Places / Park / Greenwich Village

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9.8 / 10

Washington Square Park

The rawest square in New York — everything happening at once, and never the same twice.

MUSEENYC · August 18, 2026

Where
Washington Square, Manhattan, Greenwich VillageOpen in Google Maps ↗
Cost
Free
Go when
Warm afternoons, any day

You will see a bit of everything here in a very short space of time, and it is always breathing, evolving, changing. Things happen in this park that you would not see anywhere else in the world. Tons of art, music and free expression, all of it at once.

What to know

Sit in different parts of the park for a few minutes at a time and you’ll get a completely different experience from each. Sit at each quarter around the fountain and something new happens every time. It may be overwhelming at first — settle in, and you will never want to leave.

It was a burial ground and then a parade ground before it was a park, and there are still remains beneath it.

Washington Square, Manhattan, Greenwich Village. Directions in Google Maps ↗