Most New York museums offer free admission at least once a week. Given that most museums here cost more than $10 and the best ones cost more than $20 when you add the cost of audio guides and special exhibits, visitors who plan to hit several museums often save money by planning their visits around free-admission periods.
My advice: Don’t do this unless you’re on an extremely tight budget.
Whatever you spend on admission, you will save it many times over in efficiency and enjoyment. Museums get mobbed when they’re free. You can easily wait an hour just to get in (because fire regulations limit total visitors at any time) and the crowds ruin the experience once you get into the galleries. This is especially true of the small museums — The Frick Collection, The Guggenheim and the Morgan Library.
Even MOMA, which is actually quite large, can be absolutely overwhelmed. I’ve seen an admission line stretch more than a quarter of a mile.
I’ve fought my way through the crowds once or twice, but I’ve never managed to enjoy a visit to any museum under such conditions. I don’t require absolute solitude to appreciate art, but I enough space to look at it from whatever angle I choose without being shoved or elbowed out of the way.
If you’re on a tight budget, note that the city’s two biggest museums — The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History both have “suggested” admission prices, which means you can always pay as little as you want at any time. Other museums openly have similar policies, while still others will unofficially cut you some slack if you plead poverty. It always pays to ask.
If you’re still determined to hit museums when they’re free, here’s a pretty comprehensive (though not entirely up-to-date) listing of New York museum deals.
Great advice! Another problem with the crowding is that in the warmer months, the A/C can’t always handle all that extra body heat. As a result, the rooms can get extremely hot and stuffy–I almost passed out once at a Romanov exhibit at the Met, which I was forced by circumstances beyond my control to attend on a Saturday.
Visitors should not underestimate the volume of people (locals as well as tourists) who go to the museums, especially the temporary special exhibits. If at all possible, go see those kinds of exhibits on weekdays during business hours.