Best free things to do in NYC

Free and cheap tickets to NYC's best museums? It's possible! One of the benefits of living in or visiting New York City is all the incredible cultural institutions and museums are at your beck-and-call like The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, MoMA or the Guggenheim.

Luckily, most museums offer free hours or days and pay-what-you-wish admission. You just have to know where and when they are. We’ve got the info you need in our guide to all the free museum days and cheap admission in NYC you should know about.

New York City is full of free outdoor art that you don't even have to go to a museum to see. Sculptures, murals and photographs can be found in its parks, sidewalks and on its buildings!

Locations such as the High Line, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn and Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens and other NYC locales all have a wide variety of pieces awaiting you, from massive sculptures to eye-popping murals and graffiti. Best of all, it costs you nothing to pay a visit.

A lush Korean forest is now growing in the Meatpacking District—figuratively at least. "The Forest Within," an immersive exhibition, is open for free at Genesis House. 

With a focus on wellness, none other than wellness guru and goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow put her personal stamp on the experience. She helped to design and develop the exhibition with renowned floral designer Jeff Leatham. Paltrow even narrates the journey, which follows a tiger through a flourishing sanctuary reminiscent of the Sobaek Mountains.

"The Forest Within" is on view now through June 29. It's free to visit with no reservations required. Find it at Genesis House (40A 10th Ave. in the Meatpacking District). 

The Folio Society will mark nearly 80 years of extraordinary art and illustration with The Art of Folio, a landmark exhibition at the Society of Illustrators' Museum of Illustration. It's the first time Folio has brought its archive and artistry to NYC in this way, celebrating nearly eight decades of exceptional book art with works from 91 celebrated illustrators including Yuko Shimizu, Sam Weber, the Balbusso twins, Jamaal Barber, and Omar Rayyan.

At the heart of the show is a centennial tribute to The Great Gatsby, with Shimizu's newly illustrated edition having debuted this spring. Spanning multiple genres—from sci-fi to YA to contemporary classics—the exhibit will offer a rich narrative of how illustration continues to evolve in the publishing world.

It's free to visit through July 12 at Society of Illustrators on the Upper East Side (Lexington and 63rd). 

New Yorkers love to talk about transit—to complain about it, to joke about it, to express their love for it. So it’s only fitting that The New Yorker magazine would cover transit in exactly the same way. Since the magazine began a century ago, it has featured cartoons that both rib and extol public transportation. 

A new exhibit, “Commentary on The Commute: A Century of The New Yorker's Transportation Cartoons," explores how the magazine’s famed comical drawings have explored this subject over the past 100 years. The exhibit is free to visit through October 26, 2025; find it at the New York Transit Museum’s outpost inside Grand Central Terminal.

Next time you’re waiting for a train or passing through Grand Central, it’s worth taking the time to stop and explore this free exhibition. Find it in the shuttle passage next to the stationmaster’s office. It's open on weekdays from 10am-7:30pm and weekends from 10am-6pm.   

New York’s ultimate open-air yoga studio is back. Bryant Park's popular free yoga series runs through September 17. Led by over 30 of the region’s top instructors, each session offers a fresh flow, welcoming all skill levels and ages. Whether you're a seasoned vinyasa pro or a "what's a downward dog?" beginner, you're invited to stretch, sweat and find your zen in the heart of Midtown.

Classes take place twice a week: Tuesdays at 10am on the Upper Terrace and Wednesdays at 6pm on the Lawn. Registration is required (and spots go fast), so snag yours early and don't forget to BYO mat and water. 

Bryant Park Picnic Performances are back with 25 live music, dance, and theater events through September 13. The lineup includesThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert bandleader Louis Cato; trumpeter Steven Bernstein playing the music of James Bond with Arturo O’Farrill and The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra; the NYC premiere of Ghanaian highlife band Gyedu-Bly Ambolley; Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE dance company; South African world pop star Thandiswa Mazwai and many more!

Pack a picnic and drop by this free festival; here's the full lineup.

Clear your calendars and dust off your dance shoes: Hudson River Park just unveiled its spring and summer event lineup, and it’s packed tighter than the West Side Highway at rush hour.

The four-mile-long waterfront park will host hundreds of free events ranging from Broadway By The Boardwalk to sunset salsa, science parties and one of NYC’s longest-running barbecue blowouts. Whether you’re a fitness fanatic, jazz junkie, science nerd or just someone who enjoys a good sunset and a picnic blanket, there’s something here for you, day or night, weekday or weekend.

Find the full schedule and details at Hudson River Park’s website.

Your Friday commute through Times Square might get a little... spinny this summer.

That’s because SPIN Midtown, the legendary ping pong social club known for mixing paddles with party vibes, is setting up shop right in the center of the city, offering free outdoor ping pong every Friday from 4 to 7 pm all summer long. And yes, everything’s included: paddles, balls, tables, and a neon-soaked, skyscraper-lined backdrop that’s hard to beat.

The pop-up takes place smack in the middle of the Times Square pedestrian plaza, between 46th and 50th Streets, transforming the tourist crossroads into a full-on ping pong playground.

Lower Manhattan’s lunch crowd is getting a serious upgrade with the Downtown Alliance's "Art Is All Around" performance series. It offers six weeks of free midday concerts designed to turn your typical lunch break into a full-on vibe.

Every Wednesday at noon through July 9, a new act will take over either the World Trade Center’s North Oculus Plaza or 140 Broadway, bringing everything from salsa to soul, swing to funk. The series, programmed by acclaimed jazz vocalist and producer Svetlana Shmulyian, blends live music with professional dance performances—think tap, cha-cha-cha and modern jazz, all unfolding in the middle of the Financial District.

No tickets are required, and all performances are free—just show up and enjoy the show.

What does it mean to be American? That's the question a new immersive art exhibition in Manhattan seeks to answer. 

Called "Path of Liberty: That Which Unites US," this installation takes over 6 acres in Midtown East with massive screens sharing the voices of 50 Americans from across the nation. You'll hear their thoughts on democracy, liberty, freedom and unity. Path of Liberty is free to visit with reservations available here. The exhibition opens as America approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, which will be celebrated in 2026.  

Find "Path of Liberty: That Which Unites US" on Manhattan’s East Side from 38th to 41st Street along First Avenue. It's open free of charge every Thursday through Saturday from 8-11pm; make a reservation here. Walk-ups are welcome, and the installation is also illuminated Sunday through Wednesday for public viewing from the perimeter.

The 47th annual Museum Mile Festival is back this June with a slew of art-making activities, exhibitions and musical performances for all ages. It's NYC's biggest block party, running along Fifth Avenue from 82nd Street and 110th Street on Tuesday, June 10 from 6-9pm.

New Yorkers can visit several of New York City’s finest cultural institutions, all of which are free and open to the public throughout the evening. From the Met to the Museum of the City of New York, there are a ton of cool activations happening all evening long.

Here's the full list of participating museums and highlighted activities. 

Many free outdoor movie screenings are taking place all over town this summer, but none boast an ambiance quite like that of the Intrepid Museum's Summer Movie Series. After all, you get to watch some awesome movies while hanging out on the aircraft carrier's flight deck at sunset. How cool!

This year's films dive deep into the mysteries of the ocean, inspired by the museum's newest exhibition, Mysteries From the Deep: Underwater Archaeology. From high-seas adventures to underwater discoveries, each movie explores humanity's fascination with the deep.

Here is the upcoming schedule:

— June 27 – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
— July 25 – The Abyss
— August 22 – Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Every summer, Hudson Yards hosts a slate of free community programs, including fitness classes, concerts, kid's activities, and movies.

A few highlights include a concert by rapper Paul Russell on July 16 and a screening of Grease on September 12. To keep track of all the programming and any changes, make sure you're checking on Hudson Yard’s website before you plan your visit.  

Times Square will be both busier than ever and calmer than ever on Friday, June 20—the summer solstice—for the annual "Solstice in Times Square: Mind over Madness Yoga" event.

Thousands of yoga practitioners will congregate from sunrise to sunset to take part in free yoga sessions throughout the day. This year, the event runs from 7:30am to 8:30pm at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue between 43rd and 48th Streets.

Over the past 23 years, this event has grown to welcome thousands of yogis taking multiple classes throughout the day and filling one of the busiest intersections in the world with peace and calm. Seven classes are available throughout the day; make a reservation for the in-person classes here. If you can't make it in person, you can livestream the class at TSQ.org/Solstice, on YouTube, or on the Times Square Facebook page.

Each year, SummerStage is one of the most anticipated free events of the summer, bringing dozens of free, outdoor concerts across different parks to sun-starved New Yorkers from May through October. To celebrate its 39th year, the festival is focusing on diversity and will showcase a mix of established and emerging artists and DJs playing an array of genres that include jazz, hip-hop, indie-rock, salsa, reggae, Afrobeats, soul, pop, global, contemporary dance and more.

Highlights include Soccer Mommy, Marcus Miller, Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience, Rilo Kiley, The Met Opera, James Blunt, Chris Tomlin and The Roots.

When in need of a mental break, get yourself to Madison Square Park to walk along a new meditative spiral pathway aptly dubbed Gardens of Renewal. Located across the park’s Redbud and Sparrow Lawns, the new path is a beautifully landscaped spiral that invites reflection while highlighting the political urgency of the climate crisis. As visitors walk through, they’ll encounter a planting palette made up of increasingly rare—and nearly disappearing—native species.

Artist Lily Kwong (you may remember her from her gorgeous orchid show a few years ago) collaborated with the Madison Square Park Conservancy to create the destination, which will be accessible through Labor Day. 

Depending on what you learned in high school history class, you might be surprised to discover that Brooklyn—an area firmly in the northern Union states—actually has significant ties to slavery. A new exhibit in the borough digs into that painful history.

Titled "Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn," the is now open open at the Center for Brooklyn History. While there are few firsthand testimonies from enslaved people in Brooklyn, the exhibit offers clues to what they endured. It also sheds light on the often-overlooked narratives of enslaved individuals in Kings County and the generational legacies of inequality. The exhibit is free to visit through August 30 in the center's Fransioli Gallery.

There are usually a few rules at art museums: No yelling, no loud music and certainly no touching the displays! But at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new 81st Street Studio, these rules don’t apply. 

This art and science play space designed for kids ages 3-11 and their families welcomes visitors to use their senses for exploration. Kids can smell different types of wood, look through a microscope, play oversized musical instruments, and try digital activities to learn about different materials. Best of all, this newly designed drop-in space on the Met’s ground level is completely free for kids and their caregivers.

Within its 3,500-square-foot area, 81st Street Studio features both digital and analog experiences designed to encourage making, investigation, critical thinking, problem-solving and appreciation for materials and their properties. Drop-in activities and self-directed art- and science-making activities will be available during museum hours. 

Hundreds of items have been pulled from the New York Public Library's expansive and centuries-spanning archive to be put on display—many of them for the first time—in a permanent exhibition called "The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures."

Inside the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and its beautiful Gottesman Hall, are more than 250 unique and rare items culled from its research centers including the only surviving letter from Christoper Columbus announcing his "discovery" of the Americas to King Ferdinand’s court and the first Gutenberg Bible brought over to the Americas.

Every Sunday at 11 am, rain or shine, expert guides are ready and waiting to offer you a historical tour of the Flatiron-Nomad neighborhoods. On these fascinating walking tours, take a stroll through this iconic area while taking in the architectural gems and even learning some scandalous tidbits.

It's totally free; no need to RSVP. Just meet your guide at the tip of the Flatiron Building on 23rd Street just east of 5th Avenue.

Lady Gaga’s family restaurant, Joanne Trattoria (a name made famous by the artist’s eponymous album), is bringing in sensational drag queens for free, “speakeasy” drag shows every Wednesday.

“Drag Me To Joanne’s,” which is hosted by Jupiter Genesis, features special guests. Of course, because it’s all set at Joanne’s, there will “be ample Lady Gaga action,” organizers say.

Produced exclusively by Jessee O of G L I T A NYC and co-produced by Jupiter Genesis, the show starts at 7pm. Joanne Trattoria’s full Italian menu will be available during performances. Additional tickets for the show aren’t needed, you just need to order a meal.

It's one thing to read about Brooklyn and yet another thing to visit the landmarks that have turned it into the stuff of literary legend.

An audio tour by the Brooklyn Public Library explores the lives of the characters and authors that call the borough home in fiction and in real life. From Patti Smith to Biggie Smalls, Howard Zinn to Tanwi Nandini Islam, the guide covers a total of 16 writers over eight miles of Brooklyn. You can also expect to stop at important public libraries the likes of Washington Irving and Clinton Hill, which played an important role in the lives of the featured authors.

Expect the entire tour, which can virtually start off from anywhere in Brooklyn, to take at least two hours to complete, depending on how many stops you wish to make along the way.

One of New York City’s hottest attractions, Little Island greets visitors and locals who flock to see Manhattan’s gorgeous “floating” greenspace. The park is filled with open lawns, colorful foliage, cool installations and even a secret garden.

The park opens at 6am daily (closing times differ throughout the year), and it's totally free to enter. 

Plus, there are plenty of free performances this summer to check out; here's the full list.

If you crave an escape from the city that won’t land you in debt, head to the ever-changing urban oasis of Governors Island, NY which combines park, adult playground and outdoor art space into a single lovely haven for adventure. Governors Island has officially become a year-round destination for the public to roam. Yes, even in the winter.

Heads up that getting there will cost you a few bucks. It costs $4 to cruise to the car-free paradise on a ferry, but there are a few opportunities to get a free ride, like taking an early ferry or if you qualify for special discounts. 

The 1.45 mile-long park, which first opened in 2009, was originally created entirely on an abandoned elevated train track, snaking above the otherwise industrial West Side neighborhoods. Today millions clamor for the dazzling views of the Hudson River and the downtown skyline. The park hosts free star-gazing events, lively cultural happenings like Latin dance nights and rotating works of sculpture and art throughout the year.

This Queens County treasure is well worth the bus trek or car ride. As the city’s longest continually farmed site in the city (it’s been in operation since 1697), the 47 acres feels like an entirely different world compared to Manhattan. Feed and pet the barnyard animals, including sheep, ponies and goats, hop aboard a hayride and come back during the fall harvest season when you can go pumpkin picking and attempt to find your way through the Amazing Maize Maze (yes, that’s a corn maze). 

Admission is free except on special ticketed event days. Don’t miss the store on your way out for fresh fruits and veggies grown on the premises.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of their iconic album Dressed to Kill, KISS has launched a free, self-guided walking audio tour that takes fans through the band’s history via iconic NYC landmarks.

Narrated with interviews from band members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, plus photographer Bob Gruen, the tour is available at kissonline.com. The audio file is basically an oral history of the band's deep ties to New York City.

Filled with Victorian mausoleums, cherubs and gargoyles, Green-Wood is the resting place of some half-million New Yorkers, among them Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonard Bernstein and Boss Tweed. There’s more to do here than grave-spot: Check out the massive Gothic arch at the main entrance or climb to the top of Battle Hill, one of the highest points in Kings County and a pivotal spot during the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776.

Find your latest read at The Free Black Women’s Library, a new free library in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood, which also serves as a social art project, a reading room, a co-working space and a community gathering center. The library "celebrates the brilliance, diversity and imagination of Black women and Black non-binary authors." All 5,000 books in the library's collection are written by Black women and non-binary authors.

Here's how it works: Anybody can visit the space to read, work or hang out. If you want to take a book home, simply bring a book written by a Black woman or Black non-binary author, and you can trade. Whether you decide to bring the book back after you're done reading or keep it for your collection is up to you.

The library is currently open four days per week (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at 226 Marcus Garvey Boulevard. In addition to offering a space to read or work, the library also hosts a book club, art shows and workshops on topics like writing, drawing, poetry, painting and sewing. All are welcome. 

Founded in 1971 and featuring more than 1,000 works, this multicultural art museum shines a spotlight on 20th- and 21st-century artists who are either Bronx-based or of African, Asian or Latino ancestry. The museum sporadically offers family programming. It's always free to attend.

In the westernmost stretches of Chelsea, dozens of free-admission galleries showcase groundbreaking paintings, prints, installations and sculptures. It's a great way to get an introduction to the city's gallery hopping scene. Pro tip: while the shows frequently change, we recommend starting out with Gagosian Gallery, David Zwirner and Pace Gallery.

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. After a six-year, $10-million renovation, the museum's main building reopened in May 2023. Additional renovation work is planned for the museum's East Building. 

The museum features a variety of exhibitions each year; keep an eye on their website to see what's on view. A permanent fixture of the museum, however, is Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida’s Vision of Spain, comprising 14 monumental oil paintings commissioned by the Society in 1911. Each massive panel reflects a different region of Spain in vivid colors, featuring tuna fishing, bull fighting and an Easter parade, along with objects including oranges and flowers. The canvases are arranged around the room, making it feel truly immersive.

Take in the great outdoors while appreciating awe-inspiring large-scale sculptures and installations at this 4.5-acre public space. Built over an old landfill, today the park offers beautiful, lush green lawns overlooking the East River and boasts a reputation as a premiere outdoor location for artists to create site-specific wonders.

Overseen by fashion historian Valerie Steele, the Museum at FIT showcases selections from the institute's permanent collection, as well as temporary exhibitions focusing on individual designers and fashion's role in society. FIT 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. 

The Jewish Museum, housed in the 1908 Warburg Mansion, showcases temporary exhibitions of contemporary and modern art and also maintains a substantial collection of artworks of art and Judaica.

The Jewish Museum is free on Shabbat during regular hours. There is a permanent exhibit specifically for children, as well as a restaurant that includes an Uptown outpost of Russ & Daughters, the iconic Lower East Side purveyors of Kosher delicacies like lox, sable and whitefish.

This Madison Avenue institution began as the private library of financier J. Pierpont Morgan and is his artistic gift to the city.

Building on the collection Morgan amassed in his lifetime, the museum houses first-rate works on paper, including drawings by Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Picasso; three Gutenberg Bibles; a copy of Frankenstein annotated by Mary Shelley; manuscripts by Dickens, Poe, Twain, Steinbeck and Wilde; sheet music handwritten by Beethoven and Mozart; and an original edition of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that’s displayed every yuletide. Here's the full list of special exhibitions coming to The Morgan in 2023.  

The museum is free to visit on Fridays, 5-7pm. Reservations are required available one week in advance.

New York City has an official retirement home for worn-out playground animals, you know, the ones we used to climb on as kids. 

Flushing Meadows Corona Park now has a section set aside for these beloved concrete animals that have seen better days. Called the “Home for Retired Playground Animals,” this space is next to the giant Unisphere and it’s meant to be a contemplative area with plantings where you can see these animals and sit on benches near them.

There are two dolphins, one aardvark, one elephant, one camel and one frog from various NYC parks that children have played and climbed on since the 1980s and ’90s. Until now, these animals were just thrown out, but starting now, they'll be added to the "retirement home" at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park where you can visit them.

No matter the season, there’s always an excuse to visit Central Park. From leaf peeping to learning local history to strolling amongst the flowers, Manhattan’s iconic green space dazzles every day. We've broken down our list of best things to do by season, so you won't miss a thing.

You don't have to shell out cash or order two drinks at these free comedy shows in NYC. The city has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to comedy—on any given night, you can hit up some of NYC’s best comedy clubs to see sets from the city’s best-rising comedians, along with well-established names—but you can also find hella funny sets around the city for nothing!

Check out our rundown of free shows in town, which will satisfy die-hard fans of comedy podcasts and even clue you in on budding comics at the best open-mic nights in town.