The Upper East Side is Manhattan's traditionally wealthy, residential neighborhood, known for prewar apartment buildings, Madison Avenue boutiques, and Museum Mile — the stretch of Fifth Avenue bordering Central Park that hosts the Met, the Guggenheim, the Neue Galerie, the Cooper Hewitt, the Jewish Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York in close succession. The area feels quieter and more residential than Midtown, with Central Park as its western border.
The Upper West Side, across the park, has its own institutional cluster along Central Park West: the American Museum of Natural History anchors the neighborhood's south end, while Lincoln Center — home to the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, and New York City Ballet — sits a bit further south. The Upper West Side has a slightly more bohemian-intellectual, family-friendly reputation than the Upper East Side, with Riverside Park along the Hudson as its western edge. Both neighborhoods are best explored on foot with a Central Park crossing in between.