Photo: PerryPlanet, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
New York City never really runs out of things to see, and with so many skyline viewpoints across Manhattan, it’s easy to overlook one of the best: Top of the Rock. Sitting atop Rockefeller Center, this observation deck has a major advantage over enclosed viewpoints around the city: you can step outside at 850 feet and take in Manhattan without a sheet of glass between you and the skyline.
A different way to see the NYC skyline
Photo by Nido Huebl via Shutterstock.
Top of the Rock occupies the 67th, 69th, and 70th floors of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, with nearly 10,000 square feet of viewing space across its observation decks. The 67th and 69th floors give you protected outdoor viewing areas, while the 70th floor is the real standout.
At the top, you get a fully open-air, 360-degree view with no glass barriers around you. That means you can look north toward Central Park, south toward the Empire State Building, east across the East River toward Brooklyn and Queens, or west toward the Hudson River and New Jersey without having to shoot your photos through glass.
Top of the Rock – General Admission
The perspective is also part of what makes Top of the Rock special. The Empire State Building sits prominently in the skyline instead of being hidden behind the building you’re standing on, while Central Park stretches out between Midtown’s skyscrapers.
And if 850 feet somehow doesn’t feel high enough, SKYLIFT takes you another 30 feet above the 70th floor on a rotating glass platform, reaching nearly 900 feet above street level. The five-minute experience rotates 360 degrees, giving you a moving panorama of the city.
A legendary landmark with some serious Art Deco history
Source / Rockefeller Center
When the building opened in 1933, its observation deck was actually the complex’s first public attraction, drawing around 1,300 people a day. It closed in 1986 and didn’t reopen until 2005 after an extensive renovation.
And there’s a famous piece of NYC history tied directly to the building. The iconic 1932 photograph Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, showing 11 ironworkers eating lunch on a steel beam high above Manhattan, was taken during the construction of Rockefeller Center. Today, you can recreate that moment with The Beam, which lifts you 12 feet above the observation deck on a rotating beam.
The original observation deck was inspired by the decks of luxury ocean liners, complete with Adirondack chairs, potted evergreens, and an outdoor refreshment bar.