Yes, we're suggesting visiting a cemetery. But not just any cemetery. Brooklyn’s beautiful, 478-acre Green-Wood Cemetery has, at various times, been North America’s most visited location after Niagara Falls. Laid out in 1838 and the final resting place for 600,000 people (including artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, inventor and painter Samuel Morse and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany), this National Historic Landmark is a great spot for a history fix and is also where you’ll find Brooklyn’s highest point, Battle Hill.
Visit this spectacular museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) to check out 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present day. There’s a packed calendar of exhibitions – recent examples include one that coincided with National Hispanic Heritage Month and another focusing on how food is represented by fashion (see the studded baguette clutch, pictured) – plus clothes by hundreds of designers including Coco Chanel. There's also a collection boasting 4,000 pairs of shoes.
In the 1990s, the General Services Administration was constructing new offices when human remains were uncovered. Scientists and historians subsequently established that the spot had served as a burial ground for the enslaved Africans who helped build New Amsterdam (New York’s former name). The information centre and memorial which now stand at this spot – 290 Broadway – provide a fascinating (albeit often harrowing) insight into the history of New York.
Travelling with kids? They’ll love this child-friendly hangout, created to provide youngsters aged between three and 11 with insights into the world of art, design and science. Located on the ground floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 81st Street Studio is all about interaction – there are lots of digital exhibits and highlights include areas where kids can play supersized instruments, peer through a microscope and listen to storytelling sessions.
Love this? Follow our Facebook page for more travel inspiration
Overdone the Manhattans? Chowed down on too many supersized burgers? Offset some of the damage by checking out one of the free Wellness Wednesday sessions held every Wednesday at the North Oculus Plaza. They’re a collaboration with New York-based Sputnik Yoga but the free classes are wonderfully diverse, covering everything from yoga and meditation to HIIT and Pilates. Note that due to New York’s harsh winters classes only take place between May and October.
No visit to New York is complete without a stroll along the High Line, the 1.5-mile (2.4km) elevated park on Manhattan’s West Side. It’s a great spot from which to soak up views of the skyline as well as the Hudson River, and the route is lined with plants, art installations and cafes. One of our favourite stretches is the Chelsea Market Passage, which runs alongside the former headquarters of the National Biscuit Company (inventor of Oreos). During the warmer months you’ll find an open-air food market here.
Don’t get us wrong – we love a scenic harbour cruise, but they’re also often painfully overpriced. Our advice? Grab your guidebook and hop aboard the free Staten Island Ferry, which operates between St George Terminal on Staten Island and the Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan. The bright orange boat carries 70,000 people every day, and it dates back to the 18th century. You’ll enjoy stunning views of Manhattan – with significantly fewer selfie sticks than you’ll find on the more expensive scenic ferry tours.
This is one of the most famous areas of the New York Public Library, and there are free tours between Monday and Saturday, at 11am and 2pm. You’ll gain brilliant insight into the architecture of this stunning Beaux-Arts building and will learn about its most historic sections, such as the Rose Main Reading Room. The building, on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, houses a fabulously diverse collection of texts – the 15 million items include medieval manuscripts, contemporary novels and comic books.
What could be better than watching a blockbuster in a park that has starred in various movies itself? Beautiful Bryant Park is a destination in its own right, but if you’re in the Big Apple during the summer months check out the park’s free movie nights. Films are shown on an enormous screen set against a backdrop of New York’s most recognisable skyscrapers. Movies generally begin at 8pm and there are various vendors selling food and drink.
Admission to the Bronx Zoo is free on Wednesdays, though you’ll need to book your free tickets on the website (they go on sale every Monday, and we recommend getting in early). Bag one and you’ll get to explore one of America’s largest urban zoos. As much as we love the animals, there are plenty of other reasons to visit too, including the rides. Don't leave before riding the bug carousel, where you can climb aboard a praying mantis or sit inside a giant ball of beetle dung. Yes, you did read that correctly.
MoMa (the Museum of Modern Art) might not be free, but its sculpture garden is. Alongside sculptures you’ll find fountains, trees and seasonal plants, and it’s a popular hangout for New York’s birdlife too. The sculptures are regularly changed and they’re hugely diverse – recent exhibits include Picasso’s She-Goat sculpture and Isa Genzken’s 36-foot-tall (11m) Rose II, cast from painted aluminium and steel. Get lucky and you’ll see one of the garden’s larger installations being winched into place.
These are the world's most jaw-dropping sculptures and statues
This beautiful garden is free to visit on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and is a great year-round destination – the many conservatories include the Desert Pavilion, the Aquatic House and the Warm Temperate Pavilion. There are plenty of activities to sign up for too. These include regular storytelling sessions, planting masterclasses and winter nature walks during the colder months.
Many people don’t realise that the Brooklyn Bridge is fully open to pedestrians (fun fact: 116,000 vehicles and 30,000 pedestrians cross it every day), and there’s something wonderful about strolling from Manhattan, with its sky-scraping architecture, to Brooklyn, with its rust-red buildings. We recommend starting on the Manhattan side – you’ll gain a whole new perspective on Brooklyn. For the best selfies, position yourself near the centre of the bridge, with its Gothic arches and thick pylons.
Highlights of this cool military and maritime museum include the aircraft carrier Intrepid (which served in the Vietnam War and was also used as a NASA recovery vessel) and the Enterprise space shuttle. The best bit? Between June and September the museum is free to visit on the last Friday of every month. When you visit, don’t just focus on the headline-grabbers – other fascinating permanent exhibits include Concorde and the USS Growler, the only American nuclear missile submarine open to the public.
This museum and memorial commemorates the events of 11 September 2001, and its admission fee is waived on Mondays. Artefacts, imagery and interactive technology are used to provide an insight into the events of that tragic day, while various rotating exhibitions cover a much wider range of subjects. Head outside the museum to see the memorial – two pools of cascading water in the footprints of the towers which once stood there.
This Beaux-Arts building is one of the world’s biggest train stations, with 44 platforms. Notable features include the limestone-clad southern facade, modelled on a Roman triumphal arch, and an interior inspired by Roman baths. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the station, offers guided tours, although these cost $30 (£26) per person. Alternatively, opt for a free self-guided tour instead.
Check out the amazing secrets of the world's most famous tourist attractions
Hamilton Grange is the former home of the late Alexander Hamilton, a Revolutionary War soldier and the first secretary of the treasury of the United States. Visits to the site, in Manhattan’s Hamilton Heights Historic District, are free. The property is filled with items which once belonged to Hamilton, including sculptures by Giuseppe Ceracchi, who spent much of the late 1700s creating busts of America's founding fathers.
New York’s Chinatown might not be the largest, but it’s got a wonderfully rich history and there are plenty of admission-free spots to learn more. Visit the Museum of Chinese in America, where 85,000 artefacts, photographs, printed materials, textiles and oral histories document the stories of the Chinese American diaspora. This is also where to find some of the city’s cheapest street food – try Golden Unicorn for delicious dim sum.
Coney Island’s Luna Park is the home of thrill rides such as the iconic roller coaster Cyclone, which first opened in 1927, but you don’t have to splash the cash to have some fun here. There are endless free events (our favourite is the hot dog eating competition held every year on 4 July), and the adjacent beach has free volleyball, handball and basketball courts. Make sure you take a stroll along the historic boardwalk too.
See these stunning historic images of theme parks in full swing
This park in Queens is filled with sculptures of all shapes and sizes, and visitors regularly get the chance to watch new ones being dragged and winched into place. Make sure you check out artist Mary Mattingly’s garden, which doesn’t just provide bursts of year-round colour but also highlights the climate crisis. Her salt-tolerant garden, with its 40 species of pollinator-friendly plants, is a reminder of the need to adapt in an era when sea levels will rise by up to 30 inches by the 2050s.
This is what world-famous cities could look like underwater as a result of the climate crisis
Full disclosure: yes, this art installation is just a room filled with dirt, but nonetheless it’s strangely spectacular. You’ll find Walter de Maria’s The New York Earth Room on the second floor of a building located on Soho’s 141 Wooster Street. It’s the artist’s second Earth Room sculpture, and it comprises 250 cubic yards (197 cubic metres) of soil in a 3,600-square-foot room (335sqm). It’s been in place since 1977 and is maintained by the Dia Art Foundation.
The pieces at this free contemporary art gallery represent the fabulous diversity of the Bronx communities – you’ll find everything from murals by legendary street artists to sculptures by experts such as Jamaican-born Michael Richards, whose thought-provoking works often touch on the oppression of Black people. Visit on Saturdays for a brilliant range of child-friendly activities.
Yes, an obvious one, but it’s easy to underestimate quite how much free stuff there is to do, see and experience in Central Park. To start with, there are dozens of buskers here at any given time, and there’s also a packed calendar of free events (our favourites include August’s Great Jazz on the Great Hill). We also suggest tracking down some of the park’s most recognisable movie locations, including Bow Bridge, which appeared in Spider-Man 3, and Bethesda Terrace, a backdrop for John Wick.
Times Square is a sensory overload filled with street performers and musicians. One of the best spots from which to take in the action is the Red Stairs – 27 ruby-red steps in the centre of the square which double as a perfect vantage point. If hunger strikes and you’re watching your spending, look for one of the hole-in-the-wall pizza joints – even in Times Square, you’re never far from a pizza restaurant selling (rather large) slices for a couple of dollars.
This wall became famous in the 1970s when Keith Haring daubed a mural onto it as a gift to New York City. Today, it’s owned by Goldman Properties, which invites legendary graffiti artists from around the world to paint it. Plenty have left their mark here, and the pieces typically honour New York and its connection to street art, so it’s a great place to learn about the art form. Find it on the northwest corner of Houston and Bowery in downtown Manhattan.
Many of New York’s most famous chat shows, including Saturday Night Live and The View, give out free audience tickets. Every show typically has its own ticket protocol, displayed on its website, although many also film regular segments outside. For example, if you're near the Rockefeller Plaza, you might see the hosts of Today doing their thing. During the summer, Good Morning America runs a free concert series. In 2023, the performances took place in Central Park.
The Queens County Farm Museum in Queens has been operating since 1697 and it’s New York’s longest continually farmed site. It covers 47 acres and feels a world away from Manhattan’s skyscrapers. It’s another attraction that is best visited during the warmer months, when visitors can get lost in a corn maze, hop on a hayride and pet various friendly animals. Planning a picnic in Central Park? Stock up on supplies – including the farm’s own fruit and veg – at the store near the entrance.
This market fans out along the north and west sides of Union Square Park, where you'll find local bread, honey, pastries, seasonal fruits and vegetables. And while the delicious range of fare on offer can make it hard not to part with your hard-earned cash, there’s plenty of free fun to be had here too. Regular events include book signings, while pop-ups by various producers mean there’s no shortage of free samples to snack on.
Brooklyn is a neighbourhood built on beer – in the 19th century, this was where many German migrants settled, and their passion for brewing soon turned it into a hub for beer lovers. The Brooklyn Brewery was founded by former Associated Press news correspondent Steve Hindy, who wanted to revive the area’s brewing traditions. Today, its beer is sold in 20 countries around the world, and you can find out more on the free brewery tours which take place on Sundays.
This artificial island park rises out of the Hudson River around 200 feet (61m) off Manhattan's West Side. Connected to the mainland by walkways, it’s a space-age structure supported by 132 shapely concrete pillars (referred to as tulips) of varying heights. There’s plenty of free fun, including what might just be the world’s coolest instrument – step on the metal plates built into the ground near the park’s entrance to produce piano-like ditties.