Pelham Bay Park
New York City's largest park at over 2,700 acres — more than three times Central Park — with salt marsh, genuine woodland, thirteen miles of shoreline and a beach, all at the end of the 6 train.
- What it costs
- Free. The golf courses and the stables charge separately.
- Best in
- Spring, Summer, Fall
- Where
- Bruckner Boulevard & Wilkinson Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465
- Official site
- nycgovparks.org
The size is the point
At roughly 2,772 acres it is the largest park in New York City, more than three times the size of Central Park, and it does not feel like a city park at all. Large parts of it are salt marsh, oak forest and rocky shoreline.
You can walk for an hour here and see nobody. That is not an experience Manhattan can offer at any price.
The trails
Hunter Island and Twin Island, at the north end past Orchard Beach, are the best of it — glacial rock outcrops, oak woods, and views across Long Island Sound. The Kazimiroff Nature Trail loops around Hunter Island and takes about an hour at an easy pace.
The Split Rock Trail and the Siwanoy Trail run through the western half. They are quieter still and less well marked, so download the Parks map before you lose signal.
Wear proper shoes. These are woodland trails with roots and mud, not gravel paths.
Everything else in here
- Orchard Beach — the mile-long crescent, free, lifeguarded in season.
- Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum — a Greek Revival house from the 1840s with a formal garden. Small admission, open limited days, so check before making the trip.
- Two 18-hole golf courses, a bridle path and stables, and a large playground near the southern entrance.
- Thirteen miles of shoreline, most of it walkable.
Practicalities
The park is open dawn to dusk and the woodland sections are not lit — do not plan to be deep in Hunter Island at sunset.
There are restrooms at Orchard Beach and near the main playground, and effectively nowhere else. Bring water; the trails have none.
Ticks are a real consideration in the wooded sections from spring through fall. Long trousers and a check afterwards, same as any northeastern woodland.
Getting there
The 6 train to Pelham Bay Park, its northern terminus, drops you at the southern edge of the park — about 45 minutes from Grand Central.
From the station the Bx29 runs to City Island and the Bx12 to Orchard Beach. To reach the Hunter Island trails, take the Bx12 toward the beach and walk in from the north end of the lot.
Metro-North's New Haven line stops at Pelham, just outside the park's northern edge, which is quicker if you're already on that line.
Getting around once you're there
The Orchard Beach promenade, the pavilion area and the paths around the lagoon are flat and paved. The Hunter Island and Split Rock trails are unpaved, rooty and uneven — they are real woodland trails, not park paths. The subway station has stairs only.