Onin.London Visits The Empire State Building

Every time I visit New York, there are more and more observation decks on offer and it can be overwhelming to know where to start and where you’ll get the best views of the city but following our most recent visit, we can help with that – head straight to the Empire State Building!

Celebrating its 93rd birthday in April 2024, the Empire State Building has been rated the #1 attraction in the United States by TripAdvisor for two consecutive years – and with good reason too.

The Observatory has recent undergone a $165 million reimagination of the Empire State Building Observatory Experience, with a new dedicated guest entrance and an engaging interactive museum with nine galleries.

The museum was informative without being too text heavy and was the perfect way to learn a bit more about the building’s history; especially as we were fresh off the plane and suffering from a bit of jetlag. It contained information and imagery about the building’s construction and how it changed the New York skyline and stats about how eco-friendly the building is, and the importance placed on sustainability. Both rooms were presented through models, binoculars bringing the historical images to life, and panels highlighting some of the key stats and information.

My favourite room had to be where it showcased the hundreds of films, adverts, tv shows and other media that the Empire State Building has been featured in – from King Kong to one of my personal favourites, Sleepless in Seattle. The Empire State Building is the world’s most photographed building and this room showed clips and images of some of its most well-known media, really reminding me how much of an iconic building I was stood in.

We then ventured up to the observation desks – both on 86th floor, where we could see all of New York City, including Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and One World Trade, and up to the newly reimagined 102nd floor, with floor-to-ceiling views stretching up to 80 miles on a clear day. Despite the cloudy weather, we were lucky enough to see for miles, and could point out some of the sights (including those mentioned above) that we were going to visit during the rest of our trip.

Whilst some of the newer observation platforms in the city might seem like they have more Instagrammable features and give you a view of the Empire State Building itself, going up the iconic building was a perfect way to kick off our trip, and definitely something to tick off the New York

bucket list!

Prices start at £79

To book tickets visit: https://www.esbnyc.com

Written by Nikki Horesh