New York is famous for its skyline, but some of our favorite hours in the city are spent under trees. Here are ten parks and gardens across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and New York Harbor where we go to slow down, each linked to its official site so you can check hours and events before you set out.
Most of these are free to enter. The two botanical gardens charge admission; see their sites for current prices and free-entry times.
Manhattan’s Parks and Gardens
1. Central Park
Central Park is the one everyone knows, and it still rewards a slow day. For flowers, head to the Conservatory Garden on the East Side between 104th and 106th Streets: six acres of formal gardens, known for tulips, lilacs, crabapples, summer perennials and chrysanthemums, and the park’s only formal garden. Then walk the loop around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir for skyline views in every direction.
You can cover the park on foot, by bike or on a guided walk. Our visitor’s guide to Central Park has the highlights and the best entrances.
2. Bryant Park
Bryant Park sits behind the New York Public Library on 42nd Street, and it is Midtown’s outdoor living room. There’s a big lawn, movable chairs under the plane trees, Le Carrousel, games such as chess and pétanque, and the open-air Reading Room with books and magazines to borrow.
In the colder months the lawn becomes the Bank of America Winter Village, with an ice rink and rows of holiday market stalls. bryantpark.org has this season’s dates.
3. The High Line
The High Line is a park built on an old elevated freight rail line on the West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, through Chelsea, to West 34th Street at Hudson Yards, with wild-looking planting, public art and plenty of places to sit above the traffic.
Walk it south to north in the morning, before the crowds. Our complete guide to the High Line covers the access points and what to see along the way.
4. Little Island
A short walk from the southern end of the High Line, Little Island is a park on Pier 55 in Hudson River Park, at West 13th Street. It stands on concrete piles shaped like tulips, rising out of the Hudson next to the old wooden pier stumps. Paths climb through trees and lawns to lookouts over the river, and there’s an amphitheater for summer performances.
5. The Battery
At the southern tip of Manhattan, the Battery (still often called Battery Park) has perennial gardens designed by the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, the SeaGlass Carousel and views across New York Harbor. The ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island leave from here, so it pairs well with a morning on the water.
6. Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is the one on this list you can’t walk into. It is a private garden square, locked behind iron railings, and the keys belong to residents of the buildings around it. You can still walk the square, look in through the fence at the statue of the actor Edwin Booth, and admire the 19th-century houses around it. Our story on the locked park in the heart of Manhattan explains how it has stayed private.
In the Harbor
7. Governors Island
Governors Island is a 172-acre island in New York Harbor, about 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, and it is open every day of the year (checked October 2026). Ferries leave from the Battery Maritime Building next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. It’s car-free, with hammocks, lawns, historic forts and hills built for views of the Statue of Liberty. Our guide to Governors Island has more.
Brooklyn and the Bronx
8. Prospect Park
Brooklyn’s big park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the team behind Central Park. Spread out on the Long Meadow, walk the Ravine (Brooklyn’s only forest) and circle the 60-acre Lake. Families can add the Prospect Park Zoo and the carousel. Our Prospect Park visitor’s guide suggests a route.
9. Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Right next to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is at its most famous in spring, when its flowering cherries bloom. Our favorite corner is the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, with its stone lantern, little bridge and maples reflected in the water. Our Brooklyn Botanic Garden guide covers the seasons.
10. New York Botanical Garden
Up in the Bronx, the New York Botanical Garden is worth a full day. The Victorian-style glasshouse, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, holds palms, desert plants and seasonal shows, and outside you can walk through the Thain Family Forest, an old-growth woodland inside the city. Our guide to the New York Botanical Garden has tips for getting there.
Planning Your Park Days
Pair parks that sit close together: the High Line and Little Island, the Battery and Governors Island, Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Go early on weekends, carry water in summer, and check each official site for opening hours, closures and events before you travel.
Which New York park would you head to first?
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