New York Tourist Attractions You Shouldn’t Miss

Visiting the most important monuments in New York will help you understand the history and culture of this city we love so much.

Most of New York's landmark monuments are in Lower Manhattan, for a very simple reason: this is where the city's settlement began.

Visiting the Statue of Liberty is a good start, but there are plenty of other contemporary monuments worth seeing, and I'll tell you about them below.

If you're looking for other kinds of attractions, check out what to see in New York.

Top 10: Iconic New York City Monuments

Let's start the list with the most visited monuments in New York. These places are always packed with tourists, so my advice is to get there as early as you can:

1. The Statue of Liberty: New York's most famous statue

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous symbols of New York, and you can take it in for free from the ferry to Staten Island.

But if your dream is to go up to the crown, you need to buy tickets several months in advance. There are very few spots and they sell out fast.

In the guide to visiting the Statue of Liberty I walk you through all the details.

2. Ellis Island

Your Statue of Liberty ticket includes the stop at Ellis Island and admission to its Immigration Museum.

Don't skip it. This small island was New York's immigration station, and it received more than 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954.

The museum and its memorials are full of deeply moving stories. If you've ever had to emigrate yourself, this is a place you have to see.

3. The Twin Towers Memorial

Ten years after the attack on the Twin Towers, this memorial to the victims was unveiled.

It's part of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, a complex that includes the 9/11 Museum and five huge skyscrapers, among them One World Trade Center, today the tallest building in New York, whose observatory you can go up to.

Take a look at the World Trade Center guide so you don't miss any of the points of interest in this key part of Manhattan.

4. St. Paul's Chapel: a monument to New York's resilience

The small St. Paul's Chapel (1766) is the only colonial church in Manhattan still standing, and the most remarkable part is that, even sitting right across from the Twin Towers, it survived the 9/11 attacks untouched.

Inside there's a room commemorating the work of firefighters and volunteers in the days after the tragedy.

5. Governors Island

This small island south of Lower Manhattan has historic military fortifications you can visit in spring and summer by taking a ferry.

In 2001 it was declared a national monument, and today the island hosts events, parties and exhibitions.

6. Federal Hall in the Financial District

In Wall Street, Manhattan's Financial District, you'll find a string of places that matter enormously to the city.

One of them is the Federal Hall National Memorial, the site of the first U.S. Congress, where George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States.

Remember the story of Hamilton, the hit Broadway musical? This building has a lot to do with it.

It's one of the most photographed spots in Manhattan, with thousands of tourists showing up every day to pose at the foot of the Washington statue.

Very close by you can see the famous Wall Street Bull statue.

7. The Titanic Memorial

In the fascinating South Street Seaport neighborhood stands a lighthouse built in 1913 to honor the victims of the Titanic (corner of Fulton Street and Pearl Street).

Visiting the lighthouse is just the starting point for a walk through what was once New York's old port, a place full of corners that recall the city's maritime past.

To dig into the city's seafaring heritage, I recommend visiting the South Street Seaport Museum.

8. The Vessel at Hudson Yards

The Vessel is the sculpture around which the new Hudson Yards neighborhood is built, on the west side of Midtown Manhattan.

It only opened in 2019 and it's already one of the new icons of New York, with hundreds of thousands of appearances on social media.

The Vessel is a monumental climbable structure designed by English architect Thomas Heatherwick, the same designer behind the new Little Island park built over the Hudson River.

This climbable monument has 154 flights of stairs, 2,500 steps and 80 viewing platforms with different perspectives on the Hudson River, New Jersey and Manhattan.

9. The statues of Central Park

Across Central Park there are several monuments and more than 30 statues, some more famous than others.

You'll surely recognize Bethesda Fountain, since it has appeared in dozens of shows and movies filmed in Central Park, but there are many more, as you'll see in the Guide to the statues and monuments of Central Park.

10. The John Lennon memorial: Strawberry Fields

If you're a Beatles fan, you'll love a visit to Strawberry Fields, a garden in Central Park honoring John Lennon's memory.

Steps from the park is the famous Dakota Building, where John Lennon lived and in whose doorway he was murdered.

11. The bridges of New York

There's no arguing with the historical, architectural and engineering value of these structures that made the city what it is today.

The Brooklyn Bridge is the most famous, but there are many more bridges in New York that I recommend visiting and walking across when you can. They're living monuments of New York.

12. New York skyscrapers

Long before the Empire State or the Chrysler Building, the race to conquer New York's skyline was already underway. Many of these buildings are now monuments to another era and to the story of the people who built them.

In the Guide to New York's skyscrapers I tell you more about them.

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These are just a few of New York's monuments (on Wikipedia you'll find all the rest)… You'll see how many others you stumble across as you wander this fascinating city that honors its memory and its history.