World's Coolest Observation Decks
Find some of the world’s most thrilling views atop a growing number of observation decks.
You could be standing on air.
That’s what it feels like when you step inside one of the glass boxes that protrude from the 103rd-floor Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis (formerly Sears) Tower. After all, the seamless, apparently unsupported glass floor is the only thing between your toes and the urban mosaic 1,300 feet below. Even if you’ve been to hundreds of observation decks, the effect of the Ledge is still unnerving.
And really, a skyscraper observation deck should make you feel like you’re flying. Decks, at their best, are a mechanism for transforming the engineering genius of super-tall buildings into pure visceral magic. Emerge from the elevators at the top of places like Toronto’s CN Tower and you get a double hit: a dizzying view and a powerful sense of immersion in the building’s unprecedented scale.
Fortunately for altitude-loving travelers, the demand for that total skyscraper experience is seemingly endless. There are currently so many observation decks opening that it’s hard to keep track.
Burj Khalifa,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Note that while the observation deck at the newest world’s tallest building (around 2,717 feet) is called At the Top, it’s not. It’s on the 124th floor of 163. What it offers is massive double-height windows, an open-air terrace, and an unparalleled perspective, which tends to make the real Dubai look a lot like the architectural models you see on display over town.
Observe This: Buy tickets online well in advance if you want to visit at sunset. Note that a special $108 ticket will allow you to cut the line.
The Willis (formerly Sears) Tower,Chicago
How do you make the observation deck of a 37-year-old skyscraper that hasn’t been the world’s tallest since 1998 feel new again? You attach a series of magnificently scary glass boxes, collectively known as the Ledge, to the venerable Skydeck. The illusion that you’re standing unsupported 103 stories above the ground is a real crowd-pleaser.
Observe This: The boxes are hung from a moving steel frame that allows them to be retracted into the building to make way for the window-washing rig.
Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower,Guangzhou, China
Scheduled to open to the public in November, this astonishingly skinny, shockingly tall (2,001 feet) tower has two primary functions: to support a TV antenna and to show tourists a good time. Attractions include a guided open-air climb up 600 feet along a winding staircase through a jungle of structural steel, a tiered sundeck at the very top where weary climbers can lounge on bleachers, and yes, the World’s Highest Ferris Wheel.
Observe This: Supposedly the two revolving restaurants won’t be serving soup because the tower’s swaying motion will turn attempts to eat it into a Charlie Chaplin routine.
Shanghai World Financial Center,Shanghai, China
On the 100th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center Observatory, the top tier of a three-layer observatory is 1,555 feet up and still the world’s highest. Architecture geeks will love it for the fact that it spans the building’s most distinctive feature, the rectangular cutout that makes the whole building resemble a giant bottle opener.
Observe This: Check out the elevator artwork by Toshio Iwai on the way up.
Grand Canyon Skywalk, Arizona
Whose idea was this? Cantilevered way, way out over the Grand Canyon’s west rim, with the Colorado River some 4,000 feet below, this U-shaped glass bridge is arguably the world’s highest observation deck. It’s certainly the most mind-blowing one.
Observe This: Deck visitors have to don paper slippers over their shoes to keep from scuffing the glass.
International Commerce Centre,Hong Kong, China
Sky 100, atop this newly completed 108-story tower (currently the world’s fourth tallest), will give visitors the opportunity to look back at Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour. When the deck opens later in 2010, you can skip the multimedia exhibitions and visitor resource center. The thing here is the view, pure and simple, a panorama of one of the world’s most spectacular-looking cities.
Observe This: Try to visit sky 100 at Christmas, when Hong Kong office towers are decorated with multistory holiday lights.
SkyTower, Auckland, New Zealand
SkyTower, at 1,076 feet the “tallest man-made structure in New Zealand,” doesn’t hold any world records, but it is home to two high-adrenaline attractions: Sky Jump, an opportunity to BASE jump while safely attached to a wire, and Sky Walk, a stroll around the tower’s pergola while snuggly harnessed and tethered to an overhead rail.
Observe This: A similar Skywalk is available at theSydney Tower in Australia, and the Macau Tower in China features bungee jumping.
CN Tower, Toronto, Ontario
Toronto’s famous television tower, 1,815 feet high, was the world’s tallest structure (taller than the tallest skyscrapers) until the Burj Khalifa came along. It is also the home of the original observation-deck glass floor, 256 square feet of it, installed in 1994. But unlike on Chicago’s Ledge, here you can clearly see the structural members that support the thing.
Observe This: In 2008, they added North America’s first glass-floored elevator. Traveling up to deck level at 1,136 feet, it’s also the world’s highest glass-bottomed elevator.
The Empire State Building,
New York City
What this 80-year-old, 102-story landmark (the world’s tallest until the World Trade Center stole its title in 1972) has that newer, taller towers don’t is an unsurpassed location in the middle of Manhattan. The 86th-floor observatory has an outdoor promenade that gives visitors a full sensory immersion in New York City’s sights, sounds, and smells.
Observe This: Yes, you can pay $15 extra and continue on to the 102nd floor, but the 86th is really much nicer.
Theme Building Observation Deck,Los Angeles International Airport
No, it’s not very high up—only 68 feet—but this 1961 tribute to the flying saucer is inarguably cool. It just reopened for the first time since 9/11, after a $12.3 million renovation with a new security apparatus and structural upgrades (no more falling stucco). The outdoor observation deck offers a 360-degree view of flights arriving and departing at LAX.
Observe This: Try the very Jetsons-y Encounter restaurant on the level just below the deck.
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