A Trip to The Vessel at Hudson Yards

The Vessel is a new structure built as part of the revitalization of the Hudson Yards area of the  West Side of Manhattan. Construction of The Vessel began in April of 2017 and it opened to the public in March 2019.

They might look like it, but no, these aren’t mall escalators!


The Vessel consists of a series of interconnected staircases and tiers designed to allow visitors to walk from the bottom to the top of the structure easily. The Vessel is 16 stories tall and consists of 154 flights of stairs totaling 2,500 steps.

I’m not afraid of heights, I’m afraid of falling.


Looking down from the top tier, one can see how elaborately designed and constructed The Vessel is. For those that can’t or don’t wish to walk up and down the stairs, there is also an elevator, which you can see on the right side of the photo above.

Are they waiting for the sun to set, or for a train?



The Vessel offers great views of the Hudson River and the distant New Jersey skyline. In the photo above, visitors wait on the top tier facing West to catch the sunset. Below you can see the rail yard – that’s where Hudson Yards gets its name.

As the sun sets it brings out amazing colors in the sky. It’s best to plan a trip to the Vessel around sunset time. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance. Reservations fill up quickly, so be sure to reserve them a week or two ahead.

It’s time for some moon shopping.


After the sun sets, the revitalized Hudson Yards area is a great place to hang out at night. It’s still under construction, but so far a shopping mall and arts center have been built in the area and more attractions are planned.

Have you visited The Vessel at Hudson Yards? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments, and follow me on Instagram.

If you’d like an NFT of my sunset photo of The Vessel for your collection, visit here.

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