223 Best Sights in New York, USA

This small urban oasis gives off a sense of tranquility with a 25-foot-high cascading waterfall set within sculpted granite blocks, a grouping of honey locust trees, evergreen plantings, a raised terrace, an outdoor café, and seating areas. When needed, the park's attendants gives reminders of such visitor rules as no smoking, tripods, bicycles, or pets allowed. The park, which opened in 1971 and was designed by landscape architect Hideo Sasaki, is closed during winter months.

Landmarked in 1982, this historic district is lined with beautiful town houses. The area extends roughly from Calyer Street north to Kent Street, between Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street. The brick homes date from the 1850s, when Greenpoint was a hub for shipbuilding and manufacturing. Walking along Franklin Street on a quiet morning is like stepping into an Edward Hopper painting.

Catching Hamilton on Broadway isn't the only way to learn about the famed Founding Father. Alexander Hamilton and his wife raised eight kids in this Federal-style country home, which he called his "sweet project." Once located on Hamilton's 32 acres, the Grange, named after his father's childhood home in Scotland, has moved three times since it was built in 1802. It now stands in St. Nicholas Park and gives a lesson in Hamilton's life, from his birth in the West Indies and his appointment as the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury to his authorship of The Federalist Papers and his death following a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. The house's ground floor, formerly servants' quarters, hosts an interactive exhibit that includes a short film on Hamilton's life. Tours include views of the parlor, study, dining room, and two guest rooms. Note the beautiful piano, which belonged to his daughter, Angelica.

To envision this neighborhood's Harlem Renaissance days, walk down tree-lined Convent Avenue and cross over to Hamilton Terrace to see a time capsule of elegant stone row houses in mint condition. One of the neighborhood's most beautiful blocks, it's popular with film and TV crews. The Hamilton Grange National Memorial, founding father Alexander Hamilton's Federal-style mansion, is located at the southern end of the block, on 141st Street. Turn west and continue down Convent Avenue to see the looming Gothic spires (1905) of City College. Next, head east to visit Strivers' Row.

The vast 36,000-square-foot space is an ideal venue for sprawling exhibits and large-scale art projects, unlike its narrow Upper East Side town house or spare SoHo space. Some of the contemporary artists, both established and emerging, include Amy Sherald, George Condo, Cindy Sherman, and Mark Bradford.

This space is home to two galleries—Hirschl & Adler Galleries and Hirschl & Adler Modern. The galleries focus on American and European paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculpture from the 18th through the early-20th centuries. The latter differs by specializing in modernist, postwar, and contemporary works.

Occupying almost an entire city block between Broadway and Riverside Drive East on 155th Street in upper Manhattan, the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, a repository of an extraordinarily rich collection of more than half a million items relating to the art and cultures of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world, opened to the public for the first time in six years in early 2023. Founded in 1904 as a museum for Spanish and Portuguese art, with Goya’s Dutchess of Alba (1797) as a major draw of the collection, the museum reopened with a mission to connect the Society to the art of the 20th and 21st centuries and to its Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights. The Dutchess of Alba is still here, and still a big draw in the arcaded, Spanish Renaissance--style Main Court, which features luscious terra-cotta details. Other highlights include the Sorolla Vision of Spain Gallery housing 14 monumental paintings from the Valencian master painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, and the Upper Terrace, an open-air space that looks out over the bronze equestrian statue of El Cid and other fine sculptures. Renovations to the museum continue and will include a visitor center and an education center.

Run by Kathy Grayson, the art-world It girl and former director of the highly influential Deitch Projects, this contemporary-arts gallery usually hosts several shows a month. The artists lean more toward the up-and-coming rather than the establishment, and it's pretty much always worth stopping in to the space for a short but entertaining stroll.

It's hard to miss the giant mural on the northwest corner of Houston Street and the Bowery, though the artwork itself is constantly changing. It started back in 1982, when Keith Haring, along with his pal Juan Dubose, painted what is believed to have been Haring's first large-scale work. Real estate developer and arts visionary Tony Goldman (he's responsible for Miami's Wynwood Walls) acquired the wall in 1984 and used it for advertisements until 2008, when he and art curator Jeffrey Deitch commissioned a tribute to Haring for what would have been the artist's 50th birthday. Since then, an internationally recognized cast of artists have used the concrete as canvas—including Shepard Fairey and Kenny Scharf in 2010, French artist JR in 2011, and Banksy in 2018.

After being established in 1984 in Washington, D.C., the Jack Shainman Gallery moved to New York's East Village and then SoHo, landing in Chelsea in 1997. The original 20th Street space has recently been augmented by a massive TriBeCa gallery on Lafayette Street as well as a vast former schoolhouse in New York's Hudson Valley. The galleries all show emerging and established artists such as Nick Cave, El Anatsui, Carrie Mae Weems, Tallur L. N., and Kerry James Marshall.

This mezzanine-level gallery represents some lofty artists. In addition to tapestries by modern masters like Joan Miró, Sonia Delaunay, and Alexander Calder, this gallery's specialties include works by late-19th- and early-20th-century modern artists like Fernand Leger and Marc Chagall. It is also one of the first gallery dealers for Pablo Picasso's ceramics in the United States. There's also an exhibition space in the neighborhood at  330 East 59th Street. Check the website for seasonal hours.

This popular green space that runs along the East River is undergoing large-scale renovations as the City of New York, in conjunction with the federal government, work on a project to reduce the risks of flooding from storms and sea-level rising. Sections of the park, with its spectacular views of Brooklyn and the Manhattan Bridge, will remain open, but check the website for changing access points. The NYC Ferry dock, located at Corlears Hook, will also remain accessible.

John Oliver's weekly satirical news program on HBO tapes on Saturday, ahead of its 11 pm Sunday air time. Apply early for your preferred date: tickets are released by lottery at 3 pm the Tuesday prior, with preference given to those who have never sat in an audience before. If you miss out on tickets, get in the standby line starting at 3:15 pm. You must be 18 or older to sit in the audience.

Saturday Night Live alum Seth Meyers took the reins as host of Late Night on NBC in 2014, when former host Jimmy Fallon departed for The Tonight Show. Tickets are available online up to two months in advance. Tapings typically run from 4 to 5:15 pm, with check-in starting at 2 pm. On the day of taping, go to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, take the 50 West 50th Street entrance, and proceed up the Grand Stair to the check-in desk. Guests must be 16 or older to be in the audience.

After hosting The Late Show for 22 years, David Letterman passed the torch to former Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert in 2015. Although Colbert's fictional conservative persona did not follow him to his new gig at the Ed Sullivan Theater, his loyal audience did, so expect competition for tickets. The show is usually taped daily at 4:30 pm; check the website and the show's social media for updated details and new ticket releases. You must be 16 or older to sit in the audience.

Founded in 1969 in a basement on Prince Street, the museum has its roots in the collection of its founders, Charles Leslie and Fritz Lohman, two lifelong champions of LGBTQ+ artists. The well-curated exhibits in the spacious first-floor galleries are usually photographic (and sometimes sexually charged), though the museum's impressive archive leads to new exhibitions in various media as often as six times a year.

Sparks fly on this morning program, which books an eclectic roster of guests to chat with hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Tickets are available online about six weeks in advance. Standby tickets become available weekdays at 7 am at ABC Studios. Children under 10 are not permitted in the audience.

Gilded lions guard the entrance of this bright, beautiful Buddhist temple, on a busy corner at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge Arch on the Bowery. Inside are a 16-foot-tall Buddha seated on a lotus flower (allegedly the largest Buddha in the city), incense-burning urns, hand-painted prints, and a second-floor gift shop full of interesting items.

After a $7.9 million renovation completed in fall of 2019, a 47-foot cast-iron watchtower (Julius Kroehl, 1865), the last remnant of a citywide network used to spot and report fires in pretelephone days, once again stands atop a 70-foot-high outcrop of Manhattan schist (the same bedrock that anchors the city's skyscrapers) at the center of this historic, tree-filled public square. Around it, an Acropolis provides great views of Manhattan and the handsome neoclassical row houses of Mount Morris Park Historic District, which extends west from the park. In summer, check out musical and stage performances at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater and at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival (at the end of August).

Perhaps the most respected contemporary art dealer in town, the Marian Goodman Gallery has been introducing top European artists to American audiences since 1977. The stable of excellent contemporary artists in the Goodman fold includes Gerhard Richter, Jeff Wall, John Baldessari, William Kentridge, Chantal Akerman, and Steve McQueen.

Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in this study built for him by his sister-in-law and her husband. The octagonal shape was inspired by a Mississippi riverboat pilothouse. The study was moved to the Elmira College campus in the 1950s and is part of the school's Center for Mark Twain Studies. Cross the street to visit the (free) Mark Twain Exhibit to learn more about Twain's connection to Elmira or to buy books in the gift shop.

The gallery has an international reputation, representing modern artists such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Beverly Pepper, and Red Grooms; architect Santiago Calatrava; and photo-realist Richard Estes. Look for sculptures by Tom Otterness, whose whimsical bronzes are found in several subway stations. A Chelsea branch specializes in contemporary art.

Talk about religious conversions: in the mid-1960s, the Lenox Casino was transformed into this house of worship and cultural center and given bright yellow arches and a huge, green, aluminum dome that loudly proclaims its presence in a neighborhood of churches. Once functioning as Temple No. 7 under the Nation of Islam with a message of Black nationalism, the mosque was bombed after the assassination of Malcolm X, who had preached here. It was then rebuilt and renamed in honor of the name Malcolm took at the end of his life, El-Hajj Malik Shabazz; its philosophy now is one of inclusion.

These days the Sunni congregation has a large proportion of immigrants from Senegal, many of whom live in and around 116th Street. Next door is Graceline Court, a 16-story luxury condominium building that cantilevers somewhat awkwardly over the mosque.

Some of the hottest talents in contemporary art are shown here, including Cindy Sherman, Olaf Breuning, Louise Lawlor, Trevor Paglen, Camille Henrot, and B. Wurtz.