Six NYC waterfront walks, by river
New York is an archipelago, and its best free hours are on the water’s edge — six waterfront parks in our data, mapped by which shoreline they’re on.
It's easy to forget New York is islands until you're standing at the rail of a waterfront park with the skyline across the water. Here are the waterfront spots in our data, grouped by which shoreline you'll find them on.
The Brooklyn side of the East River. Brooklyn Bridge Park runs along Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO; the Brooklyn Heights Promenade sits just above it, with the best free head-on view of Lower Manhattan; and Domino Park, in Williamsburg.
The Manhattan side. Hudson River Park runs up the West Side; East River Park along the Lower East Side.
Queens. Gantry Plaza State Park, in Long Island City — the sunset view a lot of locals send visitors to instead of a deck.
All of them are free, which puts them in the same conversation as the rest of the city's free things to do.
How this was made. This post was drafted with AI (openai-compat:command-r:latest) and reviewed by a person before publishing — see how we handle AI-assisted writing. It was written only from the facts below; nothing was invented beyond them. Grounded on: Brooklyn Bridge Park — Brooklyn Heights/DUMBO, Brooklyn; Hudson River Park — West Side, Manhattan; East River Park — Lower East Side, Manhattan; Gantry Plaza State Park — Long Island City, Queens; Brooklyn Heights Promenade — Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn; Domino Park — Williamsburg, Brooklyn.