Free attractions and days out in New York City
Check out our roundup of free attractions and spend an afternoon exploring classic NYC landmarks on the cheap.
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Free things to do today
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Free attractions and days out
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Free things to do in NYC: Your guide to gratis entertainment
Free attractions and days out in New York City: Central Park Photograph: Edward Yourdon
Even the most seasoned New Yorker should revisit those essential NYC landmarks. (Tourists flock to them for a reason.) Discover the free attractions—including the High Line, Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park—in our guide.
RECOMMENDED: Full list of free things to do in NYC
The High Line
- Rated as: 4/5
- Critics choice
- Free
RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions There’s something uniquely New York about this aerie. Built on an abandoned railway track, the space is ingenious in its use of reclaimed industrial detritus, a necessity in footage-starved Manhattan. But what we like best is how the pathway takes you above the city while keeping you rooted in urban life:
- Washington St at Gansevoort St, to Tenth Ave at 30th St
Brooklyn Bridge Park
- Rated as: 4/5
- Critics choice
- Free
RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions Some city parks—Central and Prospect, most obviously—were built to replicate rustic fields and preserve serene woodland. Brooklyn Bridge Park, however, was not—and that’s precisely why it has become so popular in the almost three years since it debuted. The project has transformed a chunk of the Brooklyn
- Main St, at Fulton Ferry Landing, 11201
5 Pointz Aerosol Art Center
- Rated as: 4/5
- Critics choice
- Free
RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions This Long Island City warehouse, treated as a 200,000-square-foot canvas, is one of the world’s best places to see the full spectrum of spray-paint art. Ride a Queens-bound 7 train past the Hunters Point Ave stop for an elevated, panoramic view of the names of NYC’s graffiti forebears—like Iz the
- 45-46 Davis St, at Jackson Ave
Governors Island
- Critics choice
- Free
A seven-minute ride on a free ferry takes you to this seasonal island sanctuary, a scant 800 yards from lower Manhattan. Thanks to its strategic position in the middle of New York Harbor, Governors Island was a military outpost and off-limits to the public for 200 years. It finally opened to summer visitors in 2006. The verdant, 172-acre isle
- Governors Island
Central Park
- Rated as: 4/5
- Critics choice
- Free
For your stroll, head to the 38-acre wilderness area on the west side of the park known as the Ramble. The area has a storied history (as a gay cruising spot dating back to the turn of the last century, among other things), and it was even proposed as a recreational area in the mid-'50s. Thankfully, the winding trails, rocks and streams seemingly
- 59th St to 110th St, between Fifth and Eighth Aves
Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk
- Free
Encompassing more than 170 acres of sand, this family-friendly beach attracts New Yorkers from all five boroughs. Seven playgrounds keep kids happy while wave riders enjoy the city's only surfing areas. Fishing, skating, volleyball, sunning and, of course, swimming are also favorite activities. Rockaway Beach is also an excellent place to test
- Boardwalk, between Beach 9th and 149th Sts
Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Promenade
- Free
RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions It’s easy to forget that you’re standing atop the hectic Brooklyn-Queens Expressway while strolling along this esplanade, which opened in 1950. But the thoroughfare is inextricably linked to the Promenade’s existence: Community opposition to the BQE—which was originally intended to cut through Brooklyn
- Columbia Heights, between Middagh and Montague Sts
Chrysler Building
- Free
RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions We won’t argue if you want to call this glimmering pinnacle of Art Deco architecture NYC’s most eye-popping skyscraper. Triangle-shaped windows in its crown are lined with lights, creating a beautiful effect come nighttime. Oozing a moneyed sophistication oft identified with old New York, the structure
- 405 Lexington Ave, at 44th St
Grand Central Terminal, Main Concourse
- Rated as: 4/5
- Critics choice
- Free
The 1913 Beaux Arts train station is the city’s most spectacular point of arrival. The station played an important role in the nation’s historic preservation movement, after a series of legal battles that culminated in the 1978 Supreme Court decision affirming NYC’s landmark laws. One notable oddity: the constellations on the Main Concourse
- 42nd St to 44th St
Flushing Meadows–Corona Park
- Rated as: 4/5
- Critics choice
- Free
RECOMMENDED: 50 best New York attractions Give the city’s second-biggest park a day and it’ll show you the world: Its most enduring icon is the Unisphere, the mammoth steel globe created for the 1964 World’s Fair. But there’s also first-rate culture and sports at the New York Hall of Science, Arthur Ashe Stadium and Citi Field (depending on how
- 111th St to Van Wyck Expwy, between Flushing Bay and Grand Central Pkwy
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