How busy is The Met Cloisters?
The Cloisters sits at the northern tip of Manhattan in Fort Tryon Park, and the long trip keeps numbers far below The Met Fifth Avenue. You'll rarely wait more than a few minutes at the door. But the building is a series of small chapels, halls and cloister walks, and it doesn't take many people for it to feel full, especially in the gardens on a fine weekend.
The pinch points are the Unicorn Tapestries room, the Cuxa Cloister (the large central garden most people see first), the Fuentidueña Chapel and the Bonnefont Cloister terrace, which has the view over the Hudson. On spring and autumn weekend afternoons, groups of friends, families and photographers all converge on the same garden benches.
Crowds by time of day
🔑 Free skip-the-line hack
Go when it’s quiet: see live crowds and the hourly forecast.
Tickets and prices
The Met sells one ticket for both of its buildings. A general admission ticket bought at either location includes same-day entry to The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters for the date on the ticket, so if you're doing both, buy once. Advance tickets aren't required, but buying online on the Met's website skips the desk.
Skip-the-line: what actually works
There's no skip-the-line ticket and no need for one. The only lines are a short bag check and the ticket desk, and an online ticket removes the second. What matters here is getting to the small rooms before they fill and checking the day and season before you travel an hour uptown.
- Don't come on a Wednesday. It's the one closed day, and the journey makes it an expensive mistake.
- Aim for opening at 10 am on a weekday. Go first to the Unicorn Tapestries and the Fuentidueña Chapel, which are the rooms that fill first.
- Do the gardens after. The Cuxa, Bonnefont and Trie cloisters absorb more people and look good at any hour.
- Check the A train before you leave. The Met warns that weekend track work sometimes affects A train service; if it's disrupted, use the M4 bus.
What to see, and in what order
The Cloisters opened in 1938, built with money from John D. Rockefeller Jr., who also gave the land. It's a museum of medieval Europe assembled from real architectural fragments: four cloisters, a Romanesque apse and chapels, set around a building designed to feel like a monastery rather than a gallery.
1. Fuentidueña Chapel
Built around a 12th-century apse from Fuentidueña near Segovia in Spain, rebuilt stone by stone. Visit it before the groups arrive.
2. Cuxa Cloister
The central cloister, with arcades from a French monastery and the Judy Black Garden in the middle. It's the image most people have of the Cloisters.
3. The Unicorn Tapestries
Seven late-medieval tapestries telling the hunt of the unicorn, hung in their own room. Rockefeller bought them in 1922 and gave them to the Met in 1937. This is the most crowded room by early afternoon.
4. The Annunciation Triptych (Mérode Altarpiece)
Robert Campin's small, astonishingly detailed altarpiece from about 1425-28, at the Cloisters since 1956. People walk past it; stand close and look at the workshop in the right-hand panel.
5. The Treasury
A low-lit set of rooms with illuminated manuscripts, a silver reliquary and a 15th-century deck of playing cards.
6. Bonnefont and Trie cloisters
The lower-level gardens. Bonnefont is planted with medieval herbs and overlooks the Hudson River and the Palisades; together the three gardens hold more than 250 genera of plants. Late spring and early autumn are at their best.
Best (and worst) times to visit
- Best: a weekday at 10 am in May, June, September or October, when the gardens are in leaf and the rooms are calm.
- Good: winter weekdays for the art alone; it's the quietest season, but the gardens are bare and closing is 4:30 pm.
- Worst: weekend afternoons in spring and autumn.
- Never: a Wednesday, when it's closed.
Crowds by day and time
From the typical weekly visitor pattern for The Met Cloisters, based on Google’s popular-times data.
Quietest time
Monday, 10-11 am
Busiest time
Saturday, 12-5 pm
Plans by visitor type
First-timers (2 hours)
Fuentidueña Chapel, Cuxa Cloister, the Unicorn Tapestries, the Annunciation Triptych and the Treasury, then the Bonnefont garden and the river view. Walk back through Fort Tryon Park.
Garden lovers
Come on a weekday in late spring or early autumn, start in the gardens before 11 am, and leave the galleries for later. Fort Tryon Park outside has its own gardens and Hudson views and is free.
Families
Under 12s are free. The unicorn hunt and the knights-and-castles feel of the building work well for children; keep the visit to about 90 minutes and let them loose in the park after.
Accessibility
The Met suggests a fully accessible route: the A train to 181 St (which has an elevator exit), then the M4 bus north seven stops to Margaret Corbin Dr/Cloisters. The 190 St station exit is also by elevator, but the walk from it is uphill through the park.
Getting there
Take the A train to 190 St and exit by elevator. From there, walk north on Margaret Corbin Drive through Fort Tryon Park for about 10 minutes, or take the M4 bus one stop north to Margaret Corbin Dr/Cloisters. From Midtown allow around 45 minutes to an hour door to door by subway.
The M4 bus also runs the whole way from Madison Avenue at 83rd Street (near The Met Fifth Avenue), but the Met says it takes about an hour and 25 minutes. By car, take the Henry Hudson Parkway north to the first exit after the George Washington Bridge.
Is The Met Cloisters worth it? Cloisters vs The Met Fifth Avenue
Yes, if you have half a day and any interest in medieval Europe: it's one of the most atmospheric museums in the US, and since the ticket covers both Met buildings, it's effectively free if you've already been to Fifth Avenue that day. If you only have time for one, and want the famous collections, choose Fifth Avenue. The Met Fifth Avenue guide.
FAQs
How much does The Met Cloisters cost?
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$30 for adults, $22 for seniors 65+ and $17 for students. Under 12s are free, and New York State residents and NY, NJ and CT students pay what they wish.
Does a Met ticket include The Met Cloisters?
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Yes. All Met general admission tickets include same-day entry to both The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters for the date on the ticket.
Is The Met Cloisters closed on Wednesdays?
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Yes, every Wednesday, plus Thanksgiving, December 25 and January 1.
What are The Met Cloisters' opening hours?
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10 am to 5 pm from March to October, and 10 am to 4:30 pm from November to February.
Do you need to book The Met Cloisters in advance?
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No, advance tickets aren't required and there's rarely a queue. Buying online on the Met's site skips the ticket desk.
Heading to The Met Cloisters?
See how busy it is right now and the quietest hours for your date, then walk in when the line is short.
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How we research: every guide is written by the BeatTheCrowd team from official sources and recent traveller reports, cross-checked against each other, and dated so you know how fresh it is. Last checked 10 November 2026. Prices and rules change, so always confirm on the official site before you book.
