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Public space

Parks & places

Parks, piers, plazas and gardens. Free places to sit, walk and look — the half of the city you don't have to buy anything to use.

See all 32 on the map

Everywhere worth going

ParkCentral Park · Rockefeller Park BeachConey Island · Rockaway Beach StreetFreemans Alley · Commerce Street GardenFord Foundation Atrium · Chinese Scholar's Garden PromenadeBrooklyn Heights Promenade TrailHudson River Greenway · The High Line PierPier 3, Brooklyn Bridge Park ViewpointThe Manhattan Bridge Lookout BridgeWilliamsburg Bridge · Manhattan Bridge LandmarkGrand Central Main Concourse · 190th Street–Overlook Terrace WaterfrontGantry Plaza State Park

Park

9.9Central ParkCitywide843 acres of engineered wilderness that the rest of the city was built around.9.9Rockefeller ParkTribecaThe best open space downtown, and the one that hits differently if you actually live here.9.8Prospect ParkPark SlopeA wilder, more rural Central Park — the same designers, a decade later, on land they liked better.9.8Washington Square ParkGreenwich VillageThe rawest square in New York — everything happening at once, and never the same twice.9.2Fort Greene ParkFort GreeneOlmsted and Vaux on a hill, with a 149-foot column on top of a crypt.9.2Tudor City GreensMidtownTwo private-feeling gardens above 42nd Street that anyone can walk into.9.1Cobble Hill ParkCobble HillAn acre of brick paths and benches that works as somebody else's front garden.9.1Fort Tryon ParkWashington HeightsThe best park in Manhattan that most of Manhattan has never been to.8.9Domino ParkWilliamsburgThe old sugar refinery site, rebuilt as a waterfront park that kept its cranes.

Beach

9.8Coney IslandConey IslandA boardwalk, a wooden roller coaster from 1927, and the Atlantic at the end of four subway lines.9.8Rockaway BeachRockaway BeachA proper beach town inside the city — and the ferry ride out is half the reason to go.9.1Pebble BeachDUMBOA stony little beach under the Manhattan Bridge, and the hinge of the whole DUMBO waterfront.

Street

9.8Freemans AlleyNolitaA narrow, graffiti-lined alley off Rivington that dead-ends at one of downtown's best-hidden restaurant doors.9.7Commerce StreetWest VillageA crooked two-block street that explains why people romanticize the West Village.9.1Love LaneBrooklyn HeightsOne block long, named for what used to happen at the end of it.8.5The 187th Street StepsWashington HeightsA street that gave up and became a staircase, climbing the ridge in one go.8.5Greenwich StreetTribecaA walk down Lower Manhattan that changes century every few blocks.8.5Orange, Pineapple & Cranberry StreetsBrooklyn HeightsThree short blocks of Brooklyn Heights with the best names and the best doorways in the city.8.1Riverside Drive at 96thUpper West SideThe best walk on the Upper West Side, in either direction from 96th.

Garden

9.7Ford Foundation AtriumMidtownA third of an acre of indoor jungle behind a glass wall on 43rd Street, free to walk into.8.9Chinese Scholar's GardenSnug HarborA classical Chinese garden on Staten Island, built by artisans from Suzhou.

Promenade

9.7Brooklyn Heights PromenadeBrooklyn HeightsA third of a mile of cantilevered walkway with the entire skyline laid out in front of it.

Trail

9.7Hudson River GreenwayCitywideThe most scenic ride in New York — get lost on it, and the George Washington Bridge never seems to get closer.9.7The High LineChelseaA freight rail viaduct that was going to be demolished, replanted instead.

Pier

9.6Pier 3, Brooklyn Bridge ParkBrooklyn HeightsA local escape into greenery, with art installations you find rather than get shown.

Viewpoint

9.6The Manhattan Bridge LookoutDUMBOThe bridge with Manhattan sitting perfectly proportioned behind it — and far fewer people than the famous corner.

Bridge

9.6Williamsburg BridgeWilliamsburgThe one to walk. Impeccable views from both sides, and a subway running straight down the middle.9.5Manhattan BridgeDUMBORolling thunder. Walk it at sunset, stand in the right spot, and feel the subway come through the steel.8.5Brooklyn BridgeDUMBOBeautiful, genuinely — and packed with the worst crowds in the city. Go off-peak or not at all.

Landmark

9.5Grand Central Main ConcourseMidtownThe best room in New York, and it costs nothing to stand in it.9.1190th Street–Overlook TerraceWashington HeightsA subway station carved 140 feet into the rock, with a tunnel that opens onto a park.

Waterfront

8.7Gantry Plaza State ParkLong Island CityThe best head-on view of Midtown, from the Queens side of the river.