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Upper West Side, New York City — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Brownstone blocks run between Central Park and the Hudson River on the Upper West Side, a residential quarter of Manhattan in New York City.
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Where to stay in Upper West Side
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
The Upper West Side suits travellers who want a calmer base near Central Park. The streets stay residential. Stay near the American Museum of Natural History for the park, the brownstone side streets, and the cafes of the avenues, with the West End Collegiate Church and the shops of the neighbourhood set among the blocks that run down toward the Hudson River in Manhattan.
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Things to do in and around New York City
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Heritage
- The Met Fifth Avenue Heritage
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Churches & Religious Sites
5- West-Park Presbyterian Church Heritage
- St. Michael's Church Heritage
- West End Collegiate Church Heritage
- St. Ignatius of Antioch Church Heritage
- Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Manhattan Heritage
Castles & Historic Sites
3- Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Heritage
- Giuseppe Verdi Monument Heritage
- Nobel Monument
Nature & Outdoors
1- Theodore Roosevelt Park
Landmarks & Notable Places
1- James Baldwin House Heritage
worth knowingacross 5 categories in and around New York City
About Upper West Side
What are the main landmarks in Upper West Side?
The Upper West Side gathers museums, monuments, and churches between the park and the river. The American Museum of Natural History anchors the quarter. Its halls draw crowds off Central Park, where Strawberry Fields lies just inside the trees, while the New York Historical keeps its collections nearby, the Children's Museum of Manhattan sits among the side streets, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument and the Firemen's Memorial stand along Riverside Drive above the Hudson River.
What is the history of Upper West Side?
The Upper West Side filled with rowhouses and apartment blocks as Manhattan spread north above Midtown. The grid arrived first. Building followed the elevated lines and the new avenues laid out between Central Park and the Hudson River, and the churches of the era still mark the streets, from the West-Park Presbyterian Church to the West End Collegiate Church that rose among the new residential blocks.
Where is Upper West Side?
The Upper West Side fills the western side of Manhattan between Central Park and the Hudson River, north of Midtown in New York City.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Upper West Side?
Upper West Side near the museum: families near the American Museum of Natural History.
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Updated October 2026