Top of the Rock.

For those of you who have done (or want to avoid) the top of the Empire State Building, I recommend hitting up the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center.

1. It's cheaper (tickets are $20 for adults, as opposed to $40 for the top of the Empire).
2. You can gawk AT the Empire State Building.
3. After Top of the Rock, you can head down to Magnolia bakery for their famous red velvet cupcakes (supposedly the best in NY). Magnolia's at the corner of 6th Ave. and 49th St. and it makes for a perfect snack after a sunset trip to the Top of the Rock.

I did this with my parents and my aunt and uncle, and it was a really fun evening. Rockefeller has a really neat history behind it. It was built from 1930-1939, entirely during the Great Depression... not the kind of project you'd expect when half the country was in soup lines. There's some history videos in the concourse before you go up to the top, and I highly recommend pausing to watch them.