New York's other museums, with prices and free hours checked
MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, the Natural History museum, the Intrepid, three history museums and Brooklyn's street art. Museum prices in dollars at the door, tours in euros.
This page is for the rest of New York. Seven museums sell tickets here: MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, the American Museum of Natural History, the Intrepid, the Museum of the City of New York and New York Historical. Next to them are five street-art outings in Brooklyn and one walk through the tenements of the Lower East Side. Twenty products in all, from €20.24 to €55.00, and none of them is for the Metropolitan Museum, which has its own section of this site. Across 14,645 reviews the twenty average 4.53. The Brooklyn street-art walks score highest and a Whitney ticket lowest, at 4.2. Sixteen can be cancelled free of charge; the four that cannot are all museum tickets, so read the terms before fixing a date.
Choosing the museum is the easy part of planning a museum week in New York. The harder part is working out which free evening is actually free for you. Four of these museums open their doors to anyone at set hours. Two keep their free or pay-what-you-wish admission for residents of New York State, and two give a discount only to people who live in the five boroughs. Most lists online mix the three up, and MoMA's Friday night is the one they get wrong most often.
So the page is built around two tables we have not found side by side anywhere else: what each museum charges at the door, and who qualifies for each free hour. Both were read on the museums' own websites on 29 September 2026, the date that goes with every number below. Prices move, free evenings get reshuffled, and a list that does not say when it was checked is not much use to anyone standing at a ticket desk.
Two warnings before the tables. Tickets on this page are priced in euros by the resellers, while the museums charge in dollars, so compare the two on the day at your card's exchange rate rather than trusting a headline saving. And the walk named after the Lower East Side tenements does not go inside the Tenement Museum. Its operator says so in the small print, and the museum can only be visited on its own guided tours, booked with the museum. The fourteen tickets are plain admissions, and what each one includes is spelled out in its own listing, which matters most at the AMNH, where the museum sells three tiers.
The map does half the planning. The Guggenheim, at 89th Street, and the Museum of the City of New York, at 104th, are both on Fifth Avenue north of the Met, the stretch called Museum Mile. The AMNH and New York Historical face Central Park from the west, a short walk apart, and make a natural pair on any day but Monday. MoMA is in Midtown on 53rd Street, and the Intrepid further west, on the Hudson at 46th. The Whitney is downtown in the Meatpacking District, the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, and the street art across the East River in Brooklyn.
American Museum of Natural History General Admission Ticket
General admission to the Natural History Museum on Central Park West: over 40 permanent halls, the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Gilder Center.
American Museum of Natural History Tickets with Special Exhibition Options
Choose basic entry or add the planetarium space show, the Butterfly Vivarium and other ticketed exhibitions. See the T. rex and the 94-foot blue whale.
Brooklyn Graffiti Workshop: Paint Your Own Piece in Bushwick
A New York graffiti artist teaches aerosol technique in a Bushwick studio, then you paint your own piece to take home. One hour, all ages, no experience needed.
Bushwick Graffiti and Street Art Walking Tour in Brooklyn
A two-hour walk with a local Brooklyn Unplugged guide through Bushwick's painted streets and the Bushwick Collective murals, starting on Wyckoff Avenue.
Bushwick Street Art and Williamsburg Walking Tour in French
A French-speaking expat guide leads this 3.5-hour walk through Bushwick's murals and the Bushwick Collective, then on to the shops and cafes of Williamsburg.
Bushwick Street Art Tour with a Graff Tours Guide, Brooklyn
An insider guide from Graff Tours walks you past 50+ murals in Bushwick, including the Bushwick Collective, in 90 minutes from the Meserole Street studio.
DUMBO Street Art, Bridges and Skyline Walking Tour with Photos and a Drink
Two hours in DUMBO with a guide who is also your photographer: murals, old warehouses, views of the bridges and Manhattan, and a drink on a rooftop deck.
Guggenheim Museum Ticket: Permanent Collection and Temporary Exhibitions
Walk Frank Lloyd Wright's spiral ramp on Fifth Avenue: this Guggenheim ticket covers the permanent collection, from Manet to Kandinsky, and current shows.
Intrepid Museum Admission: Aircraft Carrier, Space Shuttle and Submarine
Board USS Intrepid at Pier 86, see the shuttle Enterprise and climb through the Growler submarine. Temporary exhibitions and two short films are included.
Intrepid Museum Timed-Entry Ticket at Pier 86
Pick your entry time for USS Intrepid at Pier 86: the shuttle Enterprise, a guided missile submarine and fast jets. Last entry is one hour before closing.
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Entry Ticket
Walk the flight deck of USS Intrepid on the Hudson, see the shuttle Enterprise in its pavilion and step inside the USS Growler submarine, all on one ticket.
Lower East Side Walking Tour: Immigrant Life and Housing History from Five Points
Two hours on foot from Five Points to Ludlow Street with a local guide and Jacob Riis photos, reading tenements law by law. Not linked to the Tenement Museum.
MoMA Admission Ticket with Audio Guide, Films and MoMA PS1 Entry
MoMA entry with special exhibitions, daily films, gallery talks and a free audio guide in nine languages, plus MoMA PS1 within 14 days. See The Starry Night.
MoMA Admission Ticket with English Audio Guide
Show your voucher at 11 West 53rd Street and go in: MoMA entry with an English audio guide for The Starry Night, Dalí, Warhol and six floors of modern art.
MoMA Entry Ticket with MoMA PS1 Access Within 14 Days
Entry to MoMA on West 53rd Street with special exhibitions and a free phone audio guide, plus a visit to MoMA PS1 in Queens within 14 days of your first visit.
Museum of the City of New York Admission with the Timescapes Film
Entry to the museum at Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street: New York at Its Core, Activist New York, all special shows and Timescapes, narrated by Stanley Tucci.
Museum of the City of New York Entry Ticket with Drop-in Tours
General admission at Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street with free English drop-in tours and the Timescapes film, with headsets in Spanish, French and Chinese.
New York Historical Museum Entry Ticket (formerly New-York Historical Society)
Entry to all exhibitions at New York Historical on Central Park West: Tiffany lamps, Audubon's birds, an Oval Office re-creation and the New York Story film.
Whitney Museum of American Art Admission Ticket with Free Daily Tours
Admission to the Whitney on Gansevoort Street with its free daily tours: Hopper, O'Keeffe and living American artists, plus terraces over the Hudson River.
Whitney Museum Ticket: Special Exhibitions, Collection and Terraces
All-access Whitney ticket: the permanent collection, every special exhibition, the outdoor terraces over the Hudson, a free mobile guide and public tours.
Ratings collected by Tiqets, Civitatis, Viator and Tripadvisor
Nine New York museums on one table
Where a museum sells several tiers, the table gives the one a visitor from outside New York actually pays, with the Metropolitan Museum in the last row for comparison. Adult admission is $30 at all four big art museums. What differs is the concessions, the age at which children stop being free, and the day each one closes.
| Museum | Adult | Senior / student | Children | Open | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MoMA, 11 West 53rd St | $30 | $22 (65+) / $17 | Free to age 16 | 10:30–17:30 daily, Fridays to 20:30 | Thanksgiving and Christmas only |
| Guggenheim, Fifth Ave at 89th St | $30 | $19 / $19 | Free under 12 | 10:30–17:30 daily | No weekly closing; Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 8 Oct and 10 Nov 2026 |
| Whitney, 99 Gansevoort St | $30 | $24 / $24 | Free to age 25 | 10:30–18:00, Fridays to 22:00 | Tuesdays |
| American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West | $37 general; $43 with one exhibition or the Space Show; $48 with all | $30 (60+) / $30 | $22 (3–12); free under 3 | 10:00–17:30 daily | Thanksgiving and Christmas |
| Intrepid, Pier 86 at West 46th St | $38 (13–64) | $36 (65+) / $36 | $28 (5–12); free to age 4 | 10:00–17:00; weekends to 18:00 from April to September | Thanksgiving and Christmas |
| Museum of the City of New York, Fifth Ave at 104th St | $23 | $18 (65+) / $14 | Free to age 18 | 10:00–17:00, weekends to 18:00, Wednesdays to 21:00 | Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day |
| New York Historical, Central Park West at 77th St | $24 | $19 / $13 | $6 (5–13); free under 5 | Tue–Thu and weekends 11:00–17:00, Fridays to 20:00 | Mondays |
| Tenement Museum, Orchard St | $30 per guided tour, plus $3 fee online or by phone | $30 / $30 | Not stated for standard tours | 10:00–18:00 daily, guided tours only | No weekly closing |
| Metropolitan Museum, Fifth Ave at 82nd St (for comparison) | $30 | $22 (65+) / $17 | Free to age 12 | 10:00–17:00, Fridays and Saturdays to 21:00 | Wednesdays |
Three things in that table catch people out. The first is the Natural History museum. Its $37 is compulsory for anyone from outside New York State, and the museum puts it in so many words:
For visitors outside of New York State, the fee for General Admission is mandatory.
General admission leaves out the planetarium show and the paid exhibitions, which is why so many sites quote an AMNH price matching none of the museum's tiers. The second is the Whitney, free for anyone aged 25 or under. The third is the closing days, spread over three weekdays: New York Historical on Monday, the Whitney on Tuesday, the Met on Wednesday.
Free hours: for everyone, for New York State, or for New York City
The museums draw the line in three places. Some let in anyone. Some ask for proof that you live in New York State, which covers someone from Buffalo but not a commuter from New Jersey. Two give a discount only to residents of the five boroughs.
| Museum | Open to everyone | New York State residents only | New York City residents only |
|---|---|---|---|
| MoMA | No free hours | Free on Fridays 17:30–20:30, ticket reserved in advance | None |
| Guggenheim | Pay what you wish, Tuesday and Sunday 16:00–17:30 ($10 suggested, $1 minimum) | None | None |
| Whitney | Free on Fridays 17:00–22:00 and the second Sunday of every month; ground floor always free | None | None |
| American Museum of Natural History | No free hours | Pay what you wish on general admission, with ID; exhibitions and planetarium excluded | None |
| Intrepid | No free day; veterans and military free | None | 50% off general admission, for the whole household |
| Museum of the City of New York | Free every Wednesday, tickets at the counter only | None | Pay what you can |
| New York Historical | Pay as you wish on Fridays 17:00–20:00 | None | None |
| Tenement Museum | None (New York teachers free on Sundays) | None | None |
| Metropolitan Museum (for comparison) | None | Pay what you wish; students from NY, NJ and CT also qualify | None |
Free admission for New York State residents on Friday evenings from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Much of what is written about MoMA's Friday is out of date. It is not free for everyone, it does not start at 4 pm, it is not only the first Friday of the month, and the free tickets must be reserved. Anyone from outside New York State pays $30 on a Friday like any other day. The Guggenheim's pay-what-you-wish slot is on Tuesday and Sunday afternoons, not Saturday as older guides say.
Put together, the free hours make a week. Wednesday belongs to the Museum of the City of New York, free all day and open until 9 pm. Friday evening offers the Whitney (free, 5 to 10) or New York Historical (pay as you wish, 5 to 8), which are too far apart to do both. Tuesday and Sunday give the Guggenheim's hour and a half.
Metropolitan Museum or MoMA?
The forums ask it constantly, and price does not settle it: both charge $30, $22 for seniors and $17 for students. What separates them is what is inside, and which day you have free.
The Met is the encyclopedia. It has 17 curatorial departments and more than 460 numbered galleries, and a first visit is mostly deciding what to leave out. MoMA tells one story in depth: art from the late 19th century to the present, Van Gogh's The Starry Night of 1889 included. One MoMA ticket in this catalogue suggests three hours.
| Compare | Metropolitan Museum | MoMA |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, Upper East Side | 11 West 53rd Street, Midtown |
| Children free | 12 and under | 16 and under |
| Closed | Wednesdays | Open every day |
| Late opening | Fridays and Saturdays to 21:00 | Fridays to 20:30 |
| Free or pay what you wish | New York State residents, and students from NY, NJ and CT | New York State residents, Friday 17:30–20:30, reserved |
| In a city pass | None | New York C3 and Go City |
| Collection | 17 curatorial departments, over 460 numbered galleries | Late 19th century to the present |
The short answer: with one museum day and no strong preference, the Met gives you more for the same $30. If modern art is the reason you came, go to MoMA. On a Wednesday the question answers itself, because the Met is shut and MoMA is not. Families with teenagers should note the age limits: a 15-year-old pays at the Met and gets into MoMA free.
Which New York passes include these museums
None of the three main passes includes the Metropolitan Museum, and MoMA is not in the standard CityPASS. Search-engine summaries sometimes claim otherwise; the pass pages themselves do not.
| Pass | What you get | Adult price | Museums from this page | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York CityPASS | 5 attractions chosen from 10, valid 9 days | $149 (children 6–17: $129) | AMNH with one exhibition or the Space Show, Intrepid, Guggenheim, Whitney | MoMA, Metropolitan Museum |
| New York C3 by CityPASS | 3 attractions chosen from 11 | $109 (children: $89) | The four above, plus MoMA | Metropolitan Museum |
| Go City New York | Several pass types | Not checked | MoMA, AMNH and Intrepid on all passes; Whitney and Guggenheim on All-Inclusive only; New York Historical on All-Inclusive and Explorer | Metropolitan Museum |
One detail before you buy: the CityPASS page still says residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut may get an AMNH discount, while the museum's own page now limits pay what you wish to New York State. A pass pays off only if you would otherwise pay full price at every stop.
Pier 86, West 46th Street
The Intrepid: a museum that is an aircraft carrier
The Intrepid Museum is the ship itself, moored on the Hudson at Pier 86. The museum opened on 3 August 1982. The Space Shuttle Enterprise sits in a pavilion on the flight deck, and the submarine Growler is berthed beside the pier, where the Concorde is usually displayed too.
It is the one museum here with no free day, though veterans and military go free and New York City residents pay half. Three tickets in this catalogue sell it, from €30.10, and every pass above includes it.
Brooklyn
Street art: a day that is not a museum
Five of the twenty products on this page have no building and no opening hours. They are walks and a workshop in Brooklyn, rated 4.7 to 5.0, the best-rated group here.
After days of galleries on Fifth Avenue, two hours on foot in Bushwick is a different city. The murals change as walls get painted over, so someone else's photos may not match what you find.
Bushwick is where four of the five take place, and the three walks among them all stop at the Bushwick Collective walls on Troutman Street. The shortest is a 90-minute walk from €22.36, leaving from a studio at 282 Meserole Street. The two-hour walk, from €28.62, meets at 30 Wyckoff Avenue and runs in all weather; its operator warns that Wyckoff Street is somewhere else entirely. The Meserole Street studio also runs a one-hour graffiti workshop (€40.25, all ages) where you paint your own piece with a working artist and take it away. The longest outing, three and a half hours for €55.00, adds Williamsburg, but the guiding is in French only.
The fifth is in DUMBO, by the bridges: two hours for €52.78 with murals, old warehouses, the Manhattan skyline and one drink at the end. The operator declares every surface wheelchair accessible.
The Tenement Museum and the Lower East Side walk
The Tenement Museum, founded in 1988, occupies 97 and 103 Orchard Street. Number 97 was home to an estimated 15,000 people from more than 20 nations between 1863 and 1935. There is no wandering in on your own:
The Museum is only accessible by guided apartment, food, or walking tour.
Tours cost $30 each, with a $3 fee on tickets bought online or by phone, and the food experiences $55. They are sold by the museum, not here.
The Lower East Side product in this catalogue is something else: a two-hour walk (€52.78, rated 4.9 across 74 reviews) that starts at Foley Square, near the site of the old Five Points, and follows the tenement from the slums Jacob Riis photographed to the laws that changed them. It passes the back of the Tenement Museum without going in, and the operator states that it is not associated with the museum. It ends on a hotel rooftop on Ludlow Street, with a view of the streets you walked. Book the walk for the streets, the museum for the rooms.
Two centuries of New York museums
When the museums on this page began.
The origins
1804
New York Historical
Founded as New York's first museum.
1869
Natural History museum
Chartered on 6 April 1869; on its site facing Central Park since 1877.
The growth
1929
MoMA opens
The Museum of Modern Art opened on 7 November 1929.
1959
The Guggenheim spiral
Frank Lloyd Wright's building was dedicated on 21 October 1959, six months after his death.
1982
The Intrepid
The museum opened aboard the carrier at Pier 86 on 3 August 1982.
Today
2015
The Whitney moves downtown
Renzo Piano's building on Gansevoort Street opened on 1 May 2015.
2024
A new name
The New-York Historical Society became New York Historical in October 2024.
Before you book a New York museum
Is MoMA free on Friday nights?
Only for New York State residents, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, with a ticket reserved in advance. Everyone else pays $30. Articles saying free for all from 4 to 8 pm describe an older rule.
Which New York museums are free for tourists?
Four, at set hours: the Whitney on Friday evenings and the second Sunday of the month, the Museum of the City of New York on Wednesdays, New York Historical on Friday evenings (pay as you wish) and the Guggenheim on Tuesday and Sunday afternoons (pay what you wish, $1 minimum). The Whitney is also free for anyone aged 25 or under.
Are MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum in the New York CityPASS?
No. MoMA is only in the smaller C3 pass and on Go City. The Met is in none of these passes: not CityPASS, not C3, not Go City.
How much is the Natural History museum for visitors from outside New York?
$37 for adult general admission, and it is compulsory; $43 with one exhibition or the Space Show. Pay what you wish is for New York State residents with ID.
Can I just turn up at the Tenement Museum?
No. Every visit is a guided tour at a set time, at $30 a ticket. The Lower East Side walk on this page is run by an independent guide and does not go inside.
And the Metropolitan Museum itself
How to get in, what it costs, when it opens and what is closed right now: the Met has its own section, with the tours that go inside.
Data verified on. Prices, hours and free admission read on each museum's website, citypass.com and gocity.com on 29 September 2026. Tour prices in euros change.