After having proposed you the general guide of New York City, discovering its history, its monuments and iconic places, we propose you some places of the city less beaten by mass tourism but absolutely to visit.
They are more or less known places, some certainly visited, even with special tours, but usually remain in the background compared to traditional destinations. So here’s where to go and what to see in New York for a deeper knowledge of the city.
New York: discovering the special places, outside of mass tourism
Not only Empire State Building, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, 5th Avenue, Times Square, Broadway, World Trade Center, Rockefeller Center, Greenwich Village, MET, Moma and other historical museums, the city of New York offers many interesting places, all to be discovered. These are the destinations less traveled by traditional tourism, especially the hit and run.
The Big Apple offers an infinite number of places to visit. A single trip is not enough, of course, to know them all. Beyond the most visited places, however, even those less frequented by tourists deserve to be discovered. Below are the places in New York that are special and less frequented by classic tourism but worth seeing.
Ellis Island e Immigration Museum
Many tourists come by ferry to Liberty Island, to visit the Statue of Liberty. Near Liberty Island is another equally famous island, Ellis Island, where between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century landed immigrants arrived from all over the world, many from Italy. The buildings of the maritime station, where the new arrivals were gathered, have become today an important museum of immigration that collects documents, photos and testimonies of that time. You can also find the landing card of some of your ancestors who emigrated here. Don’t miss.
Actually, Ellis Island is quite a popular tourist destination, also thanks to the packages that propose the combined tour with Liberty Island. It is not, however, such an obvious place, since to get here you need to organize a special visit, which takes several hours. Those who visit New York for a few days, however, tend to stay in Manhattan.
New York Public Library e Byant Park
If you have seen the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, you will surely remember the scene in which Paul Varjak (George Peppard) and Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) enter a monumental library. This is the New York Public Library, located at the corner of 42nd Street and 5th Avenue, not far from the Emprire State Building in Midtown Manhattan. It is the main library in New York, founded in 1895, and keeps a heritage of immense value including 51 million volumes, including books, e-books and DVDs and the letter of Christopher Columbus. The scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s was filmed in the Catalog Room.
The entrance to the New York Public Library faces 5th Avenue, while in the back is Bryant Park, another popular New York City park, where at Christmas time a charming Winter village is set up with a free ice skating rink and markets.
Roosevelt Island and Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park
new york special places
A destination off the beaten track, but worth visiting is Roosevelt Island, the long, narrow island that sits on the East River between Queens and Manhattan. It is crossed by the Queensboro Bridge, which spans it, the bridge where the New York Marathon route passes. The island can be reached by subway or the spectacular Roosevelt Island Tram, which departs from Manhattan at the intersection of E 59th and Second Avenues. The island is an unexpected oasis of peace, in the chaos of New York, where you can stroll through lawns and driveways, overlooking the water, admiring the impressive Manhattan skyline and also the skyscrapers of Long Island City in Queens.
Particularly worth seeing is the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, the park located on the southern tip of the island, a tribute to President Rooselvet, where stands the ruins of an old hospital covered with ivy, the Smallpox Hospital, and the great staircase that gives access to the extreme tip of the island where a tree-lined avenue leads to a rooftop terrace where you can admire an exceptional view of the southern bay of New York, the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty.
Governors Island
Another island to see is Governors Island, it is located between Manhattan and Brooklyn and is reached by ferry departing from Battery Maritime Building, in Lower Manhattan. The island was opened to the public in 2003 and offers many attractions, including old decommissioned military sites, Fort Jay, Castle Williams, the Admiral’s House, and Nolan Park. The island also has a small golf course and can be traversed by bicycle; there is a rental point at the north end, along the 2.5-mile bike path. Above all, from Governors Island you can admire a crazy view of the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the New York Bay.
Prospect Park e Audubon Center Boathouse
Another park in New York City that is definitely worth a visit is Prospect Park. It is located in Brooklyn and in its 230 hectares hosts many attractions: the Zoo, LeFrak Center overlooking the lake, The Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library. Not to be missed, here, is the Audubon Center Boathouse, a historic garage of 1905 included in the National Register of Historic Places in the ’70s and converted into a multipurpose center that usually hosts exhibitions,
High Line
The High Line is the most curious and original park in Manhattan. It is located in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, the Meatpacking district, and sits on the rails of an old decommissioned suspended railroad line. Along an elevated path at a height of 9 meters extends a pedestrian walkway with plants, art installations, local and panoramic views, such as the beautiful one on the Hudson River that pops up between the buildings.