Free and cheap things to do in Queens
The best skyline view in New York for one subway fare, the World's Fair park, a beach at the end of the A train, two neighborhoods that are free to walk and cheap to eat, and the free windows at the museums and gardens — Queens is the cheapest borough to enjoy.
Queens has fewer things that are free outright than Brooklyn or Manhattan — much of its best is food, and food costs money — but it is the cheapest borough to spend a day in, because everything that does cost something costs very little. A serious meal in Flushing or Jackson Heights is less than a sandwich in Midtown. The museums are modest. The parks and the views are free.
So this list is honest about its title: "free and cheap". The free things are marked free; the cheap things say what they cost and when they are free. Everything is on the 7, the N and W, the E, F, M and R, or the A to the beach.
The Queens food crawl itinerary is the day built from the food half of this page.
The list
Gantry Plaza State ParkFree
Long Island City · Queens
Free, and arguably the best skyline view in New York — straight across the river at Midtown from the piers, one stop from Grand Central on the 7. Ten minutes door to door. People pay for observation decks to see less. Sunset, with something from a bakery on Vernon Boulevard.
Flushing Meadows-Corona ParkFree
Corona / Flushing · Queens
The site of two World's Fairs, free, still holding the Unisphere and the ruins of the New York State Pavilion. The Queens Museum inside charges, and its scale model of the whole city is worth the small admission; the park itself, the lake and the Unisphere cost nothing.
Rockaway BeachFree
Rockaway Beach · Queens
Seven miles of Atlantic beach and the city's only legal surfing, free, at the end of the A train for a standard fare — the honest number is seventy-five minutes from Midtown. The boardwalk food is the best of any beach in the city, and it is cheap rather than free.
AstoriaUnder $25
Astoria · Queens
Free to walk, and Astoria Park under the bridges — with the best bridge view in New York — is free too. The food is Greek, Egyptian, Brazilian and Bangladeshi and reasonably priced; the century-old beer garden is cheap by the standards of anywhere else. Twenty minutes on the N or W.
Jackson HeightsUnder $25
Jackson Heights · Queens
Free to walk, and the cheapest serious eating in the city: momos from a counter under the tracks for a few dollars, tacos on Roosevelt Avenue, sweets from 74th Street. Five lines meet at the station. This is "cheap" in the sense of a full lunch for less than a Midtown coffee.
FlushingUnder $25
Flushing · Queens
Free to walk; the food courts off Main Street are the cheap part — a dozen stalls each doing one regional thing, most dishes under ten dollars, several cash-only. The end of the 7, thirty-five minutes from Grand Central and elevated most of the way.
Queens Night MarketUnder $25
Corona · Queens
Free entry on most Saturday evenings in season, and the vendors have always run under a deliberate price ceiling so that a plate from any of the dozens of countries represented costs a few dollars. Check the dates; it is seasonal and it is the best cheap evening in the borough.
Queens Botanical GardenUnder $25
Flushing · Queens
Free in the winter off-season and during set weekday hours in the warm months, a small charge otherwise, and the least crowded botanical garden in the city — a rose garden, spring cherries, and a ten-minute walk from Flushing's food. Check the free hours before you go.
The Noguchi MuseumUnder $25
Long Island City / Astoria · Queens
Modest admission, pay-what-you-wish on the first Sunday of the month, and the calmest room in New York: the museum Noguchi built for his own work around an open sculpture garden. Check the schedule before relying on the free day; it has changed before.
Common questions
- Is the Night Market free?
Entry is free on most dates — a few special evenings have charged a small admission, so check the spot page and the market's own site for the date you want. The food is not free but it is cheap by design: the market has always capped most dishes at a low fixed price, which is why you can eat from six countries for the cost of one Manhattan main course. Saturday evenings, in season, in Flushing Meadows.
- What's the cheapest way to see the skyline?
Gantry Plaza State Park, for one subway fare. The 7 from Grand Central to Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue is one stop, then five minutes' walk to the water, and Midtown is straight across the river. Second place is the free Staten Island Ferry, which is a different view from the harbor. Both beat any observation deck, and the deck costs forty times as much.
- Is Rockaway worth the seventy-five minutes?
In summer, on a weekday, yes — seven miles of real Atlantic beach, surf, and a boardwalk food scene better than Coney Island's, for a standard subway fare. On a summer weekend the A train is packed and the beach is busy near the subway; walk east or west from the station. Out of season, no: it is a long ride to a cold beach, and Gantry Plaza is ten minutes away.
Who should skip this
Anyone who does not like to eat — half of what makes Queens cheap and good is food, and a visitor who skips it is left with the parks and the view, which are excellent but not a whole day.