Description of Business and Organization - Narrative (Details) ft² in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020 ft² entity office_and_property parcel $ / shares
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	10.1
Number of entities to be treated as taxable REIT subsidiary of ESRT \| entity	2
Empire State Realty Trust \| Empire State Realty OP
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
OP units owned by the Company (as a percent)	60.10%
ESRT \| Empire State Realty Trust \| Empire State Realty OP
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
OP units owned by the Company (as a percent)	60.10%
Common Class A \| ESRT
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Par value (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 0.01
Office Building
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	9.4
Number of properties \| office_and_property	14
Office Building \| Manhattan
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	7.6
Number of properties \| office_and_property	9
Office Building \| Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	1.8
Number of properties \| office_and_property	5
Development Parcel
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of properties \| parcel	3
Retail \| Manhattan and Westport, Connecticut
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	0.2
Retail \| Manhattan
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	0.5
Number of properties \| office_and_property	4
Retail \| Westport, Connecticut
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of properties \| office_and_property	2
Other Property \| Stamford, Connecticut
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Area of real estate property (in sqft)	0.4

Number of Entities to be Treated as Taxable REIT Subsidiary

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[Line Items] for Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Table]

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Area of a real estate property.

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- Definition

Face amount or stated value per share of common stock.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(29))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

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Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 272
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6373374&loc=d3e70478-108055

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- Definition

The number of real estate properties owned as of the balance sheet date.

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