Museum Mile & Guggenheim
The Museum Mile is the stretch of Fifth Avenue between 82nd and 110th Street — a concentration of world-class museums unmatched anywhere else:
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece (1959) — the spiral building is itself a work of art. Visitors take the elevator to the top and walk down the spiral ramp, past modern masterpieces (Kandinsky, Picasso, Chagall, Pollock). The building is more iconic than the collection — but both together are a must-see. Admission: $25. Saturdays 5–8 pm: Pay-What-You-Wish.
Other Museums on the Museum Mile
- Neue Galerie: Austrian and German art of the early 20th century — home to Gustav Klimt's "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" (The Golden Adele), purchased for $135 million. Small, exquisite, little visited. Admission: $25. Café Sabarsky on the ground floor serves excellent Viennese coffee and Sachertorte.
- Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum: Design from the Renaissance to today, in Andrew Carnegie's former mansion. Admission: $18.
- Museum of the City of New York: The history of the city from colonial times to today. Admission: $20 (Pay-What-You-Wish).
- El Museo del Barrio: Latin American and Caribbean art. On the edge of Harlem. Admission: $9 (Pay-What-You-Wish).
American Museum of Natural History
On the West Side of Central Park (so not on the Museum Mile, but close enough): one of the largest natural history museums in the world — dinosaur skeletons (the T-Rex!), the 563-carat Star of India sapphire, the Hayden Planetarium, the 29-meter model of the blue whale, and 33 million objects. Known from the movie "Night at the Museum." Admission: $28 (recommended, Pay-What-You-Wish for NY residents).
