17 Best Museums in New York City

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Fall is the quintessential time to visit New York City – it’s bursting with color, the weather is cool, and there is no slush on the sidewalks yet- not to mention the Macy’s Parade and the shops at Bryant Park. Between crunching the leaves underneath your feet and strolling through Central Park pretending you are in a classic NYC rom-com, there are loads of museums in the city worth checking out. While the super popular MoMA, Ellis Island, the Guggenheim Museum,  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History are all fantastic, and you should visit them, here are some other museums you should check out while in the city. 

Museum	Location	Type
Jewish Museum	Manhattan	Cultural
New Museum	Manhattan	Contemporary Art
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art	Manhattan	LGBTQA+ Art
The Bronx Museum of the Arts	Bronx	Art
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum	Manhattan	Design
National Museum of the American Indian New York	Manhattan	Cultural
Tenement Museum	Manhattan	History
Museum of the City of New York	Manhattan	Cultural/History
The Morgan Library & Museum	Manhattan	Rare Finds
9/11 Memorial and Museum	Manhattan	History
El Museo del Barrio	Manhattan	Latino Art
Museum of Chinese in America	Manhattan	Cultural
Merchant’s House Museum	Manhattan	House
Rubin Museum of Art	Manhattan	Art
Fotografiska New York	Manhattan	Photography
Louis Armstrong House Museum	Queens	Historical House and Museum
Queens County Farm Museum	Queens	Farm

Jewish Museum  

Founded in 1904, the Jewish Museum offers a look at Jewish art and culture throughout the centuries, and offers exhibits and programs designed to engage and inspire. 

Location: Museum Mile, 1109 5th Ave at 92nd St

New Museum 

Get a look at true, visionary contemporary art at the New Museum. It is the only museum in the city dedicated strictly to contemporary art.

Location: 235 Bowery

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art is dedicated to preserving the LGBTQIA+ identity, and not only showcases the work of the LGBTQIA+ community, but also fosters their creativity through their fellowship program. 

Location: 26 Wooster St

The Bronx Museum of the Arts

Striving to reflect the diverse community of the Bronx, the Bronx Museum of the Arts is a free museum featuring contemporary and 20th-century arts by American artists. 

Location: 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Housed within the Andrew Carnegie mansion on Museum Mile, the Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the US dedicated to showing historic and contemporary design. Try out their immersion room, where you can design your own wallpaper and see it on the walls around you. 

Location: Museum Mile, 2 East 91st Street

National Museum of the American Indian New York 

Another Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, houses native artifacts and offers performing arts programs, research, educational opportunities, and exhibits. Kids will love the imagiNATIONS activity center, where they can “explore scientific principles behind Native innovations and technologies that are so ingenious, many remain a part of our daily lives.” 

Location: 1 Bowling Green 

Tenement Museum 

Get an inside look at what living as an immigrant in a tenement in New York City was like in the 19th and early 20th centuries at the Tenement Museum. They also offer neighborhood walking tours. 

Location: 103 Orchard St

Museum of the City of New York 

See what makes New York the great city it is – through its past, present, and future. Home to over 250,000 items from New York’s past, and featuring on-going exhibitions, it is New York like you have never seen before. 

Location: 1220 Fifth Ave at 103rd St.

The Morgan Library & Museum

The Morgan is home to rare manuscripts, books, music, drawings, photography and more. Here you can see rare items like one of the few copies of the Declaration of Independence, works by Albert Einstein, a handwritten score by Mozart and other awe-inspiring works. 

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Location: 225 Madison Avenue

9/11 Memorial and Museum 

For a more sobering experience, check out the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Through artifacts, personal stories, and interactive displays, you get a somber look at the fateful day in 2001. The memorial pays a stunning tribute to those we lost. 

Location: 180 Greenwich St

El Museo del Barrio 

Dedicated to preserving the art and artifacts of Caribbean and Latin Americans, El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 by Puerto Rican artist Raphael Montañez Ortiz. 

Location: 1230 5th Avenue at 104th Street

Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) 

Look inside the Chinese communities in the U.S. through artifacts and oral histories at MOCA. Be sure to check out their special events, including performances and classes. 

Location: 215 Centre Street

Merchant’s House Museum 

See how the other half lived in the mid-19th century at the Merchant’s House Museum—once home to a wealthy merchant family and their servants. Check out their ghost tour in October- some believe the family never left. 

Location: 29 East Fourth Street

Rubin Museum of Art

Dedicated to the ideas, culture, and art of the Himalayan culture, the Rubin Museum of Art is home to over 3,000 objects from over 1500 years. See what makes this culture truly unique. 

Location: 150 West 17th St

Fotografiska New York

Fotografiska is a museum in Stockholm that holds the world’s best photography collection, and in 2019, opened its New York location.  This location features five floors of “mind-expanding photography.”

Location: 281 Park Ave South

Louis Armstrong House Museum 

Get an intimate look at the house Louis Armstrong lived in with his wife from 1943 until he died in 1971. Learn about his personal life in the house and his public life the attached museum. 

Location: 34-56 107th Street, Queens

Queens County Farm Museum 

Dating back to 1697, Queens County Farm Museum is home to one of the oldest continuously farmed lands in New York State. Guests can stroll through 47 acres and visit with the sheep, alpaca, steer and hens. 

Location: 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, Floral Park

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