39 Best Sights in New York City, New York

This sweeping feat of green urban renewal stretches from the Manhattan Bridge in DUMBO to the Brooklyn Bridge and south all the way to Pier 6, carpeting old industrial sites along the waterfront with scenic esplanades and lush meadows. The park has playgrounds, sports fields, food concessions, the wonderfully restored Jane's Carousel, and lots of grass for lounging. In the summer, there are outdoor movies on the Harbor View Lawn. There are pickleball courts on Pier 2. You can access the park at various points; just head down the hill toward the East River and you can't miss it.

This lovely green space spread out among landmarks and skyscrapers is one of Manhattan's most popular parks. Tall London plane trees line the perimeter of the sunny central lawn, overlooking stone terraces, flower beds, and snack kiosks. The garden tables scattered about fill with lunching office workers and folks enjoying the park's free Wi-Fi. In summer, there are free readings, live jazz, and "Broadway in Bryant Park" musical theater performances. Most popular of all is the summer film festival: locals leave work early to snag a spot on the lawn for the outdoor screenings each Monday at dusk.

At the east side of the park, near a bronze cast of Gertrude Stein, is the stylish Bryant Park Grill, which has a rooftop garden, and the adjacent open-air Bryant Park Café, open seasonally. On the south side of the park is an old-fashioned carousel ($4) where kids can also attend storytellings and magic shows. Come late October, the park rolls out the artificial frozen "pond" (October–March, daily 8 am–10 pm; skate rental starts at $18) for free ice-skating (bring your own padlock for the lockers). Surrounding the ice rink are the Christmas-market stalls of the holiday shops, selling handcrafted goods and local foods.

Come to Fort Tryon Park to visit the Met Museum's medieval branch, the Cloisters, and stay for the glorious Hudson River views, the gorgeous landscaped gardens, the 8 miles of winding pathways, and the Revolutionary War history. Perched on one of the highest points in Manhattan (hence "the heights,") the 67-acre oasis was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and gifted to New York City in 1935 by John D. Rockefeller Jr., and today its more than 650 varieties of plants, trees, and shrubs are the gifts that keep on giving with every season. During the Revolutionary War, the area was part of the Battle of Fort Washington, a seminal Continental army defeat in the American Revolution. While the Continental Army ultimately prevailed, the site originally named for the last British governor of colonial New York, William Tryon, continued to be referred to as Fort Tryon. Look for the monument to Margaret Corbin, a woman who took up her husband's canon when he was shot and killed during battle: “On this hilltop stood Fort Tryon, the northern outwork of Fort Washington, its gallant defense against the Hessian troops by the Maryland and Virginia regiment 16-November-1776 was shared by Margaret Corbin, the first American woman to take a soldier’s part in the war for liberty.” Other highlights include the Billings Arcade, the remains of a stunning arched entrance to a grand mansion (you've likely seen this on Instagram) and the Heather Garden, where locals welcome spring with parading bagpipes and heather shearings.  Don't miss the gatehouse on your way into the park with the apt sign "NYC's coolest office."

The quiet green spaces of New York City are treasured by locals, and one of the best is Hudson River Park, a 5-mile path from Battery Place to 59th Street. This riverside stretch, incorporating the piers that jut out into the Hudson, has been renovated into a landscaped park with walking and cycling paths, a seasonal minigolf course, dog runs, and skate parks. The TriBeCa portion consists of Piers 25 and 26, and has picnic spaces, playgrounds, a sand volleyball court, and an educational river-ecology area. The areas adjacent to the West Village (Piers 45 and 46) and near Chelsea (Piers 63 and 64) are equally attractive, with lots of spots for leisure and recreation. To the north, beginning at 72nd Street, is Riverside Park.

Much like the High Line when it opened, Little Island was an instant hit with locals and visitors when the gates to this man-made isle in the middle of the Hudson River first swung open in May 2021. The 2.4-acre park is elevated on 132 tulip-looking concrete stilts and connected to Manhattan by two footbridges. Funded mostly by Barry Diller and Diane von Fürstenberg, the island park and its rolling stair-clad hills make for a fun wander. It also provides stunning views of the Manhattan skyline. There's a small outdoor food court and an ambient amphitheater for free concerts. 

Brooklyn residents are passionate about Prospect Park, and with good reason: lush green spaces, gently curved walkways, summer concerts, vivid foliage in autumn, and an all-season skating rink make it a year-round getaway. In 1859, the New York Legislature decided to develop plans for a park in the fast-growing city of Brooklyn. After landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux completed the park in the late 1880s, Olmsted remarked that he was prouder of it than any of his other works—including Manhattan's Central Park—and many critics agree. On weekends, those not jogging the 3.35-mile loop gravitate to the rolling hills of the Long Meadow to picnic, fly kites, or play cricket, flag football, or Frisbee. On summer Sundays, foodies flock to Breeze Hill, site of outdoor food market Smorgasburg's second Brooklyn location. The park's north entrance is at Grand Army Plaza, where the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch (patterned on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris) honors Civil War veterans. On Saturday, year-round, a greenmarket at the plaza throngs with shoppers. 

A good way to experience the park is to walk the Long Meadow—or stop in for the occasional free yoga class—and then head to the eastern side and south toward the lake. Along the way, you'll encounter attractions including Brooklyn's last remaining forest, including the Lefferts Historic House (now closed for renovations), Prospect Park Audubon Center, and the LeFrak Center. The Prospect Park Carousel, built in 1912, still thrills the kids. The Boathouse, dating from 1905, is a stunning example of Beaux-Arts architecture. The annual Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival takes place at the Prospect Park Bandshell from early June through mid-August. 

This expansive green space runs alongside the Hudson River—hence its name—and offers a welcome dose of tranquility from 72nd to 158th Street, as does the park's south extension, from about 59th to 72nd Street. Walking and biking paths dot the entire park, among them the broad Promenade between 83rd and 96th Streets. The park's original sections were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux of Central Park fame and laid out between 1873 and 1888. Riverside Park also includes the soaring white marble Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (at 89th Street), dedicated to New Yorkers who served in the Civil War, and the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial Plaza (at 80th Street), dedicated in 1947. The 79th Street Marina, with its café, visiting yachts and permanently moored houseboats, is closed for renovations to make the marina climate resilient and expand access for boaters. 

This leafy park is a favorite spot, year-round, for the neighborhood locals who lunch on the benches, picnic in the central green spaces, and put on impromptu jazz concerts. There's a year-round farmers' market by the southwest corner on Sunday, and an annual Halloween dog-costume event. It wasn't always so rosy in the park, though: in 1988, police followed then-mayor Ed Koch's orders to evict the many homeless people who had set up makeshift shelters here, and homeless rights and antigentrification activists fought back with sticks and bottles. The park was reclaimed and reopened in 1992 with a midnight curfew, still in effect today.

A park, farmers' market, meeting place, and the site of rallies and demonstrations, this pocket of green space and surrounding public square sit in the center of a bustling residential and commercial neighborhood. The name "Union" originally signified that two main roads—Broadway and 4th Avenue—crossed here. It took on a different meaning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the square became a rallying spot for labor protests; many unions, as well as fringe political parties, moved their headquarters nearby.

Union Square is at its best on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday (8–6), when the largest of the city's greenmarkets draws farmers and food purveyors from the tristate area selling fruit and vegetables, plants, fresh-baked pies and breads, cheeses, cider, fish, and meat. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, artisans sell gift items and food at the large Union Square Holiday Market ( www.urbanspacenyc.com).

New York University dormitories, theaters, and cavernous commercial spaces occupy the restored 19th-century commercial buildings that surround the park, along with some chain stores and restaurants. Statues in the park include those of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi (often wreathed in flowers), and the Marquis de Lafayette (sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, designer of the Statue of Liberty).

NYU students, street musicians, skateboarders, chess players, and those just watching the grand opera of it all generate a maelstrom of activity in this physical and spiritual heart of Greenwich Village. The 9¾-acre park with its iconic central fountain had inauspicious beginnings as a cemetery, principally for yellow-fever victims—an estimated 10,000–22,000 bodies lie below (a headstone was even unearthed in 2009). In the early 1800s, the park was a parade ground and the site of public executions; the notorious Hanging Elm still stands at the northwest corner of the square. 

The triumphal European-style Washington Memorial Arch at the square's northern flank marks the start of 5th Avenue. The original wood-and-papier-mâché arch, situated a half block north, was erected in 1889 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of George Washington's presidential inauguration. The arch was reproduced in Tuckahoe marble in 1892, and the statues—Washington as General Accompanied by Fame and Valor on one side, and Washington as Statesman Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice on the other—were added in 1916 and 1918, respectively.

The small plaza that is Bowling Green, at the foot of Broadway, became New York's first public park in 1733. Legend has it that before that, this was the site upon which Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Native Americans, in 1626, supposedly for what amounted to 24 U.S. dollars. On July 9, 1776, a few hours after citizens learned about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, rioters toppled a statue of British King George III that had occupied the spot for 11 years; much of the statue's lead was melted down into bullets. In 1783, when the occupying British forces fled the city, they defiantly hoisted a Union Jack on a greased, uncleated flagpole so it couldn't be lowered; but patriot John Van Arsdale drove his own cleats into the pole to replace it with the Stars and Stripes. The copper-top subway entrance across State Street is the original one, built in 1904–05. Many know Bowling Green as the home of Arturo Di Modica's 7,000-pound, bronze Charging Bull statue (1989), look for it on the northern tip of the park.

Facing the East River, this park, named for a German immigrant who was a prominent newspaper editor in the 19th century, is so tranquil you'd never guess you're directly above the FDR Drive. Walk along the promenade, and take in views of the river and Roosevelt Island across the way. To the north are Randall's and Wards Islands and the RFK Bridge (aka the Triborough Bridge)—as well as the more immediate sight of locals pushing strollers, riding bikes, or walking their dogs. Within the park is a Federal-style wood-frame house that belies the grandeur of its name: Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the city's mayor.

You might have to share a bench in this tiny park with George Segal's life-size sculptures of a lesbian couple: titled Gay Liberation, the white-painted bronzes were cast in 1980 but not installed until 1992. Standing next to them is a gay male couple, captured mid-chat.

People-watching and/or eating takeout lunch are the things to do in this park. Swing by in the morning, and you'll see men and women practicing tai chi; the afternoons bring intense games of cards and mah-jongg. In the 1880s, a neighborhood-improvement campaign brought about the creation of the park, which was, in the mid-19th century, the site of the infamous area—ruled by dangerous Irish gangs—known as the Five Points because it was the intersection of Mulberry Street, Anthony (now Worth) Street, Cross (now Park) Street, Orange (now Baxter) Street, and Little Water Street (no longer in existence).

Once the grounds of the Domino Sugar Factory, this sprawling riverside park tastefully incorporates clunky metal remnants of its refinery past, including its Artifact Walk, an elevated walkway with Manhattan skyline views. There's also a playground, a garden, dancing fountains, and Tacocina, a walk-up eatery from Danny Meyer of Shake Shack fame. You’ll see locals hanging out at the bocce court or playing with their pooches at the dog run, but most of all, you’ll be able to marvel at a truly spectacular view of the Williamsburg Bridge, seemingly right above your head.

Cherished by residents for its grassy knolls and superb Manhattan views, this park contains vestiges of the 19th-century dock that once occupied these 7 acres. On Saturday, more than a hundred vendors sell artisanal goods at the Smorgasburg open-air market (see Chapter 8, Park Slope and Prospect Park, for full listing). The park can get crowded on summer weekends, so don't be surprised if you find yourself scavenging for an open patch of grass.

The gleaming Unisphere (an enormous, 140-foot-high, steel globe) might tip you off that this 898-acre park was the site of two World's Fairs. Take advantage of the park's barbecue pits, seasonal boat rentals, sports fields, and cultural festivals, but don't forget the art museum, science hall, zoo, theater, carousel, indoor pool, ice-skating rink, pitch-and-putt and mini-golf courses, and model-airplane field. Set aside a day to hit a few primary spots: several are clustered together on the park's northwest side, but reaching others will require long (though peaceful) walks.

The outdoor Queens Night Market ( www.queensnightmarket.com) is held Saturday evening, late April through October, near the New York Hall of Science. It's reminiscent of Asia's popular food markets and generally has about 100 vendors serving flavorful, often-adventurous global fare.

The flat grounds are ideal for family biking; bike rentals are available at two locations from March to early November.

The park is open from 6 am to 9 pm, 365 days a year (as in most city parks, exercise caution when visiting outside daytime hours).

Join New Yorkers cyling, strolling, playing tennis, picnicking, and in summer, partying in droves on the lively and scenic stretch of park that runs from West 155th Street alongside the Hudson River under the George Washington Bridge (G.W.B.) and up to Dyckman Street in Inwood. The park offers unique views of Manhattan, and spectacular views of the bridge and the tree-filled cliffs of New Jersey Palisades across the way. The Little Red Lighthouse, a beloved local icon (and popular photo op) made famous in a children's storybook—The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, written by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward in 1942—is the island of Manhattan's last remaining lighthouse.  If you don't want to walk along the river from 155th Street and just want to visit the lighthouse and linger in the park under the G.W.B., enter the park at 181st Street. You can also grab a CitiBike on 181st Street.

With a walking and biking path extending from Fort Wadsworth 2.5 miles southwest to Miller Field, this Atlantic Ocean–facing city park is one of New York City’s four spacious beachfront areas. Not just for sunbathing or a dip in the ocean on a hot summer day, it also has a skate park, a seasonal snack stand, a fishing pier, and numerous sports fields. About three quarters of the way down—easily accessible by seasonal bike rental—the Turtle Fountain at Midland Beach is a fun stop for photos.

Mosey down to this 12-acre waterfront park for sweeping views of Midtown Manhattan across the East River. The atmospheric stretch comes with piers, manicured lawns, Adirondack chairs, and well-designed benches. It also has interesting relics that nod to Long Island City's industrial past, including towering, restored old gantries (once used as shipping lifts between barges and rail cars) that fringe the river and a massive Pepsi-Cola sign that once stood atop a factory here.

You can't enter this private park, but a look through the bars of its surrounding wrought-iron fence and a stroll around its perimeter are worth your time. The beautifully planted, 2-acre park—designed by developer Samuel B. Ruggles and flanked by grand examples of early-19th-century architecture—dates from 1831 and is permeated with the character of its many celebrated occupants.

When Ruggles bought the property, it went by the Dutch name Krom Moerasje (little crooked swamp). He drained the swamp and set aside 42 lots for a park to be accessible exclusively to those who bought the surrounding lots in his planned, London-style residential square. In 1966, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Gramercy Park a historic district. The park is still owned by residents of the buildings surrounding it (who have keys), although neighbors can now buy visiting privileges.

This popular green space that runs along the East River is undergoing large-scale renovations as the City of New York, in conjunction with the federal government, work on a project to reduce the risks of flooding from storms and sea level rising. Sections of the park, with its spectacular views of Brooklyn and the Manhattan Bridge will remain open but check the website for changing access points. The NYC Ferry dock, located at Corlears Hook, will also remain accessible.

The highlight of this 26-acre space in Prospect Park is the pair of all-season open-air rinks—for ice skating when it's frigid, and roller skating otherwise. Walkways, an lakeside esplanade, and the Music Island nature reserve—all part of the original Olmsted and Vaux plans—contribute to this area of the park that's a pleasant place for a stroll or skating lesson, or to grab a bite to eat at its Bluestone Cafe (open year-round). In the summer, kids can cool off at the splash pad in the summer by day, while DJs spin at theme roller-skating nights on weekends by night.