5 alternative viewpoints for a million-dollar view of New York City

Travel

New York is a city famous for its iconic viewpoints — from the Empire State Building to Brooklyn Bridge. Here’s where to find different, less-crowded angles. ​

ByAmanda Canning

Published October 25, 2023

• 5 min read

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).

Think of New York and an image of the skyscrapers of Manhattan likely comes to mind. The Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center famously provide high-altitude views over that skyline — but there are other alternatives, whether hanging over the edge of a 100-storey building in Hudson Yards or sitting at a picnic table at a brewery in Brooklyn.

1. Edge, Hudson Yards

The standard experience at Edge is thrilling enough for most visitors — jutting out from the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards, the open-air, cantilevered ‘sky deck’ gives an outlook that cannot be experienced at the city’s other towers, hemmed in, as they are, by other buildings. At 1,100ft, it’s also the highest outdoor observation deck in the western hemisphere. The skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan rise to the south, One World Trade Center among them; all of New Jersey spreads out to the west; and, at your feet, a glass window in the floating platform gives an unadulterated sightline straight down to the street.

If you prefer your view delivered with an extra dose of adrenaline, book a place on the City Climb, several stories above. After being helped into a harness, run through a reassuringly high number of safety checks and clipped to a rail that runs round the building, you step out on to an open platform. Buffeted by the wind, and with the knowledge that you are at that moment the highest person taking the air in New York, you then scale metal steps running up one side of the tower, pausing to take in the surreal sight of the city laid out in miniature below. At the top, there’s one final challenge: to lean out over the edge, on a small terrace 1,200ft above ground, supported by a harness and the encouraging shouts of fellow climbers. General admission $36 (£28). City Climb $185 (£147).

2. Garden at the Met

Most visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art come to stare at its extraordinary collections, making a beeline for the latest blockbuster exhibition on creative giants such as Van Gogh or Karl Lagerfeld. Just as absorbing, though, are the views from the rooftop Cantor Garden, accessed via a lift near a display of Fabergé eggs on the first floor. Here, the crowds thin; those who make it up feel like they’ve made their own special discovery. Most bypass the al fresco bar and temporary art installations and head straight for the garden’s neatly clipped box hedging, over which lie views of Central Park and the buildings of the Lower West Side. $30 (£24).

3. Staten Island Ferry

Short of booking a tour of the Statue of Liberty, the best way to get up close to the national monument is to catch the Staten Island Ferry. Even better, it’s entirely free to ride. Puttering off from Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, the distinctive orange boat takes 25 minutes to cross the harbour, passing Ellis Island and the famous statue en route. While unfazed commuters sit inside on wooden benches and seagulls wheel overhead, excited tourists scurry between viewpoints on the top deck — choosing between the high rises of the Financial District, the skylines of New Jersey and Brooklyn or the great lady herself. Free. 

4. Pier 57

Cut off from the pretty west Manhattan neighbourhoods of Chelsea and Greenwich by a multilane state highway, the piers lining the Hudson River might seem like an unpromising location for a visit. The crossing is worth the effort, however. A food market occupies part of the ground floor of the Pier 57 building, so grab a Harlem-brewed beer and some empanadas on your way through. On the top floor, you’ll find a two-acre rooftop park — and plenty of benches on which to sit and enjoy your takeaway with views of Little Island, Thomas Heatherwick’s artificial island park and the rapidly rising skyscrapers of Hudson Yard. Free.

5. Red Hook

If you’ve seen New York from every possible angle, try Red Hook. At the southern edge of Brooklyn, where the borough fronts the Upper New York Bay, this is a neighbourhood lifting itself out of several decades of decay. Old warehouses and industrial buildings are being repurposed as art galleries, barbecue restaurants and whisky distilleries. A walk round the bay reveals views of the Statue of Liberty and the docks — made all the better with a drink from one of the borough’s new tenants. Order an IPA at the picnic tables of Strong Rope brewery or a riesling on the pier outside Red Hook Winery.

Published in the November 2023 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).

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