New York Botanical Garden
250 acres in the Bronx holding the last 50 acres of old-growth forest left in New York City, a landmark Victorian glasshouse, and free grounds access on Wednesdays.
- What it costs
- Grounds admission is free on Wednesdays: all day for NYC residents with proof of address, and between 10 and 11am for everyone else. Grounds-only excludes the Conservatory and ticketed exhibitions.
- Best in
- Any season
- Where
- 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10458
- Official site
- nybg.org
Getting in free on a Wednesday
Grounds admission is free every Wednesday. For NYC residents it is free all day with proof of address, purchased on site. For everyone else it's free between 10 and 11am — arrive in that window and you're in.
What "grounds" covers: the outdoor gardens and collections, the Native Plant Garden, the Rock Garden, the Forest, and the Everett Children's Adventure Garden.
What it does not cover: the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, indoor exhibitions, and ticketed special events. Those need the all-garden ticket, and in practice the big seasonal shows are the reason most people come.
The old-growth forest
The Thain Family Forest is fifty acres of the original woodland that covered New York before the city — oak, tulip tree, hemlock, some of it never cleared. It is the largest remaining tract of old-growth forest in New York City and it is genuinely startling to stand in.
The Bronx River runs through it over a gorge and a waterfall. Twenty minutes' walk from a subway station.
Most visitors head for the glasshouse and skip this entirely. Don't.
The Conservatory and the seasonal shows
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory is a Victorian-style glasshouse from 1902, a city landmark in its own right, and it hosts the two shows the Garden is known for:
- The Orchid Show, roughly February into April — the reason to visit in late winter.
- The Holiday Train Show, late November into January — model trains running through scale replicas of New York landmarks built entirely from bark, twigs and seeds. It sells out; book well ahead.
Both are ticketed separately from grounds admission and both are worth it.
Timing and pairing
Allow three to four hours for the grounds, more with the Conservatory. It is 250 acres and the far corners are a proper walk.
The Bronx Zoo is across the road — doing both in a day is possible but punishing. The honest recommendation is one per visit.
Arthur Avenue is fifteen minutes away by bus, and NYBG runs a farmers market on the grounds in season.
Getting there
Metro-North's Harlem line from Grand Central to Botanical Garden station is the good way in — about 20 minutes, and the station is directly across from the entrance. It costs more than the subway and saves a great deal of time and walking.
On the subway, the B, D or 4 to Bedford Park Boulevard, then an eight-minute walk downhill, or the Bx26 bus. About 40 minutes from Midtown.
The 2 or 5 to Bronx Park East also works and puts you near the zoo, so use that if you're doing both.
Getting around once you're there
Most main paths are paved and manageable, and a tram runs a loop of the grounds with step-free boarding — it's the best way round for anyone with limited mobility. The Forest trails are unpaved and uneven. Botanical Garden Metro-North station is step-free.