New York Parks and Gardens

By Kirsten McCroskrie

With outdoor attractions being more sought after than ever, NYC's parks and gardens are among our favorite places to visit while exploring the Big Apple. These wonderful oases keep residents and tourists alike in touch with the beauty of nature within the hustle and bustle of one of the world’s most fast-past cities. Your New York Pass features discounts or free admission to many NYC greenspaces. Take a look at our favorites below.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, called the premier horticultural attraction in the region by The New York Times, is New York City's natural wonder.

Historic Richmond Town

Historic Richmond Town is a remarkable village and museum that encompasses four centuries of the history and culture of Staten Island.

New York Botanical Garden

The New York Botanical Garden, one of America's foremost public gardens, spans 250 acres and includes 48 different gardens and plant collections.

Snug Harbor Botanical Garden in Staten Island

The Staten Island Botanical Garden, home of America's first authentic Ming era Chinese Scholar's Garden, includes more than 20 gardens.

Wave Hill

Wave Hill is an internationally acclaimed 28-acre public garden and cultural center overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades in the Bronx.

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About the Iconic Coney Island Luna Park

The famous Luna Park at Coney Island has resumed operations after its annual winter hiatus. The Luna Park has become an iconic New York City landmark, enjoyed by thousands of families every season. Its history is a little rocky but today it operates like a well-oiled machine. [caption id="attachment_468" align="aligncenter" width="599"] Post Card from Luna Park at Coney Island from 1912.[/caption] The Luna Park was originally built in 1903 and was a part of the three amusement parks on the South-East Brooklyn peninsula named Coney Island. The other two were the Steeplechase Park and Dreamland, neither of which is in existence today. The original Luna Park was a New York City favorite and brought joy and amusement to locals and visitors alike during difficult times like World War I, the Great Depression of the 1920s and World War II. Most of the premises were caught in a fire in 1944 resulting in destruction of the majority of the park. The park never re-opened. That is until 2010, after an initiative by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to rebuild the largely desolate Coney Island. The year 2010 gave way to the new Luna Park at Coney Island, an amusement park built on the premises of Astroland, another local amusement park operating from 1962 to 2008. [caption id="attachment_469" align="aligncenter" width="599"] Aerial photograph of Coney Island by Jeffrey Millstein (www.jeffreymilstein.com)[/caption] Today, the Luna Park at Coney Island is home to many iconic rides and sites. Perhaps the most famous, the grand Cyclone roller coaster, is made out of wood and was originally opened in 1927. The track of the Cyclone is 1640 feet long and 85 feet tall at its highest point It was awarded National Landmark status in 1988. In 2016, the Cyclone got a fresh coat of paint and was refurbished to welcome the new season. [caption id="attachment_474" align="alignleft" width="434"] Thunderbolt[/caption] [caption id="attachment_473" align="alignright" width="385"] The Tickler[/caption] [spacer height="20px"]Apart from the famous Cyclone, the Luna Park is home to other iconic rides such as The Tickler, a crazy, funny spinning roller coaster that doesn't take itself too seriously, the scary Thunderbolt roller coaster with a nausea-inducing free-fall drop, or the kid friendly Tea Party. There are dozens of other rides, carousels, human sling-shots, as well as shops, beaches and the original Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs shop. The Luna Park is now officially open for the 2016 season and will operate every weekend until Memorial Day (May 30th, 2016), after which it will be open every day until September 2016. For more information about rides, history and hours of operation, visit the Luna Park website.
Go City Expert
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Legoland Discovery Center Westchester Holiday Bricktacular

It’s always fun to check out the classic holiday happenings in and around the city. But it’s almost more fun to discover new ones that you can make part of your holiday tradition. And we’ve got a great new one for you--and we don't use the word "great” lightly. Imagine combining one of the world’s most popular (and truthfully, most fun) toys with an interactive experience and a holiday twist. Happily, someone has done that, and the result is the Legoland Discovery Center Westchester's Holiday Bricktacular. Huzzah! Why attend a holiday event where you have to stay seated? At the Legoland Discovery Center Westchester Holiday Bricktacular, you become part of the experience! The Bricktacular has a number of different elements: A Miniland scavenger hunt; a Creative Workshop where visitors can build holiday projects using mosaics; and minifigure trading with staff members. (Start collecting now, people, if you haven’t already.) Plus, visitors can see Miniland New York all gussied up as a winter wonderland, and also meet a Master Builder (just like The Lego Movie!) and help him create holiday-themed creations like snowmen and snowflakes. The experience is there through December 29, and, perhaps most important, dressing up in ugly Christmas sweaters is highly encouraged (you know you want to). Families love all the interactive activities, with one young visitor stating: “The most fun Christmas place. A hundred stars. You get to play with Legos!” Lego Facts Lego is one of the most popular toy brands in the world. The name comes from the Danish words “leg godt,” which means “play well.” The company started in the workshop of a carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen. He started making wooden toys in 1932; in 1947, Lego started making plastic toys. An early version of the interlocking bricks was introduced in 1949. They were originally called “automatic binding bricks.” (Not quite as catchy.) In May 2013, the largest model ever made—5 million bricks!—was displayed in New York City. Any guesses as to what it was? (If you said a Lego X-Wing fighter, you’d be correct.) The Lego Movie made more than 469 million dollars worldwide. Still looking for ways to get into the holiday spirit? Check out our tips for holiday shopping here.
Go City Expert
Crowd in MoMA, New York
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New York museums: free entry with the New York Pass®

New York is home to over 170 top-notch museums in art, architecture, media, natural history, and technology. With your  New York Pass® in hand, you can visit: The Natural History Museum The Guggenheim Museum Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Van Courtland House Museum The Museum of Sex and many more. You'll also enjoy savings of up to 50%, compared to buying individual attraction tickets.   ✈️ Buy The New York Pass® ✈️  Arts museums and galleries 🎨 MoMA PS1 Located in Long Island City, the MoMA PS1 is one of the oldest and largest nonprofit contemporary art institutions in the United States. It's family-friendly, engaging, and packed with vibrant events and installations all year round. 🎨 Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) This iconic, world-leading museum of modern art offers a rich program of exhibitions at 11 West 53rd Street. It's filled with permanent collections, special exhibitions, and iconic masterpieces by the likes of Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and many more. 🎨 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Designed by visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1959, the Guggenheim Museum is masterpiece of modern architecture, and now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Enjoy one of the finest collections of 20th-century art, spanning Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Early Modern and contemporary works.  🎨 Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art is the leading institution of American art and culture of our time, housed in a Marcel Breuer-designed building that is a landmark of modern architecture. See works from newer and upcoming artists, and legends like Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, and Jackson Pollock.  Media, architecture and design museums 🏛️ Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is the nation’s only museum dedicated to historical and contemporary design, with a collection of over 210,000 design objects spanning thirty centuries. 🏛️The Skyscraper Museum With the skyline of Lower Manhattan as a backdrop and the panorama of New York harbor at its front door, The Skyscraper Museum occupies a site of breathtaking beauty, and offers a rich history of New York. 🏛️The Paley Center for Media Here you'll discover some of the most popular and cutting-edge forms of media dating back to the 1920s. Over a two-hour visit, you can see some of the 100,000 radio and TV programs — some showing incredible historical moments like the moon landing. Great museums for children... 🍭 Staten Island Children's Museum Founded by a group of parents in 1974, The Staten Island Children's Museum is a place to exercise little minds, bodies, and imaginations at New York's only indoor-outdoor interactive museum. It's located in an 84-acre park, within a historic building on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Gardens. 🔭 The New York Hall of Science With more than 450 interactive and engaging exhibits, The New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) is New York’s only hands-on science and technology center.  It's dedicated to inclusivity, running programs for children with special needs, and excels at sparking curiosity and learning for all visitors. 🦕 American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest and most innovative natural history museums in the world. See the 122-foot-long Titanosaur skeleton, the the Hall of Biodiversity, and explore the Human Origins and Cultural Halls ...and one that's definitely for the adults 🔞Museum of Sex As the raunchiest museum in New York, the mission of the Museum of Sex is to preserve and present the history, evolution, and cultural significance of human sexuality through exhibitions, experiences, and programs. It's popular and tickets are extremely limited - so book in advance if you're visiting on a weekend, or else visit on a weekday for the best experience. Social history museums 🏛️Fraunces Tavern The oldest building in NYC, the Fraunces Tavern® Museum (with bar and restaurant) immerses you in American Revolutionary history, and you can eat and drink in the same space as the Founding Fathers. It's here, in the famous Long Room, where George Washington bade farewell to officers of the Continental Army on December 4th, 1783. It's now a complex of five buildings, with nine galleries. 🪖 Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Built in 1943, the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid and her crew have a distinguished history of service, including tours of duty in both World War II and Vietnam. Now a floating museum, you can explore the Intrepid, and you can see the space shuttle Enterprise up close, a British Airways Concorde, and submarine Growler. Wander through interactive exhibitions, explore historic artifacts, and discover the history of American innovation and bravery. 🏛️Museum of the City of New York The essential introduction to New York City, the Museum of the City of New York explores the past, present, and future of New York, through groundbreaking exhibitions that offer a behind-the-scenes look at what gives the city its singular character. 🏛️New York Historical Society A trip to New York wouldn't be complete without a visit to the New York Historical Society, where four centuries of history, art, and artifacts tell the story of America through the lens of New York. Cultural and religious museums 🏛️ Museum at Eldridge St. Rediscovered by an academic in the 1970s and meticulously restored over the following three decades, the museum has been described as “gasp-inducing” by The New York Times. It's housed in the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, now a magnificent National Historic Landmark. 🏛️Museum of Jewish Heritage Explore the broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries—before, during, and after the Holocaust. The third-largest Holocaust museum in the world, the museum is located on the southernmost tip of Manhattan, rounding out the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Visit New York museums for free with The New York Pass® With The New York Pass®, you can explore not just the museums, but also the big-name landmarks, local hotspots, and epic tours — all on one pass, all for one price. Not only that, but you'll enjoy savings of up to 50%, compared to buying individual attraction tickets.   ✈️ Buy The New York Pass® ✈️ 
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