There are several points in NYC you want to get up on. Four are probably the "most important" or the most popular: The Statue of Liberty, the OWO (One World Observatory), the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center. Two of them can be safely neglected.

You can see a lot from the Statue of Liberty, but not the Statue of Liberty. Even the visit of Liberty Island is not so spectacular. Let it. Apart from looking under the lady's dress or pushing through the overcrowded souvenir shop in high seasons or taking a look across Upper Bay from the lady after standing in line for a long time, there is nothing there. And you pay a lot of money for it.

Also, the view from the Empire State Building towards Central Park is not really exciting, a nice free view to the park is not really given. Looking in the other direction would certainly be nice, but even here it pays at least $40.

I decided for "Top of the Rock", the observation deck on two levels of Rockefeller Center. Also here the price is about 40 $. But you have an overview over Central Park, the street canyons of Mid-Town and the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan. And you don't see Rockefeller Center, which isn't really beautiful after all. :-)))

If you are not booking the VIP Tour, the One World Observatory is in a similar price range. At the beginning I was sceptical, because you are in closed rooms behind glass. I was thinking about reflections that make it difficult to take pictures. But it was good. A polarizing filter is useful, but it even works without it. You will be rewarded with a fantastic view of the Upper Bay, especially the mouth of the Hudson River, the East River, Ellis Island etc. And this at an angle, as if you were flying over it. But more about that later...

© 2015 Arlequin Photographie