The best free things to do in NYC today

Free and cheap tickets to NYC's best museums? It's possible! One of the benefits of living in or visiting New York City is all the incredible cultural institutions and museums are at your beck-and-call like The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, MoMA or the Guggenheim.

Luckily, most museums offer free hours or days and pay-what-you-wish admission. You just have to know where and when they are. We’ve got the info you need in our guide to all the free museum days and cheap admission in NYC you should know about.

New York City is full of free outdoor art that you don't even have to go to a museum to see. Sculptures, murals and photographs can be found in its parks, sidewalks and on its buildings!

Locations such as the High Line, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn and Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens and other NYC locales all have a wide variety of pieces awaiting you, from massive sculptures to eye-popping murals and graffiti. Best of all, it costs you nothing to pay a visit.

One of New York City’s hottest attractions, Little Island greets visitors and locals who flock to see Manhattan’s gorgeous “floating” greenspace. The park is filled with open lawns, colorful foliage, cool installations and even a secret garden.

The park opens at 6am daily (closing times differ throughout the year), and it's totally free to enter. You will need a ticket for special performances in The Amph.

Hundreds of items have been pulled from the New York Public Library's expansive and centuries-spanning archive to be put on display—many of them for the first time—in a permanent exhibition called "The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures."

Inside the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and its beautiful Gottesman Hall are more than 250 unique and rare items culled from its research centers including the only surviving letter from Christoper Columbus announcing his "discovery" of the Americas to King Ferdinand’s court and the first Gutenberg Bible brought over to the Americas.

Find your latest read at The Free Black Women’s Library, a free library in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood, which also serves as a social art project, a reading room, a co-working space and a community gathering center. The library "celebrates the brilliance, diversity and imagination of Black women and Black non-binary authors." All 5,000 books in the library's collection are written by Black women and non-binary authors.

Here's how it works: Anybody can visit the space to read, work or hang out. If you want to take a book home, simply bring a book written by a Black woman or Black non-binary author, and you can trade. Whether you decide to bring the book back after you're done reading or keep it for your collection is up to you.

The library is currently open four days per week (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at 226 Marcus Garvey Boulevard. In addition to offering a space to read or work, the library has also hosts a book club, art shows and workshops on topics like writing, drawing, poetry, painting and sewing. All are welcome. 

There are usually a few rules at art museums: No yelling, no loud music and certainly no touching the displays! But at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new 81st Street Studio, these rules don’t apply. 

This art and science play space designed for kids ages 3-11 and their families welcomes visitors to use their senses for exploration. Kids can smell different types of wood, look through a microscope, play oversized musical instruments, and try digital activities to learn about different materials. Best of all, this newly designed drop-in space on the Met’s ground level is completely free for kids and their caregivers.

Within its 3,500-square-foot area, 81st Street Studio features both digital and analog experiences designed to encourage making, investigation, critical thinking, problem-solving and appreciation for materials and their properties. Drop-in activities and self-directed art- and science-making activities will be available during museum hours. 

Founded in 1971 and featuring more than 1,000 works, this multicultural art museum shines a spotlight on 20th- and 21st-century artists who are either Bronx-based or of African, Asian or Latino ancestry. The museum even offers family programming on occasion. It's always free to attend.

In the westernmost stretches of Chelsea, dozens of free-admission galleries showcase groundbreaking paintings, prints, installations and sculptures. It's a great way to get an introduction to the city's gallery hopping scene. Pro tip: while the shows frequently change, we recommend starting out with Gagosian Gallery, David Zwirner and Pace Gallery.

The 1.45 mile-long park, which first opened in 2009, was originally created entirely on an abandoned elevated train track, snaking above the otherwise industrial West Side neighborhoods. Today millions clamor for the dazzling views of the Hudson River and the downtown skyline. The park hosts free star-gazing events, lively cultural happenings like Latin dance nights and rotating works of sculpture and art throughout the year.

If you crave an escape from the city that won’t land you in debt, head to the ever-changing urban oasis of Governors Island, NY which combines park, adult playground and outdoor art space into a single lovely haven for adventure. Governors Island has officially become a year-round destination for the public to roam. Yes, even in the winter.

Heads up that getting there will cost you a few bucks. It costs $4 to cruise to the car-free paradise on a ferry, but there are a few opportunities to get a free ride, like taking an early ferry or if you qualify for special discounts. 

This Queens County treasure is well worth the bus trek or car ride. As the city’s longest continually farmed site in the city (it’s been in operation since 1697), the 47 acres feels like an entirely different world compared to Manhattan. Feed and pet the barnyard animals, including sheep, ponies and goats, hop aboard a hayride and come back during the fall harvest season when you can go pumpkin picking and attempt to find your way through the Amazing Maize Maze (yes, that’s a corn maze). 

Admission is free except on special ticketed event days. Don’t miss the store on your way out for fresh fruits and veggies grown on the premises.

It's one thing to read about Brooklyn and yet another thing to visit the landmarks that have turned it into the stuff of literary legend.

An audio tour by the Brooklyn Public Library explores the lives of the characters and authors that call the borough home in fiction and in real life. From Patti Smith to Biggie Smalls, Howard Zinn to Tanwi Nandini Islam, the guide covers a total of 16 writers over eight miles of Brooklyn. You can also expect to stop at important public libraries the likes of Washington Irving and Clinton Hill, which played an important role in the lives of the featured authors.

Expect the entire tour, which can virtually start off from anywhere in Brooklyn, to take at least two hours to complete, depending on how many stops you wish to make along the way.

Filled with Victorian mausoleums, cherubs and gargoyles, Green-Wood is the resting place of some half-million New Yorkers, among them Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonard Bernstein and Boss Tweed. There’s more to do here than grave-spot: Check out the massive Gothic arch at the main entrance or climb to the top of Battle Hill, one of the highest points in Kings County and a pivotal spot during the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776.

Explore "The End of Fossil Fuel," the latest pop-up from the NYC Climate Museum. It's free to visit in Soho and offers a bevy of eye-opening activities for all ages.

Inside the gallery, a collection of maps will put climate change issues into perspective, alongside text panels about the history of the fossil fuel industry. The exhibits trace the origins of the climate and inequality crises and how we got to where we are today. Other activations include a sticker wall where visitors commit to specific climate actions and a kids' corner with books and drawing materials.

Find the pop-up at 105 Wooster Street in Soho through April 30. The museum is free to visit and open to all. It's open Wednesdays-Sundays from 1-6pm. 

You don't have to shell out cash or order two drinks at these free comedy shows in NYC. The city has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to comedy—on any given night, you can hit up some of NYC’s best comedy clubs to see sets from the city’s best-rising comedians, along with well-established names—but you can also find hella funny sets around the city for nothing!

Check out our rundown of free shows in town, which will satisfy die-hard fans of comedy podcasts and even clue you in budding comics in on the best open-mic nights in town.

No matter the season, there’s always an excuse to visit Central Park. From leaf peeping to learning local history to strolling amongst the flowers, Manhattan’s iconic green space dazzles every day. We've broken down our list of best things to do by season, so you won't miss a thing.

New Yorkers love to take in films on the nicest rooftops, on the best beaches, and in our city's greatest parks (preferably with a drink or popcorn in hand). Luckily, NYC has no shortage of places to catch outdoor movie screenings you can attend in the warmer months and most of them are free. Check out our list of outdoor movies and head out for a film.