s. The Frick’s holdings also include paintings by Whistler and Renoir as well as furniture and other examples of the decorative arts. It's truly a frickin' excellent, less well-known spot to check out.

Note: The Frick's main building will reopen in April 2025.

Taking its name from the New School, where it was founded in 1977, the New Museum has grown from a single gallery space to a global showcase of cutting-edge art. It's housed inside a purpose-built, seven-story building on the Bowery, designed by the cutting-edge Tokyo architectural firm SANAA.

Ice cream is at the center of this 20,000-square-foot museum that’ll make the cold treat even more fun (who knew it’d even be possible?). Across 13 multi-sensory installations, visitors to the museum will be able to interact with fun elements like a three-story indoor slide, the all-pink Celestial Subway, and a new add-on where guests can build their own edible slime. Even better: The sweet treats along the way. Yes, we're talking about unlimited ice cream throughout the museum. For adults, check out some fun themed cocktails as well.

We recently tried the experience ourselves and have a lot of tips for your visit.