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Neighborhoods · The Bronx

Riverdale: Wave Hill, Van Cortlandt Park and the Hudson

The green, hilly, half-suburban top corner of the Bronx: a public garden on a bluff with the most composed view in the city, eleven hundred acres of park with a flat rail-trail through the woods, and the Metro-North ride up the river that is half the point.

Riverdale is the part of the Bronx that does not look like the Bronx: hills, old trees, detached houses, and the Hudson at the bottom of the slope with the Palisades across it. It is the quietest day trip on this site and the one to take when the city has worn you down. Two things make it worth the trip — Wave Hill, a 28-acre public garden and estate on a bluff over the river, and Van Cortlandt Park, the third-largest park in the city, directly to the east — and the way you get there is the third.

Take Metro-North's Hudson line from Grand Central to Riverdale station, about twenty-five minutes, and the train runs along the river the whole way. It costs more than the subway and it is a far nicer way in; Wave Hill runs a free shuttle from the station on a published schedule, and otherwise it is a walk up the hill. The subway route — the 1 to 231st Street and then the Bx7 or Bx10 bus — works and is slower. For Van Cortlandt, the 1 to its last stop, Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street, drops you at the parade ground; the ride up is elevated and worth a window seat.

There is not much to eat between the two except on Riverdale Avenue and around 231st Street; carry something, or eat at Wave Hill's café. This is a day for a sandwich on a bench.

What's here

  1. Wave HillUnder $25

    Riverdale · The Bronx

    The garden on the bluff, looking straight across the Hudson at the Palisades: the most composed view in New York and one of the least visited. Modest admission with free mornings on a published schedule — check the spot page — and worth two hours at a slow pace. From Riverdale station, the garden's free shuttle on its schedule, or the walk up the hill.

  2. Van Cortlandt ParkFree

    Riverdale / Norwood · The Bronx

    Eleven hundred acres with the oldest house in the borough, the Putnam rail-trail — a flat woodland path on an old rail bed, the easiest real walk in the city — and the historic cross-country course. Free. From Wave Hill it is a walk east across Riverdale, or a bus along Riverdale Avenue to Broadway; from Manhattan the 1 to the end.

  3. Woodlawn CemeteryFree

    Woodlawn · The Bronx

    On the far side of Van Cortlandt Park, across Jerome Avenue: four hundred acres of Gilded Age mausoleums, free to walk, with Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in it. If the park walk takes you east, this is where it ends, and the 4 at Woodlawn takes you back down.

Common questions

Metro-North or subway?

Metro-North for Wave Hill, unreservedly — twenty-five minutes along the river from Grand Central to Riverdale station and the garden's shuttle or a walk up the hill, against an hour on the 1 and a bus. The subway for Van Cortlandt Park: the 1 to its last stop is direct and the elevated ride is good. If you are doing both, Metro-North up and the 1 back is the natural loop.

Is Wave Hill free?

There is a modest admission, with free hours on set mornings and a free day each week in the off-season; the schedule changes seasonally, so check before you travel. The view is the same at any price. Van Cortlandt Park and Woodlawn Cemetery are free always.

Can I do this with the zoo or the Botanical Garden?

Not comfortably. Riverdale is the northwest corner of the Bronx and the zoo and garden are in the middle; there is no quick connection between them. Give Riverdale its own half-day or day and pair it with nothing, which is the spirit of the place anyway.

Who should skip this

Anyone who wants urban energy, food or shopping — Riverdale is quiet by design, and a visitor who is not interested in a garden and a park will find nothing to do.

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