840 Best Sights in New York, USA

This amusement park, operating since 1962, is good family fun, with more than 30 thrill rides, kiddie rides, a ghost house, a couple of water rides, and a large indoor arcade. There is no admission fee, parking is free, and the food—admittedly not gourmet fare—won't cost you an arm and a leg. In summer, go during the week if you want to avoid long lines.

Often overlooked due to its location amid downtown’s Civic Center courthouses and high-rises, this powerful, compact site is well worth a visit to learn about a lesser-known part of New York’s colonial history. The African Burial Ground National Monument commemorates what was once a 6-acre cemetery, discovered in 1991 when an archaeological study for a new development revealed more than 15,000 intact skeletal remains of enslaved and free Africans. Today, visitors can view the 24-foot-high Ancestral Chamber and the large Circle of the Diaspora, each made of stone from Africa and North America, adorned with African symbols, and designed with symbolic details that honor those who were laid to rest at the site. On the other side of the block, the visitor center features the “Reclaiming Our History” exhibit, details about the work and life of African people in early New York, and the 20th-century community success that preserved the burial ground. The memorial was proclaimed a national monument in 2006 in a ceremony presided over by former mayor Michael Bloomberg and poet Maya Angelou. The visitor center is located at 290 Broadway and the Outdoor Monument is located on the corner of Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way (Elk Street).

Perhaps the most obvious landmark at the junction of Astor Place and Cooper Square is the giant cube balanced on one of its pointy ends. The sculpture, made by Tony Rosenthal, was meant to be temporary when it was installed in 1967, but residents liked it so much that they petitioned to have it made permanent. The steel structure is 8 feet long on each side and has a hidden pole at the center so that it can revolve. The pedestrian plaza in front of the sculpture has a few benches, chairs and tables, plus a kiosk selling coffee and snacks. In the traffic island across the street, an ornate cast-iron replica of a Beaux-Arts kiosk marks the subway entrance for the uptown 6 train—at the beginning of the 20th century, most of the city's Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) subway entrances resembled this one.

From April through October, you can tour the city in a land-and-water vehicle. The 75-minute tour starts on dry ground, cruising the streets of Albany to historic sites. The U.S. Coast Guard–certified vessel then plunges into the Hudson River to give you another perspective of the city skyline. Tours start at the Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center and depart in the morning and early afternoon.

The center's museum gallery is a good place for an orientation. Displays trace the city's history and define its neighborhoods; some include cultural artifacts. The center, downtown, has basic visitor information and often serves as a starting point for guided tours.

The 1791 museum, the state's oldest, has annual rotating exhibits and an impressive permanent collection that includes Hudson River School paintings and an Egyptian mummy exhibit. Silver, furniture, and contemporary-art collections cover regional history dating from the 1500s. The building, which combines a modern expansion with the original 18th-century space, is interesting architecturally.

Twentieth-century art is well represented here. The gallery's collections are especially rich in postwar American and European art, including Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol. Works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir are here as well. On Sunday afternoons in July and August, free jazz performances are held on the massive front steps. The museum's restaurant, Muse, serves dinner and a highly acclaimed brunch.

Allegany State Park's 65,000 acres make this the largest park in the state system. More than 85 mi of trails vein the park, which encompasses forest, meadow, lakes and streams, and hills, and borders Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest to the south. Hikes here range from short, easy strolls to an 18-mi trek over rugged terrain. The park has sandy swimming areas, bridle trails, boat launches and rentals, fishing, miniature golf, mountain-bike rentals, tennis courts, and picnic areas. The 90 mi of snowmobiling trails are a big draw in winter. Lodging options (all year-round) include 424 tent and RV sites, 375 rustic winterized cabins with single beds (no bedding), and seven cottages with heat and electricity. The park's Red House Restaurant, at the Tudor administration building in the Red House area, is open seasonally. In general, the Quaker Area (western) portion of the park is more remote than the (eastern) Red House Area.

The focus of this museum near Lincoln Center is its incredible collection of work by folk and self-taught artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including the single largest collection of reclusive Chicago artist Henry Darger, known for his painstakingly detailed collage paintings of fantasy worlds. The gift shop has an impressive collection of handcrafted items.

The museum, a country mile from the Warren Street hub, contains 43 examples of hand-pulled engines and hose carts, including a Newsham engine built in London, imported to Manhattan in 1731, and in active service for more than 150 years. A pair of horse-drawn trucks, five steam-powered vehicles, and 15 internal-combustion engines round out the hardware, which along with other artifacts purport to tell the history of firefighting.

Boats and river memorabilia depict life on the St. Lawrence River. The collection of 205 craft includes an 8-foot canoe and a 65-foot yacht. Landlubbers may appreciate an exhibit that shows the Thousand Islands as a vacation destination; in its heyday, 15 trains arrived daily from New York City and Boston.

Figures representing Wisdom and Force flank the main portal of this imposing Beaux-Arts courthouse, built in 1899. The structure's purpose coincides with artistic symbolism, and there are statues of great lawmakers, including Moses, Justinian, and Confucius, lining the roof balustrade. In total, sculptures by 16 artists adorn the ornate building, a showcase of themes relating to the law. A branch of the New York State Supreme Court, this is one of the most important appellate courts in the country: it hears more than 3,000 appeals and 6,000 motions annually and also admits approximately 3,000 new attorneys to the bar each year. Inside the courtroom is a stunning stained-glass dome set into a gilt ceiling. The main hall and the courtroom are generally open to visitors weekdays from 9 to 5.

Dive into Niagara's other water wonder. This is a close encounter with more than 1,500 aquatic animals, including sharks, piranhas, sea lions, octopus, and moray eels. The aquarium has sea-lion demonstrations and penguin feedings daily, and an outdoor harbor-seal exhibit.

The collection of paintings, largely by American artists, includes works by such well-known painters as Winslow Homer, Gilbert Stuart, Edward Hopper, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, Charles Burchfield, and Thomas Eakins. Twenty-one Homer paintings are lent out regularly to museums around the world.

The former factory-warehouse district of redbrick buildings is now a vibrant area with shops, restaurants, and loads of nightlife. The district is named after the 1874 armory, now home to the Museum of Science and Technology, near its southern perimeter.

Inside this former cannon factory, nearly every inch of the more than 60,000-square-foot bohemian art-gallery-meets-studio-space is chockablock with art, much of it for sale. Some of the 500,000 pieces have a pedigree: Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Gordon Parks, though about 80% of the collection is local. The eclectic space also includes artist studios, a dinner theater, a courtyard, and a two-story firehouse with a real 1958 pumper truck. The rooftop sculpture garden gives you a view of the city skyline.

Two gallery spaces display contemporary and folk pieces by local and regional artists. One- and two-day classes are offered in art, photography, writing, culinary arts, and crafts.

The arts center sponsors exhibits, performances, artists' receptions, and special events focusing on Adirondack traditions and artists. Classes and workshops for children and adults teach everything from watercolor and basket weaving to poetry. The center also organizes hikes.

The Asian art collection of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III forms the core of this museum's holdings, with artworks and artifacts dating as far back as the 11th century BCE. A growing contemporary collection features video, animation, photography, and new media art by artists from Asia and the Americas. Founded in 1956, the society has a regular program of panel discussions, film screenings, family events, and performances, in addition to changing on-loan exhibitions of traditional and contemporary art. Trees and flowering vines grow within the glass-enclosed, skylighted Leo Café, whose menu reflects the diversity of Asian cuisine. The AsiaStore carries the best in Asian design and literature. Docent tours are offered regularly; a schedule is posted on the museum's website.

The 1½-mi-long chasm opened to the public in 1870, becoming the country's first natural tourist attraction. The geological spectacle continues to be popular and is often overrun with visitors in summer.

A deck allows you to view formations such as Elephant Head with its trunk of rock. The trail around the rim provides soaring views, and stone walkways and stairways descend into the chasm. Sightseeing can be combined with a kayak, raft, or inner-tube ride on the Ausable River. Two-hour lantern tours start at dusk. The flickering lights transform the 500-million-year-old mass of time-sculpted stone formations. Reservations are required.

Bailiwick Ranch and Discovery Zoo has three attractions that will entertain children: horseback rides along scenic trails, a zoological park with exotic and farm animals (including a petting zoo and feeding area), and paintball. Educational programs and special events also take place throughout the year. The ranch is open year-round (weather permitting), but the zoo is closed November through March. Members of the military receive free admission.

This rust-tinted spaceship of an arena with a lawn for a roof houses the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA's New York Liberty, and hosts events from concerts to family shows to boxing. With a capacity hovering around 17,000, Barclays Center also has plenty of room to offer concessions courtesy of local restaurateurs, including Fuku, Parm, and Federoff's Cheesesteaks.

Marking the southernmost point of Manhattan, the Battery is a respite from the hurried Financial District. Even if you don't plan to stay for long, carve out a few minutes to enjoy the view, which includes the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the harbor. The park's main structure is Castle Clinton National Monument, the gathering point for ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This monument is a former fort erected during the War of 1812 to defend the city. (Its sister fort, Castle Williams, sits across the harbor on Governors Island.) From 1855 to 1890, Castle Clinton served as America's first official immigration center.

The Battery is home to memorials, monuments, an urban garden, a playscape, and a labyrinth, as well as the lovely SeaGlass Carousel, where for $6 children and adults can ride "inside" luminescent fish and pretend to float magically underwater. To the east is the Staten Island Ferry Terminal; to the west is Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, with its tidy lawn and benches from which to view the harbor and summertime shows.

You can visit this 125-acre park over and over again and have a different experience each time. After enjoying refined gardens with statues and century-old trees, you may find yourself lost in a ramble of free-growing woods or the maintained trails of the Connetquot River. Keep walking north, and you'll come across a working farm. The arboretum, 8 miles east of Bay Shore, also boasts one of the largest collections of conifers on Long Island. The grand 1886 shingle-style mansion overlooks a great lawn that sweeps down to the river. The first floor of the house, including a charming café that offers high tea, is open to the public.

Beaver Island State Park at the southern tip of the island, is a flat, grassy, sparsely treed expanse crossed with biking and walking-running paths (including a long boardwalk along the Niagara River), plus a sandy beach for swimming, a golf course, and driving range.

Merlot is the benchmark of the region, and Bedell's reputation as the area's premier maker of this wine attracts serious wine lovers. The tasting room, in a New England farm–style building, has a modern-art collection and a stainless-steel bar. It has fine environmentally-friendly sustainable credentials. Splurge on the 16-month, oak-aged $90 Musée 2010.