The 5 Must-See Museums in New York

Planning a trip to New York? You’ll face plenty of choices when it comes to museums. To help you decide, here are 5 New York museums you shouldn’t miss:

1/ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met as locals call it, stands out as the must-see museum in New York. It’s also the most visited museum in the city. In a recent survey, 84% of followers of our Destination New York Facebook group ranked it among the top museums to visit. For many visitors, the choice is obvious.
• Located on Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park, the Met is impossible to see in a single day. The collection spans from ancient Egypt and Greece to 18th-century American painting, medieval armor, and masterpieces by the great names of French Impressionism.
• For more details, visit our page on the Metropolitan Museum. You can also book our guided tour of the Metropolitan Museum.

2/ The American Museum of Natural History

• The American Museum of Natural History ranks second in our list, earning 64% of votes.
• Located on Eighth Avenue facing Central Park, this museum houses an impressive collection of taxidermied animals from the Americas and around the world, dinosaur fossils, and precious stones. You can touch fragments of real meteorites and explore the night sky in the planetarium. It’s both educational and fun for the whole family.
• For more information, visit our page on the American Museum of Natural History.

3/ The Museum of Modern Art

• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) sits on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, just steps from Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. As its name suggests, it focuses exclusively on modern art. The tone is set immediately in the entrance hall with a helicopter suspended from the ceiling. The permanent collections feature major names in the genre, starting with Andy Warhol. Among the museum’s treasures, you’ll also discover Salvador Dalí’s famous melting clocks and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
• For more details, visit our page on MoMA New York.

4/ The Guggenheim Museum

• Perched on Fifth Avenue near the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum in New York deserves a visit for both its contents and its striking architecture.
• The building’s avant-garde design alone merits a visit, even if you skip the galleries. You can freely enter the atrium and admire the museum’s spiral rotunda and skylight from inside.
• The collection itself is a personal one, carefully assembled by Solomon R. Guggenheim, a wealthy heir to a mining fortune, from 1890 until his death in 1949. He had excellent taste, surrounding himself with works by Picasso, Cézanne, and Van Gogh.
• For more information, visit our page on the Guggenheim Museum.

5/ The 9/11 Memorial & Museum

• Opened in May 2014, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum documents the tragedy of the September 11, 2001 attacks with power and detail.
• The museum stands on the exact site where the World Trade Center twin towers once stood before their destruction on September 11, 2001. The museum is built entirely underground, with exhibition spaces occupying the exact footprint of the towers’ foundations. Beyond a timeline of events, you’ll see countless documents, personal belongings, and artifacts—including a fire truck recovered from the rubble and remains of the antenna that crowned the North Tower. It’s a deeply moving experience.
• For more information, visit our page on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York.