Visiting the Intrepid Museum: How Long It Takes, What to See, and Where to Eat After

The Intrepid Museum sits on Pier 86, at West 46th Street and 12th Avenue, at the west end of Hell's Kitchen. Everything below about the museum comes from its own website and the U.S. Navy's ship histories. Hours, prices and add-ons change, so we link the official visitor page; we checked all of it in November 2026. Walking times are from our door at 605 W 48th Street, at about 20 minutes a mile.

How long does the Intrepid take?

The museum's answer is two to three hours, and that matches the size of the place: a carrier with several decks to walk, a shuttle pavilion on the flight deck and a submarine on the pier. With last entry at 4pm and closing at 5pm from October through March, arriving by about 2pm gives you the full time. The paid extras run on set times (more on those below), so if you add one, pick a slot that doesn't push you past three hours.

The ship in two minutes

USS Intrepid was commissioned in August 1943. In World War II it survived, in the museum's words, “five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike”. It went on to serve in the Cold War and deployed three times to the Vietnam War between 1966 and 1969. It also recovered astronauts for NASA: its helicopters picked up Scott Carpenter after his Mercury flight in 1962, and astronauts Grissom and Young after Gemini 3 in 1965. It was home to 3,000 sailors, officers and Marines at a time. The Navy decommissioned it in 1974, a campaign saved it from scrap, and the museum was founded in 1982. Today it welcomes over a million visitors a year.

What to see, in order

The museum doesn't publish a route, so this is just one way to do it, built from its own tips.

1. The submarine Growler, first

The museum calls Growler “the only American nuclear missile submarine open to the public”. Commissioned in 1958, it made nine nuclear deterrent patrols between 1960 and 1963. Go early: the museum says the line fills up quickly, and it can close before the rest of the museum. Inside it's narrow. Visitors must be at least 40 inches tall and able to step through a replica of the hatch on their own, and strollers, large bags, luggage, backpacks and food stay outside. It isn't wheelchair accessible, but the exhibition about it on the pier is.

2. The flight deck and the Space Shuttle Pavilion

The flight deck holds dozens of aircraft from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, among them an Avenger torpedo bomber, the Lockheed A-12 spy plane from the Cold War, a MiG-21 and a Skyray that actually flew off Intrepid. The pavilion on deck is home to Enterprise, NASA's prototype orbiter. It was a test vehicle and never flew in space; you can walk right underneath it or look from a raised platform, next to a Soyuz capsule that did. In winter, do the deck early: the museum may close the flight deck and the pavilion in bad weather. There are no restrooms up there.

3. The hangar deck

This is the main exhibition floor. The new centerpiece is a fully restored World War II Corsair fighter-bomber, in the markings of an Intrepid pilot who shot down seven enemy aircraft in a single day. For kids, the Exploreum is the hands-on hall: they can climb into a real Bell 47 helicopter, work their way through an interactive submarine and steer an airplane's wings. The G-Force flight simulator is there too.

4. Below decks

Between the hangar and the flight deck, the gallery deck has the combat information center and the squadron ready room. Down on the third deck, the mess deck is restored to how it looked after a 1969 remodel, with the galley and the sailors' bunks around it. Some smaller spaces, like the fo'c'sle, the combat information center and the captain's bridge, are reached by stairs or ladders.

Also on the pier: the Concorde

British Airways Concorde G-BOAD holds the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing, 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. You can look at the outside any time. Going in is a separate 20-minute tour, $15 when we checked, every 30 minutes from 11am; it involves stairs, the minimum age is 5, and strollers and large bags aren't allowed.

Tickets and hours (checked November 2026)

• General admission: adults (13–64) $38; seniors 65+ and college students with ID $36; children 5–12 $28; 4 and under free. U.S. veterans and service members get in free with ID. It covers the carrier, the Space Shuttle Pavilion, Growler and the temporary exhibitions.
• NYC residents: 50% off general admission. Free and reduced tickets are only at the box office, so bring photo ID with a New York City address, or a current utility or mortgage statement in the same name.
• Timed entry. A ticket is good for its date and its 30-minute window, and you can't go in early. Buying online is the quickest way in, but the Welcome Center box office on the pier sells tickets too. Tickets are digital only (screenshots and printouts aren't accepted), the name on the order has to match your ID, and they're non-refundable.
• Hours. October 1 to March 31: every day, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm. From April 1 to September 30, 2027, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays run to 6pm (last entry 5pm). Closed Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving) and Friday, December 25. The museum says hours can change day to day for special events.
• Free with a card or pass. Bank of America cardholders get in free on the first full weekend of each month through Museums on Us (the next are December 5–6, 2026 and January 2–3, 2027). EBT cardholders, Cool Culture Pass and Library Culture Pass holders also get free entry, and the Intrepid is included in CityPASS, which needs a date and time reserved.
• Extras: the Concorde tour ($15), the G-Force simulator ($13; you must be 48 inches tall), the one-hour highlights tour at 11am, noon or 1pm ($18; recommended for ages 10 and up) and a 4D film ($11). The museum says the popular ones usually sell out, so book them online with your ticket.

Full list and current prices: intrepidmuseum.org tickets.

Before you go: bags, kids, food and access

• No bag check. All bags are inspected at the door, and luggage stays with you the whole visit. If you're coming off a ship at Pier 88, just up the river, our cruise terminal guide covers the walk from the ship. Selfie sticks, tripods, drones, scooters and costumes aren't allowed.
• Shoes. The flight deck is steel, and parts of the decks are uneven. The museum suggests comfortable shoes and not open-toed sandals or heels.
• With kids. Everyone under 16 needs an adult 18 or older. Strollers are fine in the galleries but not in the submarine or the Concorde, and there's nowhere to leave one, so one adult can wait with it while the others go into Growler. Children can't ride on shoulders.
• Food and restrooms. There's a café in the Welcome Center that's open to the public, a food counter on the mess deck for ticket holders, and vending machines; you can eat only in their seating areas and on the pier. Restrooms are at both ends of the hangar deck, on the third deck and on the pier, but none on the flight deck.
• Access. Most of the museum is wheelchair accessible by ramp or elevator: the hangar deck, the flight deck with the shuttle pavilion, and the third deck. The museum doesn't lend wheelchairs, but folding stools are free at the Information Desk. There's no visitor parking lot.

Getting there

• From Cantina Rooftop, about 5 minutes on foot (a quarter mile): west on West 48th Street to 12th Avenue, two blocks south to 46th Street, then cross 12th Avenue at the light and walk onto the pier. 12th Avenue is a wide road, so allow for the wait at the crossing.
• Bus. The M50, which runs crosstown on 49th and 50th Street, stops at 12th Avenue and West 46th Street, about a minute from the entrance, every day. From Times Square, catch it westbound on West 49th Street at Seventh or Eighth Avenue. Check MTA Bus Time for detours.
• On foot from Times Square: about 17 to 19 minutes from the TKTS red steps. The closest subway on foot is 34 St–Hudson Yards on the 7, about 15 minutes away; from the A, C and E at 42nd Street it takes about 18.
• Ferry. The nearest NYC Ferry stop is Midtown West at West 39th Street, Pier 79; the museum puts the walk north at 10 to 15 minutes.

Coming up at the Intrepid

The museum's Veterans Day ceremony is Wednesday, November 11, 3:30 to 4:30pm, free with admission. Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is Monday, December 7, at 11am (a Monday, so we're closed that evening). Kids Week runs February 13 to 20, 2027, and the museum has set May 29 to 31, 2027 for its Fleet Week celebration, with details to come. All of these are on the museum's calendar.

Where to eat after the Intrepid

From October through March the museum closes at 5pm, and that's when we open, so the day lines up on its own: walk out, head five minutes up 12th Avenue and 48th Street, and you're at the table. We're Cantina Rooftop, 605 W 48th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenue: a Mexican restaurant and bar on the roof, with tacos, margaritas and a live DJ, open Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm and closed Mondays. The retractable glass roof opens in good weather and closes, heated, when it's cold.

• Weekend plan. Brunch first, Saturday or Sunday from 12pm (the last reservation is 3:30pm), then a timed entry around 2pm. Or the other way round: the museum in the morning, and brunch or dinner after.
• Catch the sunset. In late fall and winter the sun sets around 4:30pm. Pier 84 is right next to the museum; watch from there and walk up for dinner at five. Our sunset on the Hudson guide has the other spots.
• Mondays. The museum is open; we're not. Make the museum your Monday and come to us another night.
• Later tables. The last dinner reservation is 10pm Tuesday to Saturday and 9pm on Sunday. Tables for 2 to 8 book online.

More on the walk and the weekly nights: dinner near the Intrepid. Spending the whole day on this side of town? See things to do in Hell's Kitchen.