The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum

The Memorial Plaza is free to visit and a very sobering reminder of 9/11, but the experience is much enriched by visiting the museum and learning more of the details both of the plaza and of the day itself. Plan ahead to get your ticket online and avoid at least one line (but not avoidable with certain types of multi-attraction tickets). The foundations of the buildings, the videos, and the displays all evoke the powerful memories of the day and a sense of the scope of the event; the room with the pictures of those who lost their lives on 9/11 is almost overwhelming in how it personalizes the tragedy. However, be prepared for crowds that create lines for entry and can make it hard to get close to many of the exhibits unless you are on a guided tour.

The memorial and museum are very nice tributes to the events of 9/11. It doesn't feel exploitative or over the top. It's somber and appropriate to memorialize what happened. We did a self-guided tour and spent about 2.5 hours in the museum, plus some additional time outside at the memorial. We bought tickets in advance online, which I would recommend if you want a tour guide (they sell out) or if you will be there on a busy day. Per the NYC guidelines, they are checking everyone's vaccine cards or negative COVID tests before you can enter.

We went to see the 9/11 Memorial & Museum on 3/10/2020. The memorial is free but this particular day, admission to the Museum was free though you needed to get there at 4 pm and line up for an admission ticket. The free admission to the museum started at 5:30 pm.

I was really surprised at how many many people came and from where they came from. There were really so many foreign tourists there to see the museum.

It really brought back so many memories of that day but also showed so much more detail that we had never seen or heard of before. There were recordings of conversations from the passengers on the flight that went down in Pennsylvania as they discussed how to overcome the hijackers, accounts from first responders, from people who were in the towers. There were exhibits of remains from the building, the recovert equipment, artifacts from survivors and victims. It really was a lot to take in but definitely worth the time.

We thought that the museum would be closing at 9 pm that day but it turned out to close at 8 pm. We spent 2.5 hours but could not finish by the time they ushered us out of there.

A very well put together museum and exhibition. It was very crowded the day we went- January and cold. A quick hint- even though we had Passes through the Hop on Hop Off bus deal- you still have to stand in a huge line to queue up to redeem them for actual tickets! We discovered the self serve ticket booths close by and bought tickets which allowed us to just skip the queue and go in within 1/2 an hour compared to waiting for probably 3 hours just to purchase tickets from the Sales counters. Madness.

Don’t be put off by thinking this is an emotional experience it was truly an amazing museum. We paid around $45 for the audio tour well worth it so you know what you are looking out and story behind it. Arrived at 9am to no queue and venue has a cafe as well and cloakroom is free to store heavy winter jackets and rucksacks (note that I had a thermal on and top and was quite cool walking around). Young lady who took us around was very informative and explained about everything well worth the extra as otherwise don’t think the exhibits tell you much. 8 of us on the tour all felt it was well worth the extra. This tour was just inside though you can pay to be shown around the outside too but we did 9/11 survivors museum tour where an actual person affected by that day takes you round $35 and Chris our guide was on the 82nd floor in North Tower when the first plane crashed into 93rd floor. Anyway back to the museum. After the guided tour you make your own way into the story of 9/11 about the whole day from start to finish including the terrorists and people who lost their life’s and the lessons learnt from terrorist attack in 1993. Very very interesting. Also a bit about rescue dogs but we didn’t do that as 3 hrs in we had read enough. If you carry on outside the museum past ohares Irish bar and keep walking the survivors museum is 5 min walk on right hand side great deli opposite for lunch or breakfast and cake.

I visited the museum as part of a trip to New York. The memorial fountain outside is striking even if you don’t want to pay to go into the actual museum. For the size of the museum and similar museums I have been to I thought the price was very reasonable. Although it is a very deep and moving experience I thought it was very tastefully done and incredibly detailed. The central exhibit did get quite busy so I was shoulder to shoulder at times, which made it a little difficult to see some exhibits. It would maybe have been better if they had held some people back to limit the crowd in here. As someone who didn’t know the detail behind the events of 9/11 I wanted to learn and pay respect at the same time, and overall I left feeling very humble and impressed at the quality of the museum.

my husband and I did the pre open hours tour, I highly recommend this tour it starts at 8am and completely worth it. I remember 9/11 I was in my late 20 on my way to work when this horrific day happened. I wasn’t ready for the range of emotions this tour brought out in me. It’s a beautiful tribute to the Americans, NYPD, FDNY, and ALL those who not only perished, but those who stood strong. It’s a reminder how as a community in time of need we rallied to show we weren’t going to let the terrorist get the better of US!
There aren’t enough words to explain the experience because it’s very individualized.
All I can say is Just Do It!

Incredibly sensitively done, this is a vast subterranean mausoleum, surrounded by the slurry wall of the "bath" that the WTC towers were built within, and bookended by the vast cubes of the memorial pools. Around and under these sit the exhibition spaces, which are as fascinating and horrific as you would expect them to be. I found myself in tears at various points throughout, and often sat down just to reflect (the "In Memoriam" space is a good place to do just that, and is quiet and reflective). I spent six hours there, way longer than I expected to, as there is so much to see. It is, of course, emotionally draining, but well worth the visit. Go early to beat the queues - it was noticeably busier when I left in the afternoon than it had been when I went in, but still not packed. Apparently they do free entry one evening but having experienced that at other attractions where they get really busy I would recommend paying for this one to get it when it's quieter. It's worth it.

Ever since those horrible events that defined both the United States and indeed the rest of the world I was determined to visit the 9/11 memorial and having done so, I'm proud that I got this opportunity. For such a large site set in the heart of a busy city such as New York, the site was deftly quite as if a sound barrier was surrounding the area. I found it quite emotional as I toured the location of the iconic Twin Towers and then went through the museum. If you were affected by the disaster, I would recommend you visit the memorial, if you weren't, I'd still reccomend you visit the memorial of to pay respect to those who died needlessly and to the brave men and women of the NYPD and FDNY who stepped up in the time of need.

Overall 10/10

I am not going to write too much about this because you have to view it and experience it for yourself. The way this museum makes you feel is indescribable.

Amazing!! My most favourite part of New York

100% recommend purchasing the audio sets for $8 each