Visit Popular New York Museums for Free

New York City is home to an incredible array of museums that are known all over the world for their arts and exhibitions. The good thing is that some of these museums are totally free while others offer free admission on certain days. Let's see what Museums we can visit for free:

Museums that are ALWAYS Free

• American Folk Art Museum - #2 Lincoln Square, NYC
• The Bronx Museum of the Arts - 040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York bronxmuseum.org
• Goethe Institut - 72 Spring Street, 11th floor, NYC
• Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology - Seventh Avenue and 27th Street, NYC
• National Museum of the American Indian - 1 Bowling Green, George Gustave Heye Center
• Queens Botanical Garden (From November to March = Free Admission) - 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NYC
• Socrates Sculpture Park - 32-01 Vernon Boulevard at Broadway, Long Island City (Queens), NY 11106
• Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art - 495 Broadway 3rd Floor
• Federal Hall National Memorial - 6 Wall St, New York, NY Official Website
• The Hispanic Society of America - 13 W 155th St, New York
• The New York Public Library - Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street
• New York Transit Museum Annex & Store - Grand Central Terminal
• The Federal Reserve Bank - 33 Liberty St, New York, NY - Free admssion for the Tour but you must book online one month before your choosen date on the Official Website

Museums with Suggested Admission Prices

In New York, some Museums offer the possibility to pay the full admission ticket, or a portion, at your own discretion. It is called Suggested Admission Ticket. It's always recommended to pay the full price but you are free to offer as much, or as little, as you want when you go to the box office. These kinds of offers are not available online, and sometimes, they might just be available to locals and NYC residents. Clearly, the Museum considers the suggested price as a fair rate for the visit and the museum does rely on the majority of patrons paying the full price to be able to keep up with the museum expenses and so on. Since many museums offer completely free admission and many others offer free admission once a week, we suggest that you respect the recommended price as much as possible to help the Museums fronting overhead costs and providing the great exhibitions.

• American Museum of Natural History - Central Park West at West 79th Street
• Metropolitan Museum of Art - 1000 Fifth Avenue & The Cloisters - 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park
• Brooklyn Museum - 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn
• El Museo del Barrio - 1230 Fifth Avenue (104th Street)
• MoMA PS1 - 22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave., Long Island City
• Museum of the City of New York - 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street
• Queens Museum - New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
• Sculpture Center - 4419 Purves Street, Long Island City, Queens
• Staten Island Museum - 75 Stuyvesant Place, Staten Island
• The Studio Museum of Harlem - 144 West 125th Street
• Tibet House - 22 West 15th Street - Admission is Free but it's suggested to leave a $5 donation.

Days & Times with Free Entry or Free Offers

Now, let's see the Museums that offer free admission once a week or during certain time slots:

Free Admissions on Mondays

• Museum at Eldridge Street - 12 Eldridge Street - Free Admission from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
• Yeshiva University Museum - 15 West 16th Street - Free from  9:30 am – 8:00 pm

Free Admissions on Tuesdays

• Brooklyn Botanical Garden - 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn - Free ever Tuesday (all day long) and on Saturday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
• China Institute - 125 East 65th Street - Free from 6:00 pm to 08:00 pm
• 9/11 Museum 180 Greenwich St. al World Trade Center - Free from 5:00 pm based on the Museum Availability (Tickets are heanded out starting 4:00 pm)

Free Admissions on Wednesdays

• Bronx Zoo - 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx -  Admission with Pay as You Wish all day long
• Museum of Jewish Heritage - 36 Battery Place - Free admission from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm
• New York Botanical Garden - Bronx River Parkway and Fordham Road, Bronx - Entrance to the gardens is free every Wednesday (all day) and Saturday from 9:00 am to 10:00 am
• Queens Botanical Garden - 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NY

Free Admissions on Thursdays

• Museum of Arts and Design - 2 Columbus Circle - from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
• Children's Museum of the Arts - 103 Charlton Street - from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
• Museum of Chinese in the Americas - 215 Centre Street
• New Museum - 235 Bowery

Free Admission on Fridays

• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) - 11 West 53 Street - Free each Friday from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm
• Neue Galerie - 1048 Fifth Avenue - Every 1st Friday of the month
• International Center for Photography - 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd St. - Pay As you wish from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
• New York Hall of Science - 47-01 111th Street Queens, NY -  Free from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
• New-York Historical Society - 170 Central Park West (76th/77th Street) - Pay As You Wish from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
• Whitney Museum of American Art - 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street - Pay As You Wish from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Free Admissions on Saturdays

• Brooklyn Botanical Garden - 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn - Free Entry from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
• Guggenheim Museum - 1071 5th Avenue at 89th Street -  Pay as You Wish during the evening
• New York Botanical Garden - Bronx River Parkway and Fordham Road, Bronx - You can enter the gardens for free every Wednesday (all day) and Saturday from 9:00 am to 10:00 am
• The Jewish Museum - 1109 Fifth Avenue (92nd Street) The museum is free every Saturday and Thursday from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Free Admissions on Sundays

• The Frick Collection - 1 East 70th Street - Pay As You Wish from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
• Museum of the City of New York from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Discounts for All New York Museums 

Now that we have seen all the possibilities to visit popular museums for free, or paying as we wish, we will check one more option to save both time and money -- the discounted PASSes.

Although it is true, as we have just seen, that all major Museums offer free or donation-based admissions to allow everybody to experience their exhibitions, we need to keep in mind that during those days the lines are extremely long and the exhibition halls quite crowded. Those offers cannot be booked online so you will have to stand on line to get the ticket and then to be admitted into the Museum. Depending on the days and seasons, it could mean to wait up to an hour or more to get in. But again, those admissions are completely free, so it's inevitable that they gather a crowd.

However, if waiting on line and/or large crowds are not your thing, there stil might be a good option for you to save some money on the full-price individual tickets.

All New York PASSes include the main museums as well as all major attractions with a guarantee discount of up to 40% on individual admissions.

Also, with these PASSes, sometimes you get to skip the very long ticket lines (remember that security lines cannot be skipped.)

There are different kinds of PASSes. Some are based on the number of activities you want to do/things to visit others on the time-validity of the Pass.  New York CityPASS, for example, has six fixed attractions and it's valid 9 days while with New York City Explorer PASS, you can choose from over 63 attractions and museums and you can decide what to see when you are in New York depending on the weather and what you want to see on that day.

Our Tips and Recommandations

Before committing to anything, we always recommend to check the operating hours, special offers, exhibitions for the days you want to have visit the museums. Check the Official Website of each Museum, because there may be some last-minute variations/news/changes. Also, keep in mind that some museums, such as the Metropolitan, the Natural History Museum, the MoMA are very large and can hardly be visited in one single time.

Try to plan your visit to the Museum by choosing first the one that most interests you, inquire if there are audio guides in your language, and make a good note of the things you want to see first on the museum map that is given to you with the ticket.

During your stay check the weather often to choose the coldest or rainiest days, leaving the sunny days open for visiting the city or outdoor attractions.

New York PASS with Adsmission to Museums and Attractions