Climbing New York's Vessel now that half of it is closed

What's open above level two

The lowest levels still give you a full loop, so you can walk the whole way round and look out towards the Hudson. Above level two it changes. Only the flights fitted with floor-to-ceiling steel mesh are open, which is roughly half the walkable area, and the top level is down to one platform. That mesh will be in every photo you take from up there.

Who should still climb it? Anyone who wants a cheap, quick, strange piece of architecture to walk up between the High Line and a skyline deck. Anyone picturing the free-roaming spiral of 2019 will feel short-changed. If you can't manage stairs, a priority lift runs about every 15 minutes to levels 5, 7 and 8.

Which ticket to buy

Vessel is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and your ticket carries a date and a time, so you have to arrive inside that window. A timed slot starts at $14, with a $2 processing fee on top. If you don't want to be held to a clock, the flex ticket lets you turn up any time on your chosen date and starts at $20. Children aged five and under go in free.

If you're adding a guided tour or a flight over the city to the day, book it well ahead. The operator confirms those by hand, which can take up to 48 hours, so you can't pick one up the same morning.

Late afternoon beats midday

Go late in the afternoon. The structure looks out over the river, and there's a sunset slot that comes with a glass of bubbles from $24. The food hall and the shops on the same block stay open later than Vessel does, so an evening ticket leaves you somewhere to eat afterwards. A morning slot works too, but you're paying the same for flatter light.

Door rules

Strollers can't come inside and have to be left in an unmonitored area nearby, so think twice if you're pushing one. Bags bigger than 9 by 14 by 22 inches are refused, and yours may be looked through. Water in a clear plastic bottle is the only food or drink allowed in. Photograph as much as you like, but leave the tripod and the selfie stick behind.

The view Vessel can't give you

For the big panorama you want Edge at Hudson Yards, the open-air deck that juts off the 100th floor of the tower on the same block. It sits 1,100 feet up, with glass walls angled outwards, skyline seats and an inset glass panel in the floor you can stand on. You walk through a floor of indoor light installations first, and with the bars up there, plan on two to three hours.

General admission starts at $42, or $34 if you book at least 14 days ahead. Show your Vessel ticket at the Edge desk for a discount, or buy the two as a bundle and save 10% on both. On a low, grey day, buy neither. There is nothing to see from 100 floors up inside cloud, and if glass floors and leaning walls unsettle you, Vessel on its own is the better afternoon.

One floor above the deck is Peak, a white-tablecloth dining room with the Manhattan grid filling its windows. Lunch runs from 11:30 a.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. at weekends until 2:30 p.m., and dinner from 5 p.m., a little later at the end of the week. Book through the restaurant itself, as the Edge ticket desk doesn't handle it.

Arriving on the High Line

The simplest way in is the 7 train to 34th Street-Hudson Yards, about six minutes from Times Square and eight from Grand Central. The station has lifts, and the signs lead you either into the shops or out to the plaza where Vessel stands.

The better arrival is on foot along the High Line, the old elevated freight railway planted as a park, with the original rails still set in the paving. Its northern end runs straight into the Public Square and Gardens. It costs nothing, and it's open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. between April and November, to 8 p.m. in winter. Use the 30th Street access for Vessel. Leave bikes and scooters at street level, and service dogs are the only pets allowed.

Eating on the same block

The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards is the warm building next to Vessel, and it costs nothing to walk into. Shopfronts are stacked four levels high around an atrium. Vessel sits framed in the window wall. It's open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. There are quick counters, sit-down restaurants and loos.

For the better meal, walk a few minutes to Mercado Little Spain. It's a Spanish market hall under the High Line viaduct, with tiled counters and hams hanging above them. It's open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Graze standing up at the bars, or book a table at La Barra if you want to sit down.

The Shed next door

The Shed, where the High Line meets Hudson Yards, is the building most people walk straight past. Its quilted translucent shell sits on exposed wheels and rolls out over the plaza on rails to open up a big performance hall. There's no permanent collection, so check the programme before you plan a day around it. Imitation of Life, a new musical by Lynn Nottage and John Legend, is booking in the Griffin Theater from 21 November until 3 January.

Free alternatives on the Hudson

If you'd rather not pay for height twice, the roof of Pier 57 Rooftop Park is free and open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. It's a flat lawn-and-timber deck on top of a converted shipping pier, with open railings out over the water and Lower Manhattan's towers to the south. Come in through the south gate on 11th Avenue, then take the stairs or the lift.

Little Island is free too, a park built on white tulip-shaped piles out in the river between 13th and 14th Streets, a longer walk south. Only performances in its amphitheatre need a ticket. It doesn't open between 1 January and 7 March, so keep it out of a deep-winter plan.

Before you go

The one thing to lock in before you travel is your timed Vessel slot, plus Edge's cheaper advance ticket if you want it, which needs those 14 days. The Shed is the only place here that can have nothing on when you arrive, so look at what's programmed.

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