Top of the Rock

Why this deck and not the Empire State

New York has five observation decks competing for your money, and people agonise over the choice. For the classic shot, Top of the Rock wins on one structural fact: you’re standing on the roof of Rockefeller Center, looking south, so the Empire State Building is in your photo — and beyond it, lower Manhattan. Look the other way and Central Park opens up almost unobstructed, which you can’t frame from the Empire State or from Summit One Vanderbilt. From the Empire State you get height and history, but you can’t photograph the building everyone actually wants in the picture.

Buy a timed-entry ticket online before you fly. The base general admission — about $45, roughly £36 — already includes all three levels: the indoor 67th floor with its exhibits, the 69th floor behind frameless glass, and the fully open-air 70th floor with no barriers at all. That open top deck is the bit that makes the photos, so don’t think you need an upgrade to get the good view; you don’t.

Skylift and the Beam: pay extra or not?

Two add-ons will be pushed at you. Skylift (opened October 2024) is a rotating open-air glass platform that lifts up to 13 people about three storeys above the 70th floor for around three and a half minutes, topping out near 900 feet — the glass floor turns transparent mid-ride. It’s +$35 (about £28). It’s a genuine thrill and the views edge higher, but the standard deck already delivers the skyline, so treat Skylift as a novelty you buy because you fancy it, not because you’ll otherwise miss out. The Beam combo (around $73, about £58) gets you a photo perched on a replica girder recreating the 1932 “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper” shot — fun for a souvenir, easy to skip.

Timing your slot, and the verdict

Book a slot about 45 minutes before sunset: you see the city in daylight, then watch it switch on, getting both versions on a single ticket. Clear winter evenings are sharpest. Sunset slots sell out days ahead in peak season, so book early — if they’re gone, a bright morning still lights the southern skyline cleanly. Allow roughly 45 minutes to an hour for the three decks, plus a little queuing for the lift even with a timed ticket, and another 15–20 minutes if you’ve added Skylift.

Of New York’s classic decks, this is the one to pick for a first visit, purely because your photos come out better with the Empire State and Central Park in them. Buy the base $45 ticket, time it for sunset, and only spring for Skylift if the extra £28 doesn’t sting. Pair it with a walk down to Bryant Park or Times Square rather than stacking another paid deck the same day — one skyline view per trip is plenty.