Free with Donation in NY

Many New York City museums and some zoos are offer pay-what-you-wish admission everyday or at certain times. Keep in mind that whatever you do contribute, goes to help support the scientific research, exhibitions, and educational programming of these locations. View comments.

American Museum of Natural History
Suggested contribution for admission
79th Street at Central Park West New York NY
(212) 769-5100
This museum contains more than 32 million specimens and artifacts. Additionally on the first Friday of every month, you can enjoy tapas and wine at the Starry Nights Swings with Live Jazz at the Rose Center for Earth and Space. This is free with your admission donation. Performances are 6PM-7PM and 7:30-8:30PM

Bronx Zoo
Wednesdays is by donation (suggested minimum of $5)
Fordham Road and the Bronx River Parkway Bronx New York
(718) 367-1010
The zoo contains over 4,000 animals and 275 acres of parkland. The zoo is open year round.

The Frick Collection
Sundays 11am - 1pm, pay-what-you-wish
1 East 70th Street New York NY 10021
(212) 288-0700
The price of admission includes the ArtPhone audio guide. The collection holds European art including paintings, major works of sculpture, eighteenth-century French furniture and porcelains, Limoges enamels, Oriental rugs, and other works of remarkable quality.

Grey Art Gallery
Suggested contribution for admission
New York University-100 Washington Square East New York NY 10003
The gallery functions to "collect, preserve, study, document, interpret, and exhibit the evidence of human culture". Today the collection, which includes approximately 6,000 objects, is primarily composed of late nineteenth and twentieth century works.

Grand Central Terminal Tours
Wednesdays 12:30pm, free with a suggested donation of $10
Take A The Municipal Arts Society sponsors this tour. Meet the tour guide at the center information booth on the Main Concourse. For more information on this tour call (212) 935-3960.

Guggenheim Museum
Fridays 5:45pm - 7:15pm, pay-what-you-wish
1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street New York NY 10128
(212) 423-3500
The museum displays modern and contemporary art.

International Center of Photography Museum
Fridays 5pm - 8pm, voluntary contribution
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street New York NY 10036
(212) 857-0000
The collection holds more that 100,000 photographs of American and European documentary photography of the 1930s to the 1990s.

King Manor Museum
Suggested contribution for admission
153rd Street and Jamaica Avenue - In King Park, Jamaica, New York
King Manor Museum sits in an 11-acre park and was the home and farm of Founding Father Rufus King, an author of the U.S. Constitution as well as one of New York's first United States Senators. Free tours are offered on special dates in March and May.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Suggested contribution for admission
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street New York New York 10028
(212) 535-7710
Our favorite exhibits are the Arms and Armor and Egyptian collections. You can't see it all in one day. Free with admission, check out the highly-acclaimed guided tours and gallery walks The museum also offers events at various times such as lectures, classes, concerts, film screenings. In addition, The Cloisters (free with same-day paid ticket from the Met) offers free parking! Free admission to NYC public school students as well as students from Bard College, Barnard College, Columbia University, and Institute of Fine Arts with school ID.

Museum of Arts & Design
Thursdays 6pm - 8pm, pay-what-you-wish
40 West 53rd Street New York NY 10019
(212) 956-3535
See contemporary objects created in clay, glass, wood, metal and fiber at MAD.

Museum of Biblical Art
Suggested contribution for admission
1865 Broadway at 61st Street
(212) 408-1500
MOBIA exhibits are inspired by the Bible and highlights the connection between art and religion in the Jewish and Christian traditions.

New York Aquarium
Fridays 3pm until closing, ppay-what-you-wish
Surf Avenue & West 8th Street in Brooklyn, NY 11224
(718) 265-FISH
This is the only aquarium in NYC. With exhibits featuring over 8,000 animals, the Aquarium offers diversity, superb viewing, and world-renowned scientific expertise that assures a rewarding experience and the knowledge that people can make a difference in the ocean world around them. Learn about animals living as far away as the Southwest coast of Africa and the Arctic to those found locally in our own Hudson River.

New York City Fire Museum
Suggested contribution for admission
278 Spring Street btwn Varick and Hudson Streets
New York NY 10013
The collection of fire related art and artifacts from the late 18th century to the present includes helmets, lanterns and tools, pre Civil War hand pumped fire engines, horse drawn vehicles and early motorized apparatus.

NY Police Museum
Suggested contribution for admission
100 Old Slip, btwn Water and South Streets New York NY 10005
(212) 480-3100
Check out the history of the NYC Police department through extensive collections of materials relating to its 160-year history.

Noguchi Museum
First Fridays, pay-what-you-wish
9-01 33rd Road at Vernon Boulevard
Long Island City, NY 11106
Locatd in Long Island City, the museum provides information on the life and work of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The museum also provides a free shuttle bus to the Asia Society Museum on Sundays. Free educator-led gallery talks at 2pm Wednesday through Sunday, reservations not required.

Queens Museum of Art
Suggested contribution for admission
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park New York NY 11368
(718) 592-9700
Check out QMA's website for current exhibits.

Staten Island Museum
Suggested contribution for admission
75 Stuyvesant Place Staten Island New York 10301
(718) 727-1135
New York City's only general interest museum. The museum explores the arts, natural science, and local history.

Staten Island Zoo
Donation Day on Wednesdays from 2pm - 4:45pm
614 Broadway Staten Island NY 10310
(718) 442-3100
Zoo exhibits include African Savannah, aquarium, tropical forest, and Children's Center with farm animals.

Studio Museum in Harlem
Suggested contribution for admission
144 West 125th Street, New York, New York 10027
(212) 864-4500
Exhibits consist of 19th & 20th century African-American art, 20th century Caribbean and African art, and traditional African art and artifacts.

Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center
Suggested contribution for admission
120 Liberty Street New York NY 10006
(866) 737-1184
Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers visitors a place to connect with people from the 9/11 community. The center offers walking tours, exhibits and programs, and "Person to Person" History linking visitors who want to understand and appreciate the tragic events of 9/11 with those who experienced them.

Whitney Museum of American Art
Fridays 6pm - 9pm, pay-what-you-wish
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York NY 10021
(212) 570-3676
The Whitney collects and exhibits American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.