NYC Guide to Best Parks for Fall Foliage

New York City parks are great any time of year, but for many of us, fall foliage is the favorite season.

Inwood Hill Park photo courtesy nycgovparks.org

Here’s your guide to the best NYC parks in each borough for multi-colored magic, including white oak trees whose leaves turn purple, and maples whose reds, oranges and yellow epitomize fall color.

Great places to start are Central Park’s Literary Walk and around the Bow Bridge, and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park’s Pond, and Alley Pond Park in Queens, to see the city’s tallest tree and Washington Square Park to see what is believed to be the oldest tree in NYC.

Many of the parks offer a hike with NYC’s Urban Park Rangers, who lead guided tours year-round in parks in all five borouughs.

New York City parks, and the guided walks are FREE.

The Urban Rangers website includes information on park and coastal clean-ups, which you can participate in – it’s a great family event, teaching the kids the importance of cleaning up after themselves and protecting the environment.

Also check the I Love NY state map of where to find the best fall foilage, updated weekly during fall foliage season.

Find the borough-by-borough listing on the NYC Parks Dept. website.

Best Parks for Fall Foliage – Manhattan

Inwood Hill Park

Trees to see: Oak, hickory, Tulip poplars

Suggested routes:
There’s no wrong place to go leaf-peeping in Inwood Hill Park, at the northern tip of Manhattan, where ecoXplrer Evelyn Kanter grew up, and where Peter Minuit purchased the island from the local Manhatta tribe of the Lenape for just $24.

One recommended route is along the blue trail, a marked trail that picks up at the Gaelic Field in the northern side of the park and leads up to the Overlook, which will give you a gorgeous view of the Hudson River and the Palisades.

Inwood Hill Park Hiking Trail takes you through the last natural forest in Manhattan, and treated to picture postcard views of the Hudson River. Allow two hours to complete this trail, which is about two miles.

Riverside Park

Especially the Promenade between 79th and 95th Streets, and Cherry Walk, between 97th and 125th Streets. Plus, there are views across the Hudson River.

Central Park

Just about anywhere in this 840-acre urban oasis is ideal for fall foliage.

Always popular is the area around the famous Bow Bridge, and the equally iconic Belvedere Castle for its panoramic view from the terrace.

Check the park’s own autumn guide to Sugar maples, Black Tupelo and more of the 20,000 trees dotting what is arguably the best and most famous urban park on the planet.

Best Parks for Fall Foliage – Brooklyn

Fort Greene Park

Trees to see: Massive London plane trees, oaks, elms, gingkos, osage orange trees

The park is small enough that you can meander through the whole thing. Just don’t forget to climb to its apex and check out the view from the hill.

Gerritsen Beach

Most of NYC’s salt marshes have been paved over for development, so it’s a treat to be able to commune with egrets, herons and other birds at Salt Marsh Nature Trail.

This trail is about one mile long, past prairie grass and along the Gerritsen Beach shoreline toward Jamaica Bay.

Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1

Seek out the small, winding forest-like trails, and photo-perfect skyline views of Lower Manhattan.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Especially the Native Floral Garden and the Japanese Hill and Garden.

Best Parks for Fall Foliage – Bronx

Van Cortlandt Park

Trees to see: Oaks, hickory

Suggested routes:

With more than a thousand acres atop the ridges and valleys of the northwest Bronx — this is is New York City’s third largest park, including the historic home of the Van Cortlandt family, now a museum, and the country’s first public golf course.

Van Cortlandt is filled with nature trails that pass through gorgeous native hardwoods, including the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, the Putnam Trail, the Muir Trail, and the John Kieran Trail.

The John Muir Trail is named for the 19th Century naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, and early advocate to preserve wilderness in the United States.

He also was a friend of fellow environmentalist President Teddy Roosevelt, and influenced him to create the National Park System.

Discover the history of Van Cortlandt Park

Wave Hill

This historic garden and former private home offers knock-out views across the Hudson River to the Palisades, and a regular schedule of family-friendly events.

There is a FREE shuttle from the last stop of the #1 subway, 242nd St., and also from the Riverdale station of Metro-North. Check the website for the schedule.

Best Parks for Fall Foliage – Queens

Alley Pond Park

Trees to see: Pin oaks, white pine, black cherries, black oak, flowering dogwood, black locust, American beech, red oaks, sweetgum, red maple, tulip trees

It’s also home to a zip line, large lakes, an environmental center, and one of the city’s oldest trees. A number of trails wind through native hardwood (oak-hickory) forest and kettle ponds. The north end of the park boasts splendid salt marsh views. Discover this fascinating and wild park on your next trail tour.

Choose between several of the park’s official walking paths, although the most popular are the green trail and the white trail.

The green trail is especially tree-filled, surrounded by tulip trees and some sassafrass. Those that venture down the white trail will get to see the Queens Giant.

Take the Tulip Tree Trail to see the park’s most famous resident, a 450-year-old tulip tree considered the oldest tree in New York, which stands in an ancient forest. At 133 feet high, this is the tallest tree in New York City and possibly the oldest living thing in the metropolitan area.

There’s also a wonderful view of the park’s natural salt marsh.

Find all the hiking trail information on the Alley Pond Park official website.

Best Parks for Fall Foliage – Staten Island

Greenbelt

Trees to see: oak, hickory, beech, maple, sweetgum, and tulip trees

This natural treasure in the heart of Staten Island has some 35 miles of walking trails along the crest of the Serpentine Ridge and through one of the last undisturbed forests in New York City.

You’ll see a wide variety of native trees, as well as a rare species of fern, glacial ponds, and a 16-acre lake. Keep your eyes peeled for any animals and birds making their home in the forest.

The Yellow Trail is a real hike, but worth the effort for NYC skyline views from the top of Todt Hill or Moses’ Mountain, where you might catch a glimpse of bald eagles.

It’s an eight mile day-trip, that also passes through Basket Willow Swamp, a 47-acre patch of purple willow planted in the 1800s to grow the reeds for basketmaking.

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ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is an award-winning journalist with 25+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.