New York has been on screen so often that walking down the right street can feel like stepping into a scene. The catch is that not everything you remember was filmed there. Some of your favourite TV apartments were built on a studio lot in Los Angeles, and some of the best-known buildings are private homes or working fire stations. This guide sorts what is real, what you can go into and what is best seen from the pavement, with the prices we could find.

Most of these places are free to see from the street, which makes it an easy theme to add to a trip you are already planning. If you have not booked yet, start with our New York guide for UK visitors for where to stay, how to get around and what it costs.

The short version

  • Best for a free day out: Greenwich Village, where Friends and Sex and the City are within a short walk of each other.
  • Best in December: Home Alone 2, with the Plaza, Central Park and the Rockefeller Center tree.
  • Best for food: Katz's Delicatessen, from When Harry Met Sally.
  • Be realistic about: Friends. The building is real, but the apartment, Central Perk and the fountain were all studio sets.
  • Be respectful at: Carrie Bradshaw's stoop and the Ghostbusters firehouse. One is a private home and the other is a working fire station.

Friends: what is real and what is not

The building from the show is at 90 Bedford Street, on the corner of Grove Street in Greenwich Village. It is used for the exterior shots of Monica and Rachel's apartment building. Everything inside was filmed in Los Angeles on Warner Bros. sets, and the fountain in the opening credits was shot on a studio backlot rather than in a New York park.

So what can you do? You can stand on the corner and take the photo. The building has a café and boutiques at street level, so you can go in for a coffee, but the apartments above are people's homes, so keep your voice down and stay off the steps.

If you want more, a Friends pop-up experience has run in New York. The most recent page we found, last updated in January 2025, listed a standard ticket at $52 and a premium ticket at $64.50, with time slots every 15 minutes. We could not confirm that it is open now, so check the official ticket site before you plan around it.

Sex and the City: Carrie's stoop and the West Village

Carrie Bradshaw's front steps are at 66 Perry Street in the West Village. The address the show gave, on East 73rd Street, does not exist, so this is the real house used for the exterior shots from season three onwards.

It is a private home. The owners have put a chain across the stairs with a sign asking people not to go on the staircase, and one guide says they have had the building blurred on Google Maps. Stand on the public pavement, take your photo and leave quietly, because the street is residential and noise carries. Going earlier in the day means fewer crowds.

A few minutes away, Magnolia Bakery at 401 Bleecker Street, at West 11th Street, is where Carrie and Miranda ate cupcakes in season three. It is a real bakery you can walk into, and one guide recommends the banana pudding as well as the cupcakes. The Brooklyn Bridge, where Miranda and Steve meet halfway, is a public walkway you can cross whenever you like.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

This is the best one for the Christmas season, and almost all of it is outside.

  • The Plaza Hotel, 768 Fifth Avenue: where Kevin checks in with his father's credit card. It is a working hotel, and its December Home Alone 2 experiences have included limousine rides and cheese pizza, so check what is on offer this year.
  • Central Park and Wollman Rink: the Gapstow Bridge has winter views towards the Plaza, and Wollman Rink is a short walk away, where Kevin skates under the skyline.
  • FAO Schwarz: the store that inspired the film's Duncan's Toy Chest is now in Rockefeller Center, with life-sized teddy bears and a giant floor piano.
  • Radio City Music Hall: Kevin runs past it during his solo adventures. You can see the Christmas Spectacular or just the lights outside.
  • Rockefeller Center: the film's finale takes place under the Christmas tree. One guide suggests going at night.

For 2026, the Rockefeller Center tree is a 76-foot Norway spruce from West Edmeston, New York. It is due to arrive in Manhattan on 7 November, the lighting ceremony is on Wednesday 2 December, and the tree stays up until 9 January 2027. It is lit for 24 hours on Christmas Day, and from 5am to 9pm on New Year's Eve. Expect the biggest crowds around the lighting and on the weekends before Christmas.

When Harry Met Sally

A lot of the film's New York is still there, which makes it one of the more rewarding ones to follow.

  • Katz's Delicatessen, Lower East Side: the "I'll have what she's having" scene. There is a marked table with a sign reading "Where Harry Met Sally... Hope You Have What She Had."
  • Café Luxembourg, 200 West 70th Street: the interior is largely as it was in the film, with checkered floors, red booths and rattan chairs.
  • Central Park: Bethesda Terrace is where Harry and Jess walk and talk, and the Boathouse has a restaurant that reopened in early 2024.
  • The Temple of Dendur, Metropolitan Museum of Art: visited by Harry and Sally as their friendship grows.
  • The Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street: the setting for the wedding and the New Year's Eve party scenes. It now houses an NYU school, apartments and a shop, so most people see it from outside. The New Year's Eve door that people attribute to it is actually a hotel in Los Angeles.

Some locations are gone: the JFK terminal and Giants Stadium were demolished, and the Coney Island batting cages are now part of Luna Park.

Ghostbusters and the New York Public Library

The Ghostbusters firehouse is FDNY Ladder 8, at 14 North Moore Street in Tribeca. It is an active fire station, so stay out of the firefighters' way. There are signs and painted pavement paying tribute to the film.

The main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, at 476 Fifth Avenue, is where the team meets its first ghost. It also appears in Spider-Man and Breakfast at Tiffany's. The Dakota building at 1 West 72nd Street is a private residence, so it is one for the exterior only.

A few more worth adding

  • Elf: the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and Central Park all appear. You can book Empire State Building observatory tickets on Viator.
  • Gossip Girl: Grand Central Terminal at 89 East 42nd Street is a working station you can walk through, and the front steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 1000 Fifth Avenue are outdoors and free to sit on.
  • Spider-Man: the Flatiron Building at 175 Fifth Avenue stood in for the Daily Bugle in Sam Raimi's trilogy, and the Queensboro Bridge appears in No Way Home.
  • Breakfast at Tiffany's: Tiffany & Co. at 727 Fifth Avenue is still an operating store you can walk into.

How to group it into days

Greenwich Village morning. Start at 90 Bedford Street for Friends, walk to 66 Perry Street, then Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker Street. It is an easy walk and mostly free.

Midtown and Central Park. The Plaza, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, FAO Schwarz and Radio City all sit close together. Add the New York Public Library, Grand Central and the Flatiron Building if you have energy left.

Lower East Side lunch. Katz's Delicatessen is worth a meal rather than a photo.

Upper West Side. Café Luxembourg and the Dakota are close together if you want more When Harry Met Sally and a quieter afternoon.

Tribeca. The Ghostbusters firehouse is a short stop on the way to or from other things downtown.

If you would rather have someone show you round, On Location Tours runs a TV and movie tour that it says covers more than 60 famous filming locations. We could not find the duration or price on the page we checked, so look at its own site before you decide. There is also a New York TV tour on Viator, so check its itinerary to see which shows and locations it covers.

What it costs

Most of this is free from the street. These are the prices we found:

  • Friends pop-up experience: $52 standard, $64.50 premium (January 2025 listing, current availability not confirmed)
  • Rockefeller Center tree, Central Park, Grand Central, Met steps, Brooklyn Bridge: free to see
  • Katz's, Magnolia Bakery and Café Luxembourg: you pay for what you eat, and we did not find current menu prices

We could not find reliable current prices for the Plaza's Home Alone 2 experiences, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular or the On Location Tours film tour, so check each official website.

Before you go

  • Check the entry rules. Visitors from the UK usually need an approved ESTA to travel to the USA, so check the official rules well before you fly.
  • Treat private homes as private. 90 Bedford Street, 66 Perry Street and the Dakota are places where people live.
  • Go early. The Village streets are quiet and the light is better in the morning.
  • Dress for the weather. December in New York is cold, and a lot of this is outdoors.

Planning more? See all our USA guides for UK travellers.

Where this comes from

Opening times, prices and what is still standing change, so this is a snapshot checked on 31 October 2026. These are the sources it draws on: