SUMMIT One Vanderbilt

SUMMIT opened in 2021 and reset what an observation deck is for. Where every other tower gives you glass and a view, One Vanderbilt's top four floors are a Kenzo Digital-designed installation called Air: rooms mirrored on every surface — floor, ceiling, walls — so the skyline repeats to infinity around you and the crowd becomes part of the artwork. Cynics arrive expecting an Instagram trap and leave having photographed nothing so much as themselves, delighted, forty times. It works.

The sequence builds: the first mirror room disorients (sunglasses help, skirts beware — the floors reflect), the silver helium spheres of "Reflect" turn adults into toddlers, and the Levitation boxes — all-glass ledges cantilevered off the tower's face, 93 floors above Madison Avenue — supply the stomach drop. The unsung best room is the quietest: floor-to-ceiling glass facing the Chrysler Building at eye level, closer and better-framed than from any other deck in the city, with the Empire State squared up behind it. This is the deck the other skyscrapers pose for.

Ascent, the exterior glass elevator up the building's face to the summit terrace, is the optional extra that's actually worth it at sunset — the terrace bar serves drinks with the East River going gold below. Sunset slots are the premium and sell out days ahead; the daily double-header move is MoMA in the morning on the combo ticket, Grand Central's ceiling on the walk over (SUMMIT's entrance is inside One Vanderbilt, across the street), and the mirrors for golden hour.

Practical notes: it's sensory and bright — the mirrored floors mean modesty shorts are offered at entry, and the light show favours clear days; a cloudy visit keeps the mirrors but loses the gold. Book the timed ticket online, always.