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The 10 best museums in New York City

From the Met's 2 million objects to a SoHo gallery holding 22,000 works of queer art, New York's best museums for every kind of visitor

Credit: The American Museum of Natural History

New York City stands as America’s capital of the arts, a vibrant hub for fine art, theater, music, dance and countless other forms of human expression. It comes as no surprise that the city holds a bona fide world-class collection of galleries and museums spread across its five boroughs, ranging from sprawling flagship institutions to tiny, single-room galleries tucked into quiet side streets.

The best museums in the city offer something for nearly every traveler, with exhibition spaces scattered across neighborhoods from Brooklyn to SoHo, Washington Heights, the Upper West Side and beyond. Visiting a museum consistently ranks among the top things to do in New York, and the sheer range of institutions available means a visitor will never run short of ways to pass a rainy day or a snowy winter afternoon in the city.

The 10 museums below are featured in Lonely Planet's guide to the best of New York City. They range from sprawling flagship institutions holding millions of objects to tiny, single-room galleries built around a single specific niche, giving visitors genuine range across scale, subject and neighborhood throughout the five boroughs. History, natural science, design and identity all get dedicated space somewhere on this list, and the sheer variety means two travelers could visit the same city and come away with entirely different impressions of what New York’s museum scene actually offers. Timing a visit around opening hours, admission discounts, and seasonal programming often shapes the overall experience just as much as the specific collection itself. A little planning frequently makes the difference between a rushed afternoon and a truly memorable day out in the city, especially during peak tourist season, when lines and crowds at nearly every major institution on this list run considerably heavier than usual.

1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art stays open late

Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art

The permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, known affectionately as The Met, spans more than two million objects and artworks covering 5,000 years of art history, and that considerable scope only marks the beginning of what the museum offers. Visiting exhibitions bring works from around the globe, and 2026’s high-profile shows examined Raphael, Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, alongside separate exhibitions covering fashion and Louis XIV’s carpets.

Fully exploring the museum would take a full week of constant perusing, and the building itself sits directly on the edge of Central Park along the Upper East Side, giving visitors an ideal setting to spend an entire day immersed in art. The museum opens early and stays open late on Fridays and Saturdays for visitors hoping to maximize their browsing time.

Many visitors stay all day, taking advantage of the museum’s comfortable benches and popular café between gallery stops. The subway offers the easiest way to reach the museum, with the 86th Street station sitting within easy walking distance of the entrance.

The iconic main entrance along Fifth Avenue gets considerably busy throughout the day, so visitors hoping to save time should book tickets online in advance and enter through the quieter 81st Street entrance instead. The Met’s collection spans considerably more than paintings and sculpture, including entire reconstructed rooms, arms and armor, and a dedicated wing devoted to musical instruments from around the world. Visitors with limited time should pick a single wing or historical period to explore in depth rather than attempt a comprehensive tour, since the museum’s scale makes a shallow pass through every gallery considerably less rewarding than a focused visit. The museum’s considerable Egyptian wing, including an entire reconstructed temple, tends to draw the longest lines of any single gallery on a busy weekend. Arriving right at opening time helps visitors beat both the crowds and the line at that particular gallery.

2. MoMA immerses visitors in sound and sculpture

Credit: Museum of Modern Art

Recognized as one of the most significant modern art museums anywhere in the world, the Museum of Modern Art, widely known as MoMA, ranks as an essential stop for art lovers, and the varied media and contemporary themes on display make the museum an unusually great fit for teenagers exploring art for the first time. Galleries at this Midtown museum sprawl across multiple levels, and the five-story central atrium offers a bird’s-eye balcony view from every floor.

Sound installations placed within the atrium carry through the surrounding galleries, creating an immersive atmosphere that follows visitors well beyond the specific room where a given installation is located. This particular design choice gives MoMA a distinctly different sensory character compared with more traditionally quiet art museums elsewhere in the city.

The museum’s outdoor sculpture garden, accessible only from within the building itself, ranks among its most beloved features. Polished marble covers the garden floor, and a rotating array of sculptures from artists such as Aristide Maillol, Rachel Whiteread, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso gives repeat visitors genuine reason to return throughout the year.

The Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street subway station sits just down the road from the museum, and visitors hoping to get more from their trip should download MoMA’s free digital guide onto a phone before arriving. MoMA’s permanent collection also includes some of the most recognizable works in modern art history, including pieces by artists whose careers the museum has followed and championed since its founding in 1929. The museum’s film program, running continuously alongside its gallery exhibitions, screens work drawn from one of the largest film archives held by any art museum in the country. Membership passes often pay for themselves within just a couple of visits for repeat travelers who plan to return to New York within the same year.........

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