Upper East Side: What to See, Museums and How to Get There

The Upper East Side is one of New York's most upscale areas. It's one of the neighborhoods of choice for the city's wealthiest residents and for many diplomats.

You'll almost certainly visit, since it's home to major New York museums like the Met, the Guggenheim and The Frick Collection, among others along the Museum Mile.

The Upper East Side is the neighborhood behind the miniseries The Undoing, where Nicole Kidman parades her spectacular coats through elegant streets and other real locations east of Central Park.

What to see in the Upper East Side

Walking through this neighborhood of elegant buildings and mansions, you'll see nannies pushing strollers, society ladies out with their purebred dogs, and uniformed doormen standing guard. It's one of the most classic images from countless movies filmed in New York.

If you walk around the neighborhood at night, you'll catch glimpses through the windows of spacious living rooms with bookshelves stacked to the ceiling.

1. Museum Mile

Museum Mile is the name given to the stretch of Fifth Avenue running north from 57th Street. Several major museums are clustered along these blocks.

The standouts are the Met and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, but there are plenty of other cultural institutions on the Museum Mile.

Take The Frick Collection, facing Central Park, worth a visit not just for the quality of the collection the steel magnate assembled, but for its magnificent building.

You can also visit the Neue Galerie, which specializes in German and Austrian art, or the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, a must if you're into graphic design, industrial design and emerging technology.

Another institution on the Museum Mile is the Museum of the City of New York, housed in a beautiful building with a collection devoted to the history of this fascinating city.

Farther north in the Upper East Side, almost at the border with Harlem and East Harlem, you'll find El Museo del Barrio, dedicated to New York's Latino culture.

2. A visit to Roosevelt Island

At the southern edge of the Upper East Side, at 59th Street and Second Avenue, is the station for the Roosevelt Island Tram, Manhattan's one-of-a-kind aerial tramway over the East River, which connects to Roosevelt Island.

From this small island in the middle of the river you'll get flawless views of Midtown East, and the tram ride itself is a thrill that costs no more than a subway fare 😉

3. Luxury shopping in the Upper East Side

You'll find plenty of luxury stores along 86th Street between Lexington Avenue and Second Avenue.

Upper East vs Upper West

There's a long-standing rivalry between residents here and those of the Upper West Side, two neighborhoods that look very much alike and are separated only by Central Park.

For us tourists the difference is nearly invisible, but if you pay attention you'll pick up on it: on this side of the park the population skews older, more conservative and wealthier, while the folks on the west side are younger, more liberal and more bohemian.

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Address

The Upper East Side sits between the East River and Central Park, from 59th to 96th Street.

How to get there

Line 6. Stations between 59th and 103rd Street