The big museums, and two small ones
STOP 1 OF 7
The Met, Fifth Avenue steps
Uptown · Paid entry
Give it a whole morning; closed Wednesdays.
3 hours or more · $30 adults; pay what you wish for New York State residents
EThe editors · 2 Museums for less lists — switch
The big museums, and two small ones
The Met and the Cloisters, Natural History and the Morgan, with the Transit Museum and MOCA for something different.
7 placesTwo or three daysRead the guide ↓
- 1. The Met, Fifth Avenue stepsGive it a whole morning; closed Wednesdays.UptownPaid entry3 hours or more$30 adults; pay what you wish for New York State residents
2. The Met CloistersMedieval art in Fort Tryon Park, included with a Met ticket.UptownPaid entry2 hoursIncluded with a Met ticket; NY residents pay what they wish
3. American Museum of Natural HistoryThe dinosaurs, the blue whale and the planetarium.UptownPaid entry3 hours or moreGeneral admission paid; NY, NJ and CT residents pay what they wish
4. The Morgan Library & MuseumA private library like a jewel box.MidtownPaid entry1.5 hoursPaid entry; free on some Friday evenings with timed tickets
5. Intrepid MuseumPlanes, a submarine and the Space Shuttle Enterprise.Chelsea & the HudsonPaid entry2–3 hoursPaid entry; the Space Shuttle pavilion is included
6. New York Transit MuseumOld subway cars in a 1936 station.Brooklyn Bridge & DUMBOPaid entry1.5 hoursPaid entry
7. Museum of Chinese in AmericaThe Chinese American story in Chinatown.ChinatownPaid entry1 hourPaid entry; check for free days
The guide
How to do it: The big museums, and two small ones
These are the museums worth a full ticket: the Met and its medieval branch, Natural History, J. P. Morgan’s library, and the Intrepid. The Transit Museum and MOCA are smaller and different.
Don’t try more than one big museum a day.
- The order to do it in
- The Met one day (with the Cloisters on a Met ticket within three days), Natural History another, the Morgan and MOCA as half days.
- When to go
- Weekday mornings. The Met is closed Wednesdays and open till 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
- Getting there
- All on the subway; the Cloisters is at 190th St on the A train.
- What it costs
- About $25–35 per big museum for visitors; kids are often cheaper or free.
Worth knowing
- Book timed tickets online to skip the lines.
Started from the pins on Capture the Atlas’s museums map (the map). Places, notes and the guide checked and written by us; prices and opening times change, so check before you go.