The Bronx
The only borough on the mainland, and the one visitors skip. Their loss.
The Bronx is where you go when you've done the postcard version of New York and want the actual city. It has the largest metropolitan zoo in the country, a 250-acre botanical garden with old-growth forest in the middle of it, the beach the rest of the city pretends doesn't exist, and an Italian food street that puts Little Italy to shame.
It is also cheap. A day here costs a fraction of the same day in Manhattan, and several of the best things — Pelham Bay Park, Orchard Beach, the Grand Concourse — cost nothing at all.
Getting here is a 25-to-40-minute subway ride from Midtown. That's the whole barrier. People hear "the Bronx" and picture 1977; what's actually there is parkland, a serious food scene, and room to breathe.
The Bronx by season
Where to go changes with the weather. All four are here; the one you're in is marked.
Spring
March – MayThe best season here and it isn't close. The Botanical Garden's orchid show runs into spring and the cherries and magnolias come out across Pelham Bay and Van Cortlandt. Everything is green, nothing is crowded yet, and you can walk all day without melting.
Worth walking: Belmont · Riverdale · Bedford Park
Summer
June – AugustOrchard Beach opens and the whole borough moves outdoors. Free outdoor programming runs all summer — the Bronx Museum's First Fridays, concerts in the parks, Summer Streets in August. Hot and humid, so plan the zoo and the gardens for the morning.
Worth walking: City Island · Orchard Beach · Belmont
Fall
September – NovemberThe forest at the Botanical Garden turns properly, which almost nobody outside the borough knows about. Cool enough to walk the Grand Concourse end to end. Arthur Avenue is at its best once the weather turns and the food gets heavier.
Worth walking: Belmont · Riverdale · Woodlawn
Winter
December – FebruaryIndoor season. The Conservatory at the Botanical Garden runs the Holiday Train Show, the zoo is quiet and cheap, and Arthur Avenue's indoor market is exactly where you want to be when it's freezing. The parks are bleak but empty, which some people prefer.
Worth walking: Belmont · Grand Concourse · Bedford Park
Free
Under $25
Worth paying for
Guides for The Bronx
A day here, the free list, and the neighborhoods worth an afternoon.
- One day in the Bronx
- Three days in New York beyond Manhattan
- Free things to do in New York City
- Free things to do in the Bronx
- The Concourse: Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Museum and the Art Deco boulevard
- Riverdale: Wave Hill, Van Cortlandt Park and the Hudson
- Pelham Bay: the beach, the biggest park in the city and City Island
- New York in spring: what's actually good in March, April and May
- New York in summer: beaches, free concerts and how to survive the heat
- New York in fall: the best season, and what to do with it
- New York in winter: the museums, the free skating and the empty parks
- Watching the New York City Marathon: where to stand and how to get around
Getting to The Bronx
From Midtown, the 4, 5 and 6 run up the east side into the Bronx, and the B and D run up the Grand Concourse. Journey times from Grand Central are roughly 25 minutes to Yankee Stadium, 35 to the Bronx Zoo, 40 to the north end.
The Metro-North Harlem line from Grand Central is the fast way to the Botanical Garden — about 20 minutes to Botanical Garden station, which is right at the gate. It costs more than the subway but it saves half an hour.
For Orchard Beach and City Island you want the 6 to Pelham Bay Park, then a bus. There is no subway to either.