Visiting the 9/11 Memorial & Museum is something we have wanted to do for quite a while. However, not traveling to NYC often, we never really had the opportunity. Our recent cruise up the east coast was round trip out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, so it was the chance to fly in a day early and make it happen. With a morning flight and staying at the Conrad NY Downtown, we knew we would easily have the afternoon to spend the time taking it all in. Let’s talk through how we made the most of our visit.
Planning ahead –
Decide how you want to experience the museum. They have a few options –
- Museum tickets only – self guided with an audio tour available for purchase ($11 each) in multiple languages.
- Expert led tour of the museum (60 minutes)
- Expert led tour of the museum and outside memorial (90 minutes) – though it’s not clearly stated, this option seems to only be available until noon.
A few more details to help you plan your visit –
- No matter what option you pick, plan on spending at least 60 – 90 minutes in the museum and visiting the memorial. Of course, you can take more time, but it might not make sense to visit if you’re in a time crunch.
- Tickets are purchased for a specific time. Since we were part of a guided tour, we needed to arrive 30 minutes before. However, they hold to just 30 minutes, we asked but could not enter earlier. If you miss your time slot significantly, expect they will not let you in. So it helps to know how you plan to fit this into your day before buying tickets.
- Although the museum is open to all ages, tours are recommended for teens and older. While nothing is graphic, there are parts of exhibits that can be a lot to take in.
- Its location makes it very easy to get to by public transportation, ride share, or walking, so those are your best options. Parking is very difficult in the area and there is no garage for the museum.
- It’s NYC, so while there is a café in the museum, it is surrounded by food options in every direction. Quick serve, full serve, food trucks – it’s very easy to find something within a block or two of the museum.
- When going online to book tickets, be clear on what website you’re on – 911memorial.org is the official website for the museum. There are other tour companies out there and they might be great (we didn’t experience them). But just know when planning, they might do tours of the memorial and tickets for the museum might be included in the price, but they will not be able to do a guided tour inside the museum. If that is what you’re interested in, the museum website is the best way to go.
A couple of things we didn’t expect –
- As soon as we got through security, there is a slight smell of smoke in the air. You can also smell it at a few different points in the museum. Since it’s been 24 years since the attacks happened and the building is new, honestly the lingering smell of smoke was not on our radar. When you see the artifacts it makes sense, but it is something to be aware of. If you have an emotional response to the smell of smoke, it’s just better to be prepared you might encounter it.
- After we completed the guided part of the tour there were two areas not covered still to visit. September 11, 2001, The Historical Exhibition – it has three sections that tell the story of what happened on 9/11, as well as before and after that day. And In Memorial Exhibition – it has pictures and objects and tells the stories of the victims. Both are something you should absolutely see. We found after a certain point it became overwhelming emotionally. If you can, pace yourself through these areas. Maybe take a break, go to the café for a little bit and then move on to the next exhibit. You will want to see it, but as with all of it, it’s a lot to take in.
Although it was an afternoon filled with emotion, we felt it was important to visit and honor the victims. With a little planning and mental prep, you can easily make this part of any trip to NYC.
