Museum Mile
Fifth Avenue between roughly 82nd and 105th Streets is nicknamed Museum Mile for good reason: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Neue Galerie, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Jewish Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York all sit within a 20-minute walk of each other, facing Central Park. No other stretch of comparable length in the world has this density of major museums. See our Met guide for the anchor institution.
What the neighborhood is actually like
Old money, old-school formality, and a residential character that has changed less than almost anywhere else in Manhattan over the past half-century. Townhouses and prewar apartment buildings dominate; the retail on Madison Avenue in the 60s and 70s is some of the most expensive in the world. It's quieter and more residential than its reputation might suggest away from the museum corridor and Madison Avenue.
Central Park access
The UES borders the entire eastern side of Central Park, giving direct access to the park's eastern attractions: the Central Park Zoo, the Conservatory Water (model boat pond), and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir loop.
Getting there
The 4/5/6 trains run down Lexington Avenue; the Second Avenue Subway (Q train) added stations at 96th, 86th, and 72nd Streets in 2017, significantly easing what used to be one of the most poorly-served dense residential areas in the city.