Madison Square Garden
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Madison Square Garden Visitor guide

You don’t need us to convince you to go to Madison Square Garden. Everyone you know who has been to New York City has already been telling you that you have to go there, that it’s one of the best fan experiences you could have, that there isn’t a bad seat in the house, that the atmosphere is so fun, etc… so we’re not going to try to add to that right now.

What we’ve set out to do is compile some of the best fan tips that we’ve received for MSG into one guide. That is, if we were lucky enough to be planning a trip to New York City right now, here is what we’d include in our inevitable visit to the Garden.

First, get your ticket

After you’ve checked what sports are on at MSG and chosen your game, you’ll have a decision to make about where to sit.

Image from http://www.thegarden.com/seating.html
Image from http://www.thegarden.com/seating.html

The seating tips for Madison Square Garden from our SWIAM users say:

– Section 214 is the best value for money
– Try to avoid being behind the goals/rings at either end
– Get into the 100’s section if you don’t mind spending a bit more money

It has already been mentioned a million times before – but you’d be hard pressed to find a bad place to sit at MSG. So these tips are all relative.

For example, experiences like this clearly aren’t just limited to one section:

Decide how you’re getting there

The overwhelming majority of people will tell you to get the Subway (or Amtrak, or NJ Transit, or the bus) to the Garden, as it is located on top of Penn Station, which is the main public transport station in New York City. Or, they’ll tell you to just walk there – Manhattan is an easy-to-navigate grid, after all.

So that would be our advice, too.

If, for some reason, you are compelled to drive, John from NYC gave us a video tip about how you can park for free at MSG.

…but, if it’s us, we’re either walking or getting the subway.

Choose where you’ll get food & drink before or after the game

Your choice here kind of depends on whether you’d prefer to go with the tip that has received the most upvotes, or with the place that has been mentioned in multiple different tips posted on our site.

Pennsylvania 6 NYC was described as having an “extensive collection” of beers as well as “good food and giant projection screens”. A handful of people agreed, upvoting this tip.

It does look like a good setup:

Although The Pennsy also received mentions in multiple tips from fans. Its benefits include the fact that it is right by the stadium and therefore often filled with sports fans on their way to the game.

Otherwise, Maria has another suggestion you might have heard of before…

Do a stadium tour before attending

One thing that really adds to your gameday experience is knowing a bit about the stadium itself before you attend. Thankfully, MSG run stadium tours pretty much every day where you can get a deeper understanding of one of the world’s most iconic venues for under 30 bucks. Follow this link for more information.

It might be better to go on one of these tours in a day leading up to your game rather than on gameday itself, as MSG staff take you through the team locker rooms if there is no game scheduled for that day.

Finally… tag us in any of your photos

…because we never tire of hearing about people’s successful sports travel stories:

Happy trip planning!