9/11 Memorial and Museum Tickets: Prices, Free Hours, Bags

Memorial or Museum: what is free and what is not

Two things share the name. The Memorial is the outdoor plaza with the twin reflecting pools set in the footprints of the towers and the names of the victims around their edges. You walk in from the street, no ticket needed, any day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (About your visit, checked 19 October 2026).

The Museum sits below the plaza at 180 Greenwich Street and is the part that costs money. It holds the historical exhibition, the In Memoriam gallery and surviving pieces of the towers. If you only have half an hour between other downtown stops, the pools alone are a complete visit. If you want to understand what happened that day, budget for the Museum.

How much does the 9/11 Museum cost?

The Museum's tickets and tours page lists admission as a range rather than one fixed adult price, so the figure you see at checkout depends on the date, time and visitor type you choose (checked 19 October 2026):

Two adults and a five-year-old pay no more than $72 for the adults, even if both tickets come in at the $36 top of the range, plus a free child ticket that you still reserve so the child has a timed entry. The page also lists an $11 audio guide and packages sold with CityPASS and Go City, which only pay off if you were going to visit their other attractions anyway.

If the Statue of Liberty and an observation deck are already on your list, the Museum's discounts page shows an "Official Downtown Experience" package from $64.99 that bundles Museum entry with the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and One World Observatory. Price each piece separately before assuming the bundle wins; our guide to Statue of Liberty tickets covers that half.

Booking rules worth knowing

• Timed tickets must be bought in advance, and you can book up to six months ahead.
• Advance tickets can be refunded or exchanged up to 24 hours before the slot, with one free exchange.
• Last admission is 60 minutes before closing, so a 7 p.m. close means a 6 p.m. latest entry.

Free admission: Monday evenings

Every Monday at 7 a.m. Eastern Time, the Museum releases free tickets for that evening on its website, first come, first served. The tickets page describes the free window as 5:30 to 7 p.m.; the discounts page gives 5:30 p.m. as the last entrance. Treat 5:30 p.m. as the time to be at the door, and expect the tickets to go fast, since they are released the same morning (both pages checked 19 October 2026).

The trade-off is time. A free slot at the end of the day gives you at most 90 minutes before the 7 p.m. close, the top of the 45 to 90 minutes the Museum suggests, and less if you queue at security. If you have already flown across an ocean to be here, $24 to $36 for an unhurried morning may be the better deal.

A separate free Sunday-afternoon programme exists for people who live, work or study in the New York area, with ID required (New York Free Sundays details on the discounts page). It is not aimed at overseas visitors.

Hours, Tuesdays and how long to allow

The Museum is open Wednesday to Monday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays are the exception that catches people out. The special hours page says the Museum opens on "most Tuesdays in 2026" and lists the dates (checked 19 October 2026):

• Every Tuesday in October 2026
• 24 November 2026 only, in November
• Every Tuesday in December 2026

The same page does not list Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year hours, so check it again if your visit falls on a holiday. A Tuesday in November other than the 24th is the day to do the Memorial only, or to plan the Museum for another day.

The Museum suggests 45 to 90 minutes. Add security screening on arrival, and longer if you rent the audio guide.

Security, bag size and the coat room

Every Museum visitor goes through magnetometer screening, with hand-wanding as an alternative (visitor guidelines, checked 19 October 2026). The size rule is the same in both places: nothing larger than 19 × 17 × 8 inches per item. On the Memorial plaza, larger baggage is not permitted at all.

Inside the Museum, large bags, backpacks and big umbrellas must go into the coat rooms on the Concourse Lobby level and the second-floor Auditorium level. Staff can refuse oversized items, and the coat checks do not take musical instruments, wheeled devices or oversize strollers. The guidelines do not mention lockers. If you are arriving straight from the airport with a suitcase, drop it first; our guide to luggage storage before hotel check-in compares the options.

Also banned: outside food and drink on the Memorial, eating and drinking in the Museum outside the café, glass bottles, tripods without permission and flash photography.

Getting there and what is next door

The getting here page lists the nearest subway stations (checked 19 October 2026):

• E to World Trade Center
• R to Cortlandt Street, or 1 to WTC Cortlandt
• A, C, J, Z, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to Fulton Street
• 2 or 3 to Park Place; A, C, 1, 2 or 3 to Chambers Street
• PATH trains from New Jersey to the World Trade Center terminal

Subway and bus fares are paid by tapping a contactless card or phone; see OMNY with a foreign card before you rely on a card from home. The Memorial does not provide parking.

Beside the plaza stands the Oculus, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The official World Trade Center site says it is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and is home to 12 subway lines and the World Trade Center PATH station, with shops run by Westfield. Street-level access is limited overnight from 1 to 5 a.m. It is the obvious place nearby to wait out rain before your slot.

One World Observatory, in One World Trade Center, is ticketed separately. If you are weighing it against the Midtown decks, see our comparison of New York observation decks.