Prior to the pandemic, New York City was on a record-setting tourism streak. In 2019, the city welcomed more than 66.6 million visitors, marking its tenth consecutive annual high, according to the city’s official tourism bureau, NYC & Company. That momentum was abruptly interrupted by the pandemic and the travel restrictions that followed, but the numbers have been steadily climbing back. For 2026, visitation is projected to reach 66.3 million, buoyed by a surge in domestic travel and the FIFA World Cup. Domestic visitation is expected to hit 53.4 million, surpassing 2019 levels, while international travel is projected to rebound to 12.9 million visitors.
Few things sell New York City quite like its skyline. It is at once postcard, movie backdrop, sunset refractor and canyoner, and wayfinding device. Observation decks have long been a staple of visitor itineraries, offering chances to see the city from above rather than craning one’s neck from the sidewalk.
The Empire State Building, home to the city’s best-known observation deck, welcomes more than four million visitors a year. Since that deck opened in May 1931 a growing number of towers have joined the view-from-the-top business, each trying to distinguish itself with a slightly different angle, altitude, or Instagram-friendly perspective.
The Empire State Building, home to the city’s best-known observation deck, welcomes more than four million visitors a year. Since that deck opened in May 1931 a growing number of towers have joined the view-from-the-top business, each trying to distinguish itself with a slightly different angle, altitude, or Instagram-friendly perspective.
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in recent years, Hudson Yards’ Edge and SUMMIT One Vanderbilt have added new ways to take in the skyline, while other major property owners have proposed observation decks at or near the tops of their buildings. Earlier this year, Jamestown modernized One Times Square and introduced a new observation deck and visitor experience at the 23-story tower, best known as the former home of The New York Times and the focal point of the New Year’s Eve ball drop. For most of the year, the building is less a tower than a screen; the new experience gives visitors a reason to look out from it, rather than simply look up at it.
Another historic lookout is also entering the mix. Earlier this year, the Mamdani administration and the City Council announced that the cupola of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building, one of the largest municipal office buildings in the world, would open to the public for the first time since 1914. The experience, dubbed "Centre 360," was made possible by a $6 million mayoral allocation for improvements to the building, including repairs to the historic cupola, the installation of glass safety barriers, and renovations to the rotunda landing to make it safe and welcoming for visitors. Located in the building’s central tower, the cupola offers sweeping views of Lower Manhattan and beyond.
Beginning June 11, DCAS will offer eight visits a day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with groups limited to five people per visit. Tours will depart from CityStore at the base of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building and ascend to the cupola, more than 500 feet above street level. The experience will be available only through the online reservation system; walk-ins will not be accommodated. Tours will open to the public on a month-by-month basis, with new slots released on the first of each month.
Still on the horizon is one of the city’s most tantalizing potential observation decks: the Chrysler Building. First announced in early 2020, Aby Rosen’s planned to renovate the landmark’s 61st-floor terraces, receiving unanimous approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The proposal called for a new observation deck just above the building’s famed stainless-steel eagles, along with the reopening of the Cloud Club venue near the top of the Art Deco tower. Designed by Ken Fulk, the terrace experience would have been shielded by nearly invisible glass walls, allowing visitors to stand among the building’s iconic ornament rather than simply admire it from afar.
No opening date has been announced, and the building’s ownership picture has changed and remains cloudy. Rosen lost control of the ground lease, and earlier this year, Cooper Union, which owns the land beneath the landmark skyscraper, entered exclusive negotiations with Tishman Speyer to work toward finalizing an agreement to assume the ground lease. Whether the observation deck plan survives that transition remains to be seen, but few skyscrapers are better suited for a grand second act.
The most ambitious proposal of all may come from one of the city’s most ambitious developers. Gary Barnett’s Extell Development is rising at 740 Eighth Avenue with a project known as The Torch, a planned 825-key hotel topped by a telescopic observation tower that would climb 1,067 feet into the Midtown skyline.
Renderings and drawings show a striking, somewhat unwieldy massing: Extell was unable to acquire the full Eighth Avenue blockfront, resulting in an unusual footprint that wraps around low-rise holdouts along Eighth Avenue. To lift the observation floors above the surrounding buildings, an approximately 300-foot-tall central core would rise from the structure and support a stack of elevated floors high above Manhattan. ODA New York, led by Eran Chen, is designing the tower, and construction is a little more than halfway up as of early June 2026.
For all the hoopla and visitor demand surrounding new public overlooks, some lucky New Yorkers can take in the skyline without buying a ticket, waiting in line, or timing their visit around sunset. Below, we round up two dozen recent listings with memorable city views, along with five of the city’s most popular open-air observation decks. After all, the only thing better than seeing New York from above may be doing so from your own living room.
NYC's most popular observation decks
Empire State Building, Midtown West
Learn more and get tickets here
Learn more and get tickets here
Home of the city’s most iconic observation deck, the Empire State Building has seen millions of visitors and countless proposals since it first allowed visitors to peer at the New York City skyline through a telescope. The open-air observatory on the 86th floor looks out on 360-degree views of New York’s most iconic landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, while the 102nd-floor “Top Deck” observatory features floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides.
Top of the Rock, Midtown West
Learn more and get tickets here
Learn more and get tickets here
Top of the Rock, the observation deck we’ve come to know and love at the top of 30 Rockefeller Center, quickly established itself as a New York destination following its reopening after renovations in November 2005. The Landmarks Preservation Commission recently rejected a plan for renovations that include a new elevated platform and movable, Instagram-friendly attraction, but none of these would have improved upon the views from Central Park to the Lower Manhattan skyline.
One World Observatory, Financial District
Learn more and get tickets here
Learn more and get tickets here
One World Trade Center is at the center of the new Lower Manhattan skyline, and the crowning glory is a spectacular sky deck on the 100th through 102nd floors. A SkyPod elevator shoots to the top of the deck in 47 seconds, where guests will enjoy panoramic views of New York Harbor and the Manhattan skyline. On the 101st floor, ONE Dine offers five-star dining enhanced by picturesque vistas.
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Edge, Hudson Yards
Learn more and get tickets here
Learn more and get tickets here
At 100 stories and over 1,100 feet in the air, Edge is the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere. Angled glass walls look out on 360-degree views of Manhattan, and the glass floor gives a feeling of floating in the sky. The venue has hosted group yoga classes in the summer, visitors can enjoy cocktails on the deck all year round, and it recently introduced City Climb, which allows visitors in safety harnesses to scale the side of the building.
Summit, Midtown East
Learn more and get tickets here
Learn more and get tickets here
Just over a year after One Vanderbilt’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, its observation deck on the 91st through 93rd floors opened to the public. Willy Wonka’s great glass elevator has nothing on the “skyboxes” that take visitors up the side of the building, and an open-air terrace is home to the Nordic-themed Apres cafe. In addition to enjoying the classic Manhattan skyline, visitors have access to Air, an immersive art installation created by Kenzo Digital.
Select new listings with open NYC views
The Excelsior, #14J (Next Stop NY)
225 East 79th Street, #16E (CORE Group Marketing LLC)
75 Wall Street, #28I (Douglas Elliman Real Estate -)
Nevada Towers, #21F (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
The Orion, #43F (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
Chatham Towers East, #18B (Cicada International LLC)
The Brooklyn Tower, #70G
$1,975,000
Downtown Brooklyn | Condominium | 2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths | 1,172 ft2
The Brooklyn Tower, #70G (Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group)
The New Theatre Building, #10B
$1,999,999 (-7%)
East Village | Condominium | 1 Bedroom, 2 Baths | 1,145 ft2
The New Theatre Building, #10B (Corcoran Group)
The West Residence Club, #1113
$2,135,000
Midtown West | Condominium | 2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths | 926 ft2
The West Residence Club, #1113 (Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group)
20 Bayard Street, #12A (Compass)
325 Fifth Avenue, #39C (Douglas Elliman Real Estate -)
389 East 89th Street, #12G (Douglas Elliman Real Estate -)
One High Line, #28B (CORE Group Marketing LLC)
The Oliver Cromwell, #23/24A (Sothebys International Realty)
Madison House, #26C (Compass)
One Clinton, #12A
$3,895,000 (-2%)
Brooklyn Heights | Condominium | 3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths | 1,993 ft2
One Clinton, #12A (Compass)
Carnegie Towers, #37EF
$4,495,000 (-10%)
Carnegie Hill | Cooperative | 4 Bedrooms, 4 Baths | 2,400 ft2
Carnegie Towers, #37EF (Corcoran Group)
44 East 67th Street, #11D
$4,495,000 (-9.2%)
Park/Fifth Ave. to 79th St. | Condominium | 2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths | 1,404 ft2
44 East 67th Street, #11D (Sothebys International Realty)
386 Columbus Avenue, #17A/18A
$5,300,000 (-22.1%)
Broadway Corridor | Condominium | 3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths | 2,620 ft2
386 Columbus Avenue, #17A/18A (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
The Four Seasons Private Residences, #69B
$6,500,000 (-10.3%)
Tribeca | Condominium | 3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths | 2,631 ft2
The Four Seasons Private Residences, #69B (Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales LLC)
Lantern House, #1701 (Douglas Elliman Real Estate -)
Madison Green, #PHDF
$10,900,000
Flatiron/Union Square | Condominium | 5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths | 3,617 ft2
Madison Green, #PHDF (Douglas Elliman Real Estate -)
Walker Tower, #15A (Compass)
455 Central Park West, #PH2/3
$15,000,000
Central Park West | Condominium | 6+ Bedrooms, 6+ Baths | 6,338 ft2
455 Central Park West, #PH2/3 (Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New York Properties)
Central Park Tower, #80W (Serhant)
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
Just complete the info below.
Or call us at (212) 755-5544
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
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