Top of the Rock or The Empire State?

As a travel consultant i got asked this question a lot, ‘Do i book for the Top of the Rock or for the Empire State building?’. At the time i had not actually been to New York so i had to rely on friends who had already been.

Then it came time for myself and Jonathan to visit New York for our next holiday and i was now facing the same issue. Naturally i tried googling the question to see what the web had to say about it. However after reading several sites i was still no better off as they all read that both views were as good as each other.

After speaking to my friends again, who had both done the Top of the Rock, i decided to do the same and booked my tickets. I felt i made a really good decision as i was assured the views were just as amazing. There are no obstructions, you can see the Empire State Building and we weren’t paying any more either as tickets for both attractions can cost between £20-£25pp depending on the type of ticket you go for. We just booked the Top of the Rock Observation Deck tickets.

When you buy your tickets online you do select a date and time. However unscheduled tickets are available. These are exchanged for timed tickets at the box office when you turn up. You aren’t guaranteed immediate entry however we got lucky and only had to wait half an hour for our entry time.

We used the City Sight Seeing bus to get there as the stop was right next to the building. It was easy to find the entrance for the observation deck due to the big red carpet outside the doors. Myself and Jonathan didn’t realise that the building was as vast as it was so we did struggle finding where to go but the staff on the front desk pointed us in the right direction. We had to go to the box office with not having a scheduled ticket. There is a security check point so be mindful what you take with you as we had to bin our drinks.

I won’t say too much about the journey up to the observation deck so as to not spoil it but it is really awesome.

There are three levels of observation decks. The first deck includes the Radiance Wall and the gift shop. The second, featuring the Breezeway, is entirely outdoors. The third observation deck, located on the 70th floor open-air roof deck, is completely outdoors and free of a glass enclosure. I’m sure you will agree that we have some amazing photos. I could have very easily sat up there all day the views were just stunning.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Top of the Rock and it was worth every penny.

Have any of you done the Top of the Rock or the Empire state Building? I would love to hear your thoughts and i’m sure those new to New York would love to also.