Central Park
At 843 acres in the middle of Manhattan, Central Park offers more autumn scenery than most visitors manage to cover in a single visit. The Ramble, a 36-acre woodland in the middle of the park, is one of the most immersive fall foliage experiences in the city, with winding paths that pass through dense woodland canopy and feel genuinely removed from the streets surrounding them. Sheep Meadow opens up the sky and gives you the skyline as a backdrop to the color, while Belvedere Castle, perched on a rocky outcrop at the park's center, offers panoramic views of the surrounding treetops at their peak. Peak color in Central Park typically arrives in late October and holds through early November, making that window the most rewarding time to visit.
Fort Tryon Park
For a less visited but equally stunning fall experience, Fort Tryon Park in Hudson Heights rewards the trip uptown. The park sits on one of the highest points in Manhattan, and its hillside paths through woodland and gardens lead to sweeping views of the Hudson River and the New Jersey Palisades on the other side. The effect of the red, orange, and gold foliage set against the wide blue-green of the river is among the most photogenic scenes the city produces in autumn. The park is also home to the Met Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum's branch dedicated to medieval European art, which sits at the northern end of the grounds and makes a natural pairing with a fall walk through the park.
Roosevelt Island
Reachable by tram from the Upper East Side or by subway on the F train, Roosevelt Island offers a perspective on New York's fall transformation that very few visitors experience. The island runs just two miles along the East River between Manhattan and Queens, and its relatively quiet promenade gives you unobstructed views of both shorelines as the trees along the banks turn. The southern tip of the island is home to Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park, a Louis Kahn-designed memorial with open lawns and granite terraces that frame the lower Manhattan skyline in one of the most quietly striking views the city has to offer.
Prospect Park
Brooklyn's answer to Central Park, Prospect Park was designed by the same landscape architects, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, and it shares much of the same quality of light and space in autumn. The park's 585 acres include the only remaining old-growth forest in Brooklyn, a stretch of original woodland that pre-dates the city itself and turns a deep amber and russet in October. The Long Meadow, nearly a mile in length, is one of the best places in New York to watch the leaves fall on a clear autumn afternoon, and the park's waterways and wooded ravines offer quieter detours for visitors who want to explore further. Litchfield Villa and the Prospect Park Zoo are also worth a stop while you're in the area.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Adjacent to Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden curates its autumn season with the same attention it brings to its celebrated cherry blossom season in spring. The garden's 52 acres include a century-old sweetgum tree in the Native Flora Garden, towering 20-foot maples in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, and thousands of other specimens from a collection that spans more than 14,000 species. The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden in particular is exceptional in fall, with the reflection of the surrounding maples in the still water making it one of the most photographed spots in Brooklyn at this time of year. The garden publishes a seasonal guide to fall highlights on its website, which is worth reading before your visit to time the best color.
The High Line
The High Line runs 1.45 miles along a former elevated freight rail line on Manhattan's West Side, from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street at Hudson Yards, and its carefully planted landscape takes on a wild, naturalistic beauty in autumn that looks nothing like the manicured parks elsewhere in the city. The landscape designers, James Corner Field Operations and Piet Oudolf, filled the plantings with grasses, seed heads, and late-season perennials that are specifically intended to be at their most interesting in fall and winter, rather than spring. Walking the full length of the park gives you the Hudson River on one side and the architecture of Chelsea and Hudson Yards on the other, with rotating public art installations, murals, and performance spaces woven throughout.
Stay With Us
The Marmara Park Avenue's Midtown location is the ideal base for an autumn visit to New York. Central Park is a 17-minute walk, the High Line is 18 minutes on foot, and every other destination on this list is a short subway ride away. Book your stay and experience the city at one of its most beautiful times of year.
