Things to Do in New York: Free Sights, Ticketed Icons and a Three-Day Plan

Most of the tickets, maps and ferry times below live on your phone. With a HelloRoam New York eSIM set up before you leave the UK, you can open them from the moment your plane lands, and our 24/7 support can help if a setup step goes wrong.

Free and ticketed New York sights at a glance

The table shows adult prices from the official websites, checked in October 2026. Prices change, so confirm them on the official site before you book.

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Manhattan's landmarks, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park

The Brooklyn Bridge is free to cross on foot, and its full length is 6,016 feet (about 1.8 km). On the Manhattan side, you reach the walkway by crossing Centre Street near the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station on the 4, 5 and 6 lines. DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights wait at the other end.

The High Line is a free park on a 1.45-mile (about 2.3 km) elevated railway that carried freight from 1934 to 1980. It runs above Manhattan's West Side from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street, and it opens at 7am every day. At the northern end, Hudson Yards holds the Vessel, Thomas Heatherwick's honeycomb of 154 linked flights of stairs.

Near the southern end, Little Island is a free park of gardens and stages raised on concrete piles in the Hudson River at Pier 55, by West 13th Street.

Central Park covers 843 acres and is open daily from 6am to 1am, so pick a corner rather than trying to see it all. Bethesda Fountain is switched off for restoration, but Bethesda Terrace stays open, according to the Central Park Conservancy. The Ramble's twisting paths run along the Lake.

Grand Central Terminal at 89 East 42nd Street puts shops, food and guided tours of the Whispering Gallery under one roof, and the New York Transit Museum keeps a free gallery and shop inside. The triangular 22-storey Flatiron Building stands just south of Madison Square Park, with the Harry Potter New York flagship store next door at 935 Broadway.

Times Square, in the Theatre District, is full of digital billboards, Broadway marquees and costumed characters. Walk to the top of its red steps for a sweeping view of the square, NYC Tourism + Conventions suggests. The square's TKTS booth, run by the not-for-profit TDF, sells same-day Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets at up to 50% off. In October 2026 each ticket carried an $8 service charge.

In Lower Manhattan, the 9/11 Memorial pools sit in the footprints of the former Twin Towers and are free to visit. From Whitehall Terminal, the Staten Island Ferry runs free every day of the year. The 25-minute crossing gives you the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline from the water.

The Statue of Liberty and the observation decks need tickets

Statue City Cruises is the only ferry company the National Park Service (NPS) authorises for Liberty and Ellis Islands. Boats leave from The Battery in Manhattan and from Liberty State Park in New Jersey. The NPS lists the adult ticket at $26, and the museums on both islands cost nothing extra. It warns about street sellers near The Battery offering fake or overpriced tickets, and it strongly recommends buying in advance.

New York has five observation decks, according to NYC Tourism + Conventions. Each needs a timed ticket, and all are busiest at weekends and at sunset. One is enough for most trips, so choose by the view you want:

• Top of the Rock: the open-air 70th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza looks straight at the Empire State Building and Central Park.
• Empire State Building: the 86th floor is an open-air deck at 1,050 feet with 360-degree views.
• One World Observatory: floors 100 to 102 of One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the United States.
• SUMMIT One Vanderbilt: mirrored rooms and glass skyboxes about 1,100 feet above Madison Avenue.
• Edge: a triangular deck at Hudson Yards, more than 1,100 feet up, with a glass floor.

New York's major museums and what each is known for

Pay-what-you-wish entry at the Met and the American Museum of Natural History is only for local residents, so UK visitors pay the full ticket price. Book on each museum's own website.

Two free slots are worth knowing about. The Whitney Museum of American Art is free on Friday evenings from 5pm to 10pm, but you still need a ticket. The 9/11 Museum releases free tickets for Monday on its website at 7am New York time that day, first come, first served.

Brooklyn, Queens and the neighbourhoods worth an afternoon

Chelsea Market at 75 Ninth Avenue fills the old National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) factory, which the High Line's freight trains once served. It is a covered food hall with shops between Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, so it pairs well with a High Line walk.

Washington Square Park is the heart of Greenwich Village. Walk in under the Washington Arch at the foot of Fifth Avenue and you will find NYU students around the central fountain and musicians on the benches.

Across the river, Washington Street in DUMBO, between Front and Water Streets, frames the Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State Building behind it, so expect company when you take the photo. A short walk south, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade looks across the East River to Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Smorgasburg, the open-air food market, runs on Saturdays on the Williamsburg waterfront and on Sundays at Breeze Hill in Prospect Park, from April to October. The Brooklyn Museum at 200 Eastern Parkway sits next to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

NYC Tourism + Conventions calls Queens the city's most culturally diverse borough, with roughly half its residents from outside the US. Take the 7 train to Flushing for food courts with dishes from across Asia, or to 74th Street in Jackson Heights for South Asian shops. The M or R train reaches Astoria, known for its Greek food.

For a change of pace, Governors Island is a seven-minute ferry ride from the Battery Maritime Building, and its Hills look back at Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The Roosevelt Island Tramway costs one subway fare each way and rises 250 feet above the East River, with views of Midtown.

New York's own foods start with a slice and a bagel

NYC Tourism + Conventions keeps a list of the foods New York does best. These are the ones to try first:

• A plain slice: the American style of pizza was born in New York, when Neapolitan bakers adapted their pizza to coal ovens in the late 1800s.
• A bagel: New York bagels are boiled, then baked, for a shiny, chewy crust. Order one with cream cheese and lox.
• Pastrami on rye: cured, seasoned and smoked beef piled on rye bread with mustard, the classic order at Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side.
• New York cheesecake: dense and creamy, on a thin biscuit or graham-cracker base, and served without toppings.
• Street meat: chicken or lamb over rice with white sauce and hot sauce from a halal cart. The Halal Guys helped start the trend in the early 1990s.
• The chopped cheese: a bodega sandwich of minced beef and onions chopped on the griddle under melted cheese, on a toasted hero roll.
• A black-and-white cookie: a soft, cake-like biscuit iced half in chocolate and half in vanilla.

Three days covers Manhattan, and five adds Brooklyn and Queens

The days below group the sights by area. Book your observation deck's timed ticket before you go, and a 9/11 Museum ticket too if you plan to go inside.

Day 1: Midtown and Central Park

Go to MoMA or the American Museum of Natural History when the doors open. Cross Central Park by Bethesda Terrace and the Ramble in the afternoon, then finish at the observation deck you booked or a Broadway show in Times Square.

Day 2: Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge, DUMBO

Start at the 9/11 Memorial, which opens at 8am. Ride the Staten Island Ferry from Whitehall Terminal for the harbour views, then walk the Brooklyn Bridge into DUMBO and end on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Day 3: High Line, Chelsea Market, Greenwich Village

Walk the High Line south from Hudson Yards, drop down to Chelsea Market, then finish at Little Island before heading east to Washington Square Park.

With two more days, give one to Brooklyn, with Smorgasburg on a weekend in season and then the Brooklyn Museum, and one to Queens for the food in Flushing, Jackson Heights and Astoria.

What New York adds to the price tag: tax and tips

Price tags and menus in New York usually leave out sales tax, which is added at the till. In October 2026 the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance listed the New York City rate as 8.875%. Check its rate list before a big purchase, as rates can be revised. Its clothing list gives shoppers one break: clothing and footwear under $110 an item carry no sales tax in the city.

Tipping is the other extra. NYC Tourism + Conventions puts the standard tip for table service at 18 to 20% of the bill, 15 to 20% for taxis and ride-hail apps, and at least $1 a drink for bartenders. Many restaurants add 18 or 20% automatically for groups, usually of six or more, so check the bill before you add a tip.

Public transport has a weekly ceiling. A subway or local bus ride costs $3, and the MTA stops charging once you have paid $35 in seven days, as long as you tap the same contactless card or phone every time. Taps that pay for other people do not count towards the cap. The subway runs 24 hours a day, every day.

Planning a New York trip from the UK: ESTA, time and weather

To enter the US you need either an approved ESTA or a visa, according to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) travel advice for the USA, checked in October 2026. ESTA is the online authorisation for the Visa Waiver Program, run by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP says the programme covers stays of 90 days or less, and an approval usually lasts two years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. There is a fee for each application.

Not everyone can use an ESTA. The FCDO lists exclusions, such as having been in Cuba on or after 12 January 2021, and those travellers must apply for a visa instead. It also says CBP now requires a selfie photograph, so an older ESTA without one may need replacing. Your passport must be valid for the whole stay. Rules change, so read the FCDO's USA entry requirements and apply only through the official ESTA website or the official ESTA Mobile app, ideally as soon as you start planning.

New York is five hours behind the UK for most of the year. The gap shrinks to four hours for two or three weeks in March and for one week around the turn of October and November. That is because the UK changes its clocks on the last Sundays of March and October (GOV.UK), while the US changes on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November (NIST).

Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons for walking. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 averages for Central Park give daily highs of 22°C in May and 18°C in October, against 29°C in July and 4°C in January. A typical July has about seven days of 32°C or more, and February averages about 26 cm of snow. For a December trip, our guide to Christmas season dates and rinks covers what is on and what shuts.

Manhattan is easy to read once you know the grid. Apart from its northern and southern tips, avenues run roughly north to south and streets east to west, and Fifth Avenue divides the East Side from the West Side. On the subway, Uptown means north and Downtown means south.

Sort travel insurance before you fly. Our guide to insurance cover for a US trip explains what to check.

Using your UK phone in New York: roaming, Wi-Fi and eSIM

Your UK phone can roam in New York, but the cost depends on your plan. Some UK plans include the USA: Vodafone's Global Roam plans do, for example, and if yours does you may not need anything extra. On other plans Vodafone charges a daily fee or sells an add-on, so check your own network's roaming page before you fly. Our explainer on what UK data roaming costs covers the options.

On the street, LinkNYC kiosks offer free Wi-Fi (join the "LinkNYC Free Wi-Fi" network and register with an email address), free calls to US numbers and USB charging points.

If your plan does not include the USA, a travel eSIM is the other option. It is a digital SIM you add by scanning a QR code, with no card to swap, and here is how an eSIM works if it is new to you.

HelloRoam's eSIMs are data only, so your UK number stays on your usual SIM or eSIM for calls and texts. Check your phone supports eSIM first, then follow the step-by-step eSIM install guide at home on Wi-Fi.

Maps, ride apps and photo uploads add up over a week, so estimate how much data you need before you choose a plan size. If New York is one stop on a longer trip, look at a data plan for the whole USA instead.