The "must-see" sights of New York City
If you are a first-time visitor, you might use it as your "check-list." If you have more time in the city and want to go beyond the most necessary sights, click here for a "5-day itinerary".
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
The St. Patrick’s was unapologetically spectacular. Built as a Gothic Cathedral, it’s light and graceful. The structure is the crowning achievement of New Yorks' own architect James Renwick Jr. St. Patrick Cathedral is named after the patron saint of the Irish. It’s the seat of the Archbishop and the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of New York.
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Rockefeller Center – a City Within a City
The Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 interconnected buildings — 14 of them being the original Art Deco office buildings from the 1930s. The focal point of the complex is 30 Rockefeller Plaza (formerly the GE and RCA building), a stunning Art Deco masterpiece. Narrow, simple, and elegant, it appears taller than its actual height and is crowned by a three-tiered observation deck.
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M3. Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal was built to house Cornelius Vanderbilt’s railroad network and was envisioned as a gateway to the city. It’s hard to underestimate its grandeur: every day, more than 750,000 people pass through the Grand Central, which is more than the entire population of Alaska, or roughly the population of San Francisco. An estimated 10,000 people come into Grand Central every day to have lunch or dinner or meet for a drink. In 1947 alone, over 65 million people (40% of the US population!) traveled through Grand Central.
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The Chrysler Building
With its glistening spire and glorious triangle-shaped crown, the Chrysler Building is considered by many to be one of the finest buildings in the world. An iconic part of the New York City skyline, it was built as the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation as well as the company’s main advertisement. Carrying the automobile theme, it shines like a newly bought auto and features winged Chrysler radiator caps on the 31st-floor, and copies of the 1929 Chrysler eagle hood ornaments on the 61st floor.
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The New York Public Library
One of the most significant national treasures, the New York Public Library, was not created by the government but was a product of philanthropy. Built in 1911 and housed in a spectacular Beaux-Arts building, the New York Public Library is guarded by pair of lions called Patience, the south side, and Fortitude to the north. Named by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Patience and Fortitude reflected New Yorkers’ qualities needed to survive the Great Depression.
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The Empire State Building
The first in the world to rise over 100 stories, and constructed in a mere 14 months, the Empire State Building stood as the tallest in the world for 41 years. Stunning in both its height and Art Deco simplicity, the building rises in a series of setbacks ending with a bold tower. Billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World at its opening, the Empire State Building broke records as the tallest in the world, the first to have more than 100 stories, and the one to be constructed in a record time of one year and forty-five days.
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The Brooklyn Bridge
This wondrous bridge was the first to span the East River and connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. Upon completion, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, with its towers standing taller than the rest of the country’s man-made structures! Designed by bridge-builder genius John Augustus Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was an astonishing feat of engineering.
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Wall Street/Federal Hall
Imagine visiting the locations where America’s freedom of the press was born, the slogan that started the American revolution—”no taxation without representation”—was declared, the Bill of Rights was penned, and George Washington took the oath of office to become the first President of the United States. But you don’t have to visit different places: all of them happened in the same spot. Federal Hall, located on Wall Street, had been the site of government activity and momentous national historic events since the early 1700s.
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The New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange was founded in 1792 when 24 New York City stockbrokers and merchants signed the Buttonwood Agreement under a buttonwood tree. The New York Stock Exchange building opened in 1903 at a cost of $4 million. The trading floor was one of the largest volumes of space in the city at the time at 109 x 140 feet with a skylight set into a 72-foot (22 m) high ceiling. The main façade of the building features a sculpture by John Quincy Adams Ward in the pediment called “Integrity Protecting the Works of Man”.
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Charging Bull
The Charging Bull, representing a rising market, is one of the most easily recognizable symbols of Wall Street. The Charging Bull was created by sculptor Arturo Di Modica. Conceived by the sculptor as an antidote for the sour mood caused by the 1987 stock market crash known as Black Monday, the Bull was to represent resilience, hope, and strength and stand directly in front of the mighty New York Stock Exchange.
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Trinity Church
The present-day Trinity Church—a glorious Neo-Gothic edifice—is the third church built on the same exact spot. The original Trinity Church, built in 1698, was the first Anglican Church in the city. His Majesty King William III granted Trinity a royal charter at the cost of 1 peppercorn a year, allowing it to function as a virtual Church of England in the British colony of New York.
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Statue of Liberty
The idea of the statue was conceived by a group of French intellectuals, led by a renowned law professor, politician, poet, and activist Édouard René de Laboulaye, as a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. Symbolizing liberty, it had to be funded not by governments but by ordinary people.
The Statue of Liberty is located on Liberty Island. You'll only have to time to see the view to the Statue from the shore but it is a magnificent view! |
World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial
The World Trade Center is a complex of buildings replacing the original seven buildings on the same site that were destroyed in the September 11 attacks. The site is being rebuilt with 5 new skyscrapers, a 9/11 Memorial and a museum, and a transportation hub. The 104-story One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, is the lead building for the new complex.
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Washington Square Park 
Washington Square Park was once a military parade ground and a potter’s field with 20,000 bodies lying underneath the park! The sprawling English elm, which has been standing at the northwest corner of Washington Square Park for the last 300 years, is the oldest living tree in Manhattan. It was planted in 1679, a mere 15 years after the English took over the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and renamed it New York.
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Washington Square Arch
Built to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as the nation’s first President, the triumphal Washington Square Arch was modeled on the Parisian Arc de Triomphe and decorated by two prominent male marble figures, both representing George Washington.
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Midtown/Times Square
With typical modesty, the New Yorkers call Times Square 'The Crossroads of the World'. If it's not central to the whole world, it is pretty central to the island of Manhattan. Times Square is located in the heart of New York Theater District, hosting around 40 Broadway theaters. This is a good place to finish your day of sightseeing and catch a show or have a dinner in one of many restaurants. You might want to check out West 46th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues, known as the Restaurant Row.
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Manhattan Neighborhoods
Little Italy
Chinatown Lower East Side Greenwich Village West Village East Village Financial District SOHO Gramercy Park Flatiron District Midtown Chelsea Museum Mile Columbus Circle Lincoln Center Theater District Upper East Side Upper West Side Harlem |
NYC Major Museums
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