Parks in New York: Which Ones Are Worth Your Time

New York is one of the world's biggest concentrations of concrete and steel, but it's also a city with a huge amount of designed green space and some of the most famous parks in the world.

Here's a guide to New York's parks,  to help you find your way around the city's most important gardens:

The most important parks in New York

New York's most famous parks are in Manhattan, so let's start there:

Central Park

A New York icon and one of the top attractions to visit in the city (and more than once!)

Central Park is a masterclass in landscape design. Everything here was planned, even the stretches that look like untouched wilderness.

It's so big that it pays to have a guide to Central Park so you don't miss any of its highlights.

The High Line Park

A park unlike any other in the world, built on a disused elevated rail line. That, and more, is Manhattan's trendiest park.

It sits in the cutting-edge Meatpacking District, close to major attractions. Walking it end to end is something you have to do.

Read all the details for visiting the High Line Park.

Bryant Park

This is the classic New York city park, ringed by famous skyscrapers.

Something is always happening here: festivals of Broadway hits and free movie screenings in summer, a free ice rink and a Christmas market once the cold sets in.

That and a lot more is Bryant Park, and it's well worth a visit.

Fort Tryon Park

It isn't famous and few tourists know about it, but we still think you should go.

It's one of those surprising corners of the city.

You'll see the Hudson River and the start of the Hudson Valley like nowhere else, and you can also visit the Met's medieval art collection.

Learn more about Fort Tryon Park, in northern Manhattan.

Battery Park

For a lot of people this park is just the departure point for the Statue of Liberty, but it's much more than that.

This is where the colonial artillery stood, protecting the young port of New York from invaders. Castle Clinton survives from those days.

There are also monuments like The Sphere, a sculpture that stood at the World Trade Center until 9/11 and now honors the victims.

Battery Park is also perfect for looking out at the water and the Statue in the distance. Give Battery Park a chance 🙂

Parks outside Manhattan

Now let's look at the best known parks in New York's other boroughs.

They're great for taking a break and seeing «real people» jogging, picnicking, studying. Step off the usual tourist routes and you'll get to know a more authentic New York:

New York Botanical Garden

The beautiful, enormous New York Botanical Garden is in a very safe neighborhood in the Bronx.

It's especially worth a visit if you're traveling at Christmas with kids.

That's when they set up the famous Holiday Train Show: hundreds of feet of toy train track running through scale models of New York landmarks.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

If you love nature, here's another botanical garden, with spectacular cherry blossoms in spring. Head to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

And if you want more, there's the Queens Botanical Garden and the Chinese Scholar’s Garden, a peaceful corner of China in the middle of New York.

Prospect Park

Staying in Brooklyn, Prospect Park is the borough's own Central Park.

It's surrounded by lovely residential neighborhoods, near the Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

It feels wilder than its Manhattan counterpart, but don't be fooled: just like Central Park, everything, including «the wild parts,» was designed, and by the same architect, Frederick Law Olmsted.

Brooklyn Bridge Park

This park at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, right on the East River, is one of the best spots for photographing the New York skyline.

The ideal move is to get there before dark and watch the lights of Manhattan come on one by one.

If you're traveling with kids, there's a famous carousel and other fairground rides.

Find out how to get to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Gantry Plaza State Park

Gantry Plaza State Park is one of the best viewpoints for Manhattan, in the fashionable neighborhood of Long Island City.

It's quiet, rarely crowded, and full of gems from Queens's industrial past like the vintage Pepsi-Cola sign and the gantries that give it its name (the old dockside cranes).

Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens is another very important New York park that few tourists visit.

There's plenty to see and do: the huge scale model of New York at the Queens Museum, the Mets stadium, and the Unisphere, symbol of Queens and New York's monument to the 1960s World's Fair.

Astoria Park

Astoria Park is another park framed by bridges.

It's in New York's Greek neighborhood, Astoria in Queens.

At dusk you'll get stunning views of Manhattan and really feel the presence and the role of the bridges, which are a big part of what lets this city of pieces be as big as it is.

Socrates Sculpture Park

Also in Queens, in Long Island City, on the banks of the East River, you'll find Socrates Sculpture Park.

This public park shows large-scale sculptures and installations. It's also a great spot for Manhattan views.

Governors Island

You can only visit this little island south of Manhattan between May and October.

This was home to the English colonial governors, hence the name, then a military fort, and today it's a recreation park New Yorkers love when they want to escape the city's noise.

The best part is the views of Lower Manhattan. Read how to visit Governors Island.

Pelham Bay Park

At more than 2,700 acres, Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in New York.

It's untouched territory in the northern Bronx, where city dwellers go hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, you name it. This one really is natural, not designed 😉

You'll find that same vibe at The Greenbelt, the most visited attraction on Staten Island, a series of nature parks in the center of this NYC borough.

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And that wraps up our list of New York parks we recommend visiting 🙂