343 Best Sights in New York City, New York

Ride the 1 train to its northernmost stop and you'll be greeted—surprisingly—by a park so sprawling and leafy, it's hard to believe you're still technically in New York City. Van Cortlandt started its life as the grounds of a 17th-century plantation built by an officer of the Dutch West India Company, and you can still visit the estate to learn about its generations of owners and the people who were enslaved there.

The park itself has plenty of hiking trails, bridle paths, and sports facilities including a cricket pitch, plus the Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the oldest public golf course in America, which includes a picturesque lake house offering rowing rentals in handmade wooden boats.

The gallery features contemporary artists with a focus on the historical connection of their art to works by established artists. It occupies space in a historic town house on a tree-lined street.

When it opened in 2019, the centerpiece of the new Hudson Yards development was an instant city landmark serving as both an interactive artwork and photo-op paradise. Created by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, Vessel consists of 154 interlocking flights of stairs stretching 16 stories high, resembling a gigantic, woven copper basket. A visit might make you feel like you're inside an M. C. Escher drawing. Trips to the top are paused as of this writing, but it's still well worth a peek from the the surrounding pedestrian plaza.

A rarity in Manhattan, this pretty, brick-covered street—really a glorified alley—is lined on the north side with the former mews (carriage houses) of the area's homes. Although the street is private, gated, and owned by New York University, which uses many of the buildings for clubs and offices, it's open to pedestrian traffic.

With views of the Hudson River and New Jersey's dramatic Palisades cliffs, Wave Hill is a former 19th-century estate with residents that have included Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. Today it's a renowned 28-acre public garden and cultural center that attracts visitors from all over the world, with exquisite, theme gardens, from an aquatic garden to a shade border. Grand beech and oak trees tower above wide lawns, an elegant pergola overlooks the majestic river view, and benches on curving pathways provide quiet respite. The 1843 Wave Hill House is home to The Café and hosts workshops, talks, and concerts. Exhibitions in the Glyndor Gallery take place spring through fall each year. On the grounds, visitors enjoy a wide range of walks and gardening and wellness programs and walks year-round.

Until 40 Wall Street stole the title in 1930, the 792-foot, neo-Gothic Woolworth Building, opened in 1913, was the world's tallest building. For security, the spectacular lobby is no longer open to the public on a daily basis, though exclusive-access architecture tours are sometimes available through Open House New York. The lobby is home to a stained-glass skylight and carved wooden sculptures set into the portals to the left and right: one represents namesake F. W. Woolworth counting his nickels and dimes; another depicts the architect, Cass Gilbert, cradling in his arms a model of his creation. But even if you don't make it inside, the tower's exterior is exquisite, too.