New York Museums: Met, MoMA, Natural History and Which to Pick

Until March 2018, anyone could walk into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hand over a quarter and see 5,000 years of art. The famous "suggested" price was exactly that, a suggestion. Today that deal only survives for New York State residents, and a ticket for everyone else costs around $30. The same goes for MoMA and the American Museum of Natural History: big ticket prices, huge buildings and very little time if you are only in the city for a few days.

So the real question is not "which museum is best" but which one fits your trip, and what to see once you are inside so you do not spend two hours lost between corridors. This guide compares the three heavyweights, gives you a 2-hour plan for each and lists the free and pay-what-you-wish options that still exist in 2026.

The short answer: which one to pick

• Pick the Met if you want the "everything" museum: Egyptian temples, armor, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh and the rooftop view of Central Park. It is the best choice if you only have time for one.
• Pick MoMA if you have half a day or less. It is compact, easy to navigate, and in two hours you can see Van Gogh's The Starry Night, Picasso, Monet's Water Lilies, Frida Kahlo and Warhol's soup cans.
• Pick the Natural History Museum if you are traveling with kids, or if dinosaurs and a 94-foot blue whale sound better than oil paintings.

The Met and the Natural History Museum face each other across Central Park, about a 20-minute walk apart. Doing both in the same day is possible, but doing both well is not. Choose one per day and pair it with a walk in the park.

2026 tickets and hours at a glance

Prices change often, so treat these as approximate and confirm on the official sites before you go.

Children under 12 get into the Met free, and under 16 at MoMA. Students and seniors get discounts at all three, so carry ID.

If you are not a New York resident, there is no secret free day at the big three. The honest way to save is to choose one, buy the ticket online to skip the ticket line, and arrive at opening time when the galleries are quiet.

The Met in 2 hours

The Met covers more than 2 million square feet and holds over 1.5 million objects. Nobody "does" the Met. You pick a route and accept that you will come back. Enter by the Fifth Avenue steps at 82nd Street (subway 4, 5 or 6 to 86th Street) and follow this order:

1. Egyptian Art (first floor, north): walk through the galleries until you reach the Temple of Dendur, a real 2,000-year-old temple that Egypt gave the United States. It sits in a glass hall facing Central Park. Allow 30 minutes.
2. Arms and Armor (first floor, center): the hall of mounted knights is one of the most photographed rooms in the building. 15 minutes.
3. European Paintings (second floor): climb the Grand Staircase and head for Vermeer, Rembrandt, Caravaggio and El Greco. 30 minutes.
4. 19th-century galleries (second floor): Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Cézanne are next door. 25 minutes.
5. The Roof Garden (usually open from spring to autumn): a sculpture installation and one of the best free views of the Central Park treeline. 15 minutes.

What to skip on a short visit: the period rooms of the American Wing and the musical instruments are lovely, but they eat time. Leave them for a second visit, and remember that Friday and Saturday evenings are the quietest hours.

MoMA in 2 hours

The Museum of Modern Art, on West 53rd Street (E or M train to 5th Av/53rd St), is the most efficient of the three. The permanent collection is arranged by floor, and almost everything famous is on the fifth floor, which covers the 1880s to the 1940s. Take the escalators straight up and work your way down:

1. Fifth floor (60 to 75 minutes): The Starry Night by Van Gogh, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso, Dalí's The Persistence of Memory, Matisse's Dance, and Monet's enormous Water Lilies panels. Go here first, before the crowds build up in front of the Van Gogh.
2. Fourth floor (30 minutes): postwar art from the 1940s to the 1970s, including Pollock and Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans.
3. Sculpture Garden (15 minutes): a calm courtyard in the middle of Midtown, a good place to sit before leaving.

What to skip: the second-floor contemporary galleries rotate often. Check what is on before deciding if they are worth your time. And note that MoMA PS1, its branch in Queens, is free for everyone from 2026, if you want contemporary art without the price tag.

Natural History Museum in 2 hours

The American Museum of Natural History is on Central Park West at 79th Street (B or C train to 81st Street). Kids and adults tend to run straight to the dinosaurs, so plan around that:

1. Fourth floor fossil halls (45 minutes): the T. rex, the Barosaurus rearing up in the Rotunda below, and the Titanosaur, so long that its head pokes out of the gallery door.
2. Milstein Hall of Ocean Life (20 minutes): the life-size blue whale model hanging over the hall. Lie on the floor if you want, everyone does.
3. Hall of Gems and Minerals (20 minutes): renovated and spectacular, with a geode taller than most visitors.
4. Gilder Center (20 minutes): the newest wing, opened in 2023, with a cave-like atrium that is worth seeing even without paying for the extra exhibits like the butterfly vivarium.

What to skip: the Planetarium show is good but adds cost and an hour. On a short visit, stick to general admission.

Other free or cheap options

If the big three do not fit your budget, New York still has good choices:

• Whitney Museum: free on Friday evenings (around 5 to 10 pm), with a terrace over the Hudson. Book online, as slots run out.
• Guggenheim: has pay-what-you-wish slots on some afternoons. The exact days change, so check its website.
• MoMA PS1: free for everyone.

Practical tips

• Arrive at opening. The first hour is the calmest at all three museums.
• Book online to skip the ticket line. You still pass a bag check.
• Leave big backpacks at the hotel. Coat checks fill up and large bags may not be allowed in the galleries.
• Download the museum maps before you go. Signal inside thick stone buildings can be patchy.
• Do not plan two big museums in one day. Museum fatigue is real, and the second one will feel like a chore.

Explore New York with Trevurs

The Met and the Natural History Museum sit on opposite edges of Central Park, so the best way to link them is on foot. The free self-guided audio tour Central Park: the Wilderness That Was Built Stone by Stone in the Trevurs app tells you how that "natural" landscape was blasted and shaped by hand, stop by stop.

After MoMA, you are a few blocks from Times Square: try Times Square: A Century of Spectacle, Decay and Makeover or New York: the Race to the Sky That Was Won in the Depths of the Depression, about the skyscrapers all around you. All Trevurs tours are free, go at your own pace and work offline, so you do not need data while you walk.