NYC Observation Decks Compared: Which One Is Actually Worth It?
Five decks, one answer: the Empire State Building, the only one in the middle of the island. When each of the others wins, and how not to overpay.
Pick the Empire State Building. It is the only one of these in the middle of the island, which makes it the only one that shows you all four sides of Manhattan at once: the grid running north, the island narrowing south, and a river on either side. Every other deck in this city is at one end of it, showing you the rest from a distance.
That is the entire argument, and it is why the Empire State Building observatory is on the M List and the others are not.
Go to Top of the Rock instead if what you want is a photograph of the Empire State Building with Central Park behind it. You cannot take that picture from inside the building, and it is the best skyline photo in New York. That is a real reason, and it is the only one.
Here is the rest of the reasoning, and how not to overpay for any of them.
The honest comparison
| Height of the deck | Open air? | What you actually see | The catch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empire State Building | 1,050 ft (86th floor) | Yes, fully | All four sides of Manhattan, both rivers, the grid in every direction | The longest lines. The building you are in is the one missing from the view |
| Top of the Rock | 850 ft (70th floor) | Yes, fully | Central Park laid out flat, and the Empire State Building head on | Lowest of the five, and you are looking at the skyline rather than standing in the middle of it |
| Summit One Vanderbilt | 1,063 ft, or 1,210 ft up in the glass lift | Only the lift | Midtown east, the Chrysler Building, and a lot of mirrors | It is an art installation with a view attached. Some people love that. Some people paid for a view |
| Edge | 1,131 ft | Yes | Midtown from the west, the Hudson, downtown in the distance | Hudson Yards is a long way from anything, and the angled glass walls are doing the work |
| One World Observatory | 1,268 ft | No, enclosed | The harbor, the bridges, midtown as a distant cluster | The tallest and the most sealed in. Glass between you and the city the whole time |
Prices sit in roughly the same band, around $40 to $50 for a standard adult ticket, and every one of them charges more for sunset, for skipping the line and for the top floor. Book online, book a slot, and check the price on the day rather than trusting any guide, this one included.
Empire State Building: the one to do
Stand on the 86th floor and turn around slowly. The island goes north until it stops being Manhattan, south until it stops being land, and there is water on both sides the entire time. Nowhere else does that, because nowhere else is standing where this is standing.
Get the 86th floor ticket. The open-air deck is what you came for. The 102nd floor is higher, enclosed, and mostly a different way to spend money.
Go in the evening and stay. Book a slot about an hour before sunset and do not leave when the sun goes. The blue twenty minutes afterwards, with the whole grid switching on beneath you, is the thing people remember.
Pay for the express pass if you can stretch to it. The lines here are the worst of the five by a distance, and the time it buys back is worth more than the money.
Our full review: Empire State Building Observatory, 9.6.
Top of the Rock: the one for the photograph
Two things are true here at once. It is the lowest deck on this list, and it has the best view of any of them, because the view contains the Empire State Building.
From the 70th floor you get Central Park spread out flat to the north, which no other deck gives you, and the Empire State Building standing dead center to the south with the rest of midtown around it. It is the postcard. It is the picture you have already seen a hundred times, and it turns out to be worth taking yourself.
Go at the same time you would go to the Empire State Building: an hour before sunset, and stay for the blue.
Summit One Vanderbilt: know what you are buying
Summit is mirrored rooms, sloped glass and a lot of reflections, sitting on top of Grand Central. It is designed to be photographed and it photographs extremely well. Plenty of people have a genuinely great time in it.
It is also not really an observation deck, and the disappointment we hear about most often comes from people who booked it expecting one. The mirrors are the point. The view is the backdrop. If you want to stand still and look at New York, this is the wrong ticket; if you want an hour inside something strange and shiny, it is a good one.
The glass lift on the outside of the building, which takes you to 1,210 feet, is the part that is unambiguously worth it, and it costs extra.
Edge: the one with the floor
The Edge sticks out of the side of 30 Hudson Yards with a triangle of glass floor in the middle and walls that lean outward so you tip toward the drop. If that sounds like fun, it is fun. If it sounds like a reason to stay home, believe yourself.
The view is genuinely good, and it is the wrong side of town. You are looking at midtown from the far west, with the Hudson beside you and downtown a long way off. For a first visit that is a strange place to start.
One World Observatory: the tallest, and the most sealed off
It is the highest deck in the city and it is behind glass the entire way round, which takes more out of the experience than the extra 200 feet puts back. What it does have, and the others do not, is the harbor: the Statue of Liberty, the bridges stacked up the East River, and the whole of Brooklyn laid out below.
If you are already downtown for the 9/11 Memorial it is a reasonable add. It would not be our first trip up.
Do not do two
This is the most common expensive mistake visitors make here. The decks are the same trick from different corners, and the second one will feel like the first one with a worse story. Pick one, pay for a good slot, and put the other forty dollars into dinner.
Or pay nothing
Several of the best views in this city do not have a ticket office.
- The Staten Island Ferry is free, runs all night, and gives you the downtown skyline from the water. Read that guide first, because there are people at the terminal whose whole job is selling you something that is free.
- The Brooklyn Bridge at dawn, walking toward Manhattan.
- The Manhattan Bridge Lookout in DUMBO, where the bridge frames the skyline and almost nobody is standing.
- The NYC Ferry at $4.50, which is a harbor cruise with a commuter timetable.
- More of them in the best views in NYC.
None of those show you all four sides of the island at once. One ticket does, and that is what you are paying for.
Questions about anything in this guide? Reach MUSEENYC at museenyc.art@gmail.com or @museenyc on Instagram.
One deck, one evening, and stay for the blue → museenyc.com