Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

About

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum sits on Fifth Avenue at 88th Street, across the road from Central Park on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The building is the draw as much as the art. Frank Lloyd Wright designed it around a single spiral ramp that winds up through a skylit rotunda, so most visitors walk the exhibitions in one long, gently rising loop.

The rotunda holds the museum's major temporary exhibitions, and the ramp is a quarter mile long from bottom to top. The Thannhauser Collection, with Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and modern French works by painters such as Degas, Manet and Van Gogh, is on view in its own galleries. The free Digital Guide on the Bloomberg Connects app has audio about the exhibitions and the building, so bring headphones.

In 2026 the museum is open every day from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with the last tickets sold about 15 minutes before closing. General admission is $30, students and seniors 65 and over pay $19, and children under 12 get in free. Visitors with disabilities pay $19 and their carepartners come in free. Walk-up tickets are sold at the desk, but the museum recommends booking online. Everyone passes through a weapons detection system on the way in, so there can be a short line at opening even with a ticket. There is no time limit once you are inside.

Café Rebay serves pastries, sandwiches, salads and coffee from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a view of Central Park. The coat check on the ground floor is free, and backpacks must be checked or carried in front. The 4, 5, 6 and Q subway lines and the M1 through M4 buses all stop nearby, and two garages on East 89th and East 90th streets give museum visitors a discount if staff validate the ticket. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a short walk south along Fifth Avenue.

Accessibility

The Guggenheim is wheelchair accessible, with one exception. Elevators reach every level of the museum except the High Gallery, at the top of the first ramp, which has two low stairs at its entrance. You can see part of it from Rotunda Levels 1 and 2.

The museum has no parking of its own. Use the taxi stand on Fifth Avenue at 89th Street for drop-off and pick-up, but note that 89th Street is closed to traffic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on school days. The closest wheelchair-accessible subway station is the Q at 86th Street. The 4, 5 and 6 station at 86th Street is closer but is not listed as accessible. The M1, M2, M3 and M4 buses have wheelchair lifts and stop between 86th and 87th streets.

Inside, the rotunda ramp is a quarter mile long and climbs at a steady three-degree incline. The elevators run from the ground floor at all times, even when the rotunda is closed between exhibitions, so you can ride up and roll down. Standard manual wheelchairs are free with no reservation; ask a security guard at the entrance. Motorized wheelchairs are allowed. Benches are spread through the building.

ADA-compliant restrooms are on Levels 1 and 7. Single-stall, all-gender restrooms are on every floor near the rotunda elevator.

For visitors who are blind or have low vision, monthly Mind's Eye tours use verbal description and sensory experiences, and they are free with an RSVP a week ahead to access@guggenheim.org or (212) 360-4355. Verbal description audio, including a sensory guide to the building, is online. Gallery lighting may be dimmed to protect the art. ASL interpretation for public tours and programs needs two weeks' notice, and ASL videos with open captions cover selected works. Assistive listening devices are available for public tours and for events in the Peter B. Lewis Theater. A sensory map marks quieter spaces and places to sit, and a social narrative helps first-time visitors prepare. Service animals are welcome.

Checked by Accessible America, September 2026. Report a change

More accessible places in New York

• Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City)
• 9/11 Memorial & Museum (New York City)
• Top of the Rock (New York City)
• Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island (New York City)
• Intrepid Museum (New York City)
• Bronx Zoo (New York City)

Photo credits

• The curved white spiral of the Guggenheim Museum on the corner of Fifth Avenue, with a crosswalk in front.: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 (source)
• Looking up the Guggenheim rotunda at the ringed ramps and the round glass skylight overhead.: Epicgenius, CC BY-SA 4.0 (source)
• Visitors walk the smooth white ramps that spiral up through the Guggenheim rotunda.: Bmzuckerman, CC BY 4.0 (source)