Empire State Building Tour

What You Actually Need to Know Before Booking the Empire State Building

The Empire State Building has multiple observation decks across floors 80, 86, and 99, and the ticket options get confusing fast. Most people buy the wrong tier and end up standing at a railing on floor 86 while wishing they had spent the extra money for floor 99. It happens every single weekend. The 86th floor is the main open-air deck with glass enclosures in bad weather. Floor 99 is smaller, fully enclosed, and dramatically less crowded because most tourists don't know it exists until they're already inside. I've taken people through this process probably a dozen times over the years. The biggest mistake I see is booking the wrong time slot. The sunset window between 5 and 7 PM in summer sounds ideal but the lines for security and elevators can push your actual arrival time 20 to 30 minutes past your slot, which means you're competing with tour groups for elevator space during the busiest possible hours. If you want the golden hour view, book the last slot of the day and arrive early. The building opens at 10 AM and the first 90 minutes are almost empty. A group of three can ride the elevator up with nobody around.

Planning Your Empire State Building Tour

Buy tickets on the official site, not a third-party reseller. Third-party sites mark up the price by 20 to 40 percent and sometimes hand you transferable vouchers instead of direct confirmation codes. I learned this the hard way when a friend bought from a discount travel site and showed up with a voucher that wasn't recognized at the ticket window. We spent 45 minutes on hold with customer service while the sunset went completely wasted. The official site charges the same face price and processes everything instantly. The timed entry system means your slot is your window, not a guarantee. Arrive 15 minutes early at the Street Ticket Window on 33rd Street to drop off your confirmation and get your timed passes. From there you walk to the lobby entrance on 5th Avenue. The whole flow takes about 8 to 12 minutes under normal conditions. During peak season it can stretch to 25 minutes. There is no shortcut through the line and no fast-track option unless you're booking a private after-hours event, which starts around $4,000 for a small group. The audio guide is included in the standard ticket. It's an app-based system, not a physical device. Download the Emporis app or use the QR code at the turnstile before you get in line. The narration covers the history, the architecture, and notable views. It's functional but not particularly well produced. I usually skip it and just listen to my own commentary instead. The real value is in knowing where to stand on the 86th floor deck. The west side faces Central Park and the Hudson. The east side faces the Brooklyn skyline and Queens. The south side looks down Fifth Avenue. Go clockwise from the south corner and you'll find the best sightlines.

Floor 99 requires a separate elevator ride after you've seen floor 86. The queue for that elevator can be 10 to 15 minutes during busy periods. Worth it if the weather is clear because you get a different angle of the city from a much higher vantage point, but if it's overcast or raining you're paying extra to look at gray sky through a window. The ticket price difference is roughly $15 to $20 depending on the season. Not a dealbreaker but worth factoring in. One thing nobody tells you: the restrooms are on the street level and on floor 80, not on the observation decks. If you need to go, do it before you board the elevator. Floor 80 is where the main interior exhibit space is, and it's easy to miss if you're focused on getting upstairs. There's a small museum area with models and historical displays that most people walk past without stopping. It takes about 10 minutes to go through properly and it actually has some useful context about why the building was constructed the way it was. Photography tips that matter: bring a lens cloth, not just a phone. The glass barriers on floor 86 reflect light in ways that ruin photos if you're not standing close to them. Press your lens against the glass and turn off any image stabilization that fights with the wind vibration from the open deck. On floor 99 the glass is tinted slightly and reflections are less of a problem, but the lower light levels mean you'll need longer exposures. A steady hand or a brace against the wall works fine. Tripods aren't allowed on the decks.

The return elevator ride down is as crowded as the ride up, so plan your exit accordingly. Most people linger until the last possible minute and then rush toward the stairs because the elevator wait can hit 20 minutes during the 6 to 8 PM window. The stairwell is clearly marked and goes straight down to the lobby. It's faster than waiting in line if you're in a group and someone is holding up the back. I've seen people argue about whether to wait or walk down the stairs during peak season. Just take the stairs. Nobody cares. If you're visiting with young children or older adults who have mobility issues, consider the early morning slot on a weekday. The elevators are the main bottleneck and they can be slow when the car is full. A family of four with a stroller will move much faster at 10:30 AM on a Tuesday than at any point between 2 PM and 8 PM. The building is also fully accessible and the elevators have audio announcements for each floor. Food options inside the building are limited to a coffee cart on the lobby level and a couple of small concessions near the ticket window. There's nothing on the observation decks themselves. Bring water if you're visiting in summer. The deck gets warm and there's no place to buy a drink once you're past security. I've watched people turn around and leave because they realized too late there was nowhere to get anything to eat or drink. Annoying but fixable if you plan ahead.

The whole visit typically takes 60 to 90 minutes if you move at a normal pace. Allow two hours if you want to photograph extensively or if you're dealing with a long elevator queue. Anything longer than that and you're just standing around waiting for the crowd to thin, which rarely happens until after 9 PM on weekdays.