Top Sights in Albany's Empire State Plaza

I took a weekend trip to the state capital of New York, Albany, to visit my Papa and had a great time seeing some of the city's top sights. Cohoes Falls was definitely worth the visit, and the Empire State Plaza has a lot to recommend it.

What Is There to See in the Empire State Plaza

In the heart of Albany's downtown district, the Capitol Hill area features the State Capitol building, the New York State Museum, and some very fun architecture. I wanted to go basically just to see the State Capitol Building, which I knew was worth seeing from pictures online.

I was pleasantly surprised that there was so much else going on in the plaza. At the other end of the plaza is the Cultural Education Center, which houses the New York State Museum, the State Archives, the State Library, among many other things. It's a very cool looking building and definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of museums or the state of New York or have some time to kill.

The State Museum is apparently the oldest and largest state museum in the U.S., and it has a number of permanent exhibits and rotating ones for public viewing. In case you are interested in going, some of the New York State Museum permanent exhibits include:

• Harlem Renaissance archives

• prehistoric artifacts from Native People in the area

• the remains of a mastodon, discovered in Cohoes

• birds of New York

• minerals of New York

• 9/11 rescue efforts

Then, on one side of the plaza are these "agency" buildings, which are so skinny and tall. They also appear to be floating above a smaller foot. They kind of remind me of a Jenga tower, and I didn't really want to walk on the sidewalk underneath it. Here, also, is a map of the Empire State Plaza for reference.

There are Legislative buildings next to the State Capitol Buidling. And on the other side of the plaza is the Corning Tower - which features an Observation Deck if you want to check out the skyline of Albany and see the Hudson River - and the Egg, which is a performing arts center.

Finally, there are sculptures dotting the landscape, a memorial dedicated to fallen firefighters, a playground in the corner, and an ice rink in the winter (which you can see in front of the Cultural Education Center a few photos above).

We ended up walking around for a good fifteen or twenty minutes before heading back underground and out of the wind. It was a great area to walk around and check out the architecture. I'm glad I got to see it all!

What Is Beneath the Empire State Plaza

Beneath the plaza level is the concourse level, and there's a lot going on down here, too. It's almost the same size and footprint of the plaza, with a huge hallway that spans the length of the plaza.

This means that you could walk from the State Capitol at one end to the Museum at the other end without stepping outside on a cold day. There are shops under here, eateries, and lots of small businesses to make lunchtime chores easy for the state government employees. Also, underneath the Egg is a large convention center. It makes it easy to get around, and you could learn a lot from the little educational placards along the way.

How to Visit the Empire State Plaza

Getting to the Empire State Plaza is super easy. It's just off the 787, and you can take S Mall Arterial directly under the plaza, where you'll find a massive parking garage and a massive underground shopping mall center. Parking is $10 for the day during the week, and $5 on the weekend. You can take an elevator from the parking to the concourse or plaza level directly without setting foot outside. This is likely extremely convenient in the winter when being outside can be quite unpleasant, but for us, getting the outside view of the plaza was the whole point.