Riverside Park
Riverside Park
4.5
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Morningside Heights
How to get there
- 116th St – Columbia University • 5 min walk
- Cathedral Parkway – 110th St • 8 min walk
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3,541 within 3 miles
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2,032 within 6 miles
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
475 reviews
Excellent
283
Very good
173
Average
17
Poor
1
Terrible
1
Manicrose
Bourne, UK1,520 contributions
Aug 2022 • Couples
Offers nice views along the river and when we visited it was fairly quiet. However some parts were sectioned off for building work when we visited so didn’t look great. Also on a really hot day there are large sections with almost no shade, far from ideal.
Written August 31, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tom J
London, UK1,743 contributions
Jul 2022
We walked from central park up through riverside park to get to Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. There wasn't much going on and the paths were incredibly muddy and waterlogged. It looks lovely in the photos I guess we just went at the wrong time of year in July. There are currently free roaming goats though which are fenced in just at the top of the park. They seemed friendly and came over to say hello.
Written August 2, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
J Z
New York City, NY118 contributions
Aug 2017 • Couples
This park is great and goes from 72nd street to 158st. At 72 and 79 street there are restaurants. You can also continue downtown along the park to Battery park. If you head downtown past 72 street you will run into the Intrepid Museum just go past it and keep going down the park will pick up again after you pass the piers. There are many places to eat and bathrooms along the way especially heading downtown. If traveling uptown I suggest not going further than 96 street unless you really want to see the GW Bridge up close. The better sites are downtown. Please leave the park before it gets dark unless your at the restaurants downtown still be careful and aware of your surroundings.
Written August 30, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wenovo
Morris County, NJ2,030 contributions
Oct 2016 • Couples
It was good to be back, even if only for one sunny fall afternoon. The park is never crowded, but there are enough people for it not to feel deserted.
You can walk for miles and enjoy the changing views.
We used to live just a block away from the park and were grateful to live so close to nature in Manhattan.
There are excellent opportunities for wonderful photos, so if you have had enough culture, architecture, shopping and such, make your way to Riverside Park and enjoy the calm and scenery for a change...
It was good to be back....
You can walk for miles and enjoy the changing views.
We used to live just a block away from the park and were grateful to live so close to nature in Manhattan.
There are excellent opportunities for wonderful photos, so if you have had enough culture, architecture, shopping and such, make your way to Riverside Park and enjoy the calm and scenery for a change...
It was good to be back....
Written December 10, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wenovo
Morris County, NJ2,030 contributions
Jul 2014 • Couples
We used to live near the park and remember it mostly for trying to escape the hot Manhattan streets in the summer. The cool breeze from the river makes the summer heat bearable.
This park is of course less known then Central Park, so mostly people that live in the area come out and enjoy the space for all kinds of activities. Cycling, running, strolling around with babies, spreading blankets for picnics. The benches along the river are plentiful.
...and if you like people watching you get to see why New York is called the "Melting Pot".
The weather is great - don't wait too long to enjoy it....
This park is of course less known then Central Park, so mostly people that live in the area come out and enjoy the space for all kinds of activities. Cycling, running, strolling around with babies, spreading blankets for picnics. The benches along the river are plentiful.
...and if you like people watching you get to see why New York is called the "Melting Pot".
The weather is great - don't wait too long to enjoy it....
Written May 5, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Richard F
New York, New York, United States9 contributions
Mar 2015 • Solo
Tourists go to Central Park. And they should. Central Park is amazing. But almost no tourists go to Riverside Park, and they are missing a very important piece of New York. Riverside Park is a long narrow strip, hugging the Hudson River on the West, and the neighborhood known as the Upper West Side on the East, stretching over five miles (8 km). The views across the Hudson are amazing; you can see large ships (sometimes) anchored to the South and sometimes steaming along the river to the inland ports further north. To the North you can see the beautiful George Washington bridge, at one time one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. In between you will see New York's "yacht" basin, holding a huge variety of houseboats, sail boats, and cabin cruisers. There are several restaurants -- at 59th Street and at 79th Street where the restaurant is built into a art deco stone underpinning of an overhead highway. But most of all what you can see in Riverside Park that you can't see in so pure a form anyplace else is New Yorkers, relaxing among other New Yorkers. New Yorkers in all our wonderful variety. Every ethnicity and race and combination of ethnicity in the world. All getting along, enjoying our "front lawn." Old people, young people, people with babies, people with dogs, people jogging, playing baseball, soccer, frisbee, or tennis, riding bikes and skate boards, wearing roller skates, wearing their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, wearing their sweats, or wearing not much at all, flying kites, planting in community gardens, people sunning themselves on benches, people eating, people reading, people celebrating birthdays, even people mourning if you bother to read the plaques on the backs of the benches; conventionally beautiful people and people who I think of as beautiful in unconventional ways.
Written March 31, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dale B
New York City, NY57 contributions
Sep 2013 • Friends
Riverside Park goes to 159th, but friends and I often start at 110th, near Columbia and head south. You get three different perspectives. You can walk parallel to the park along Riverside Drive, with its many old stately buidlings and townhomes, descend a few feet into the park and enjoy the various playing fields and gardens, or go all the way down to the riverside promenade, often surprisingly peaceful in this bustling city. There's a cafe for drinks in the 90s, another in the 77s cafe with view of the marina (where some people live on their boats year round), free kayaking in the 60s and a third riverside cafe around 60th street near a long pier hat extends way into the river.
Written November 26, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Chas G
Columbus, OH239 contributions
Jun 2013 • Friends
To me it's a "must do" NYC experience to ride the bike path at Riverside Park, from around 145th all the way to battery park and back. It's about 10 miles(one way) of very easy riding along the Hudson River down to Battery Park. For the more experienced riders, continue on through the financial district and over the Brooklyn Bridge and back. You can return the same way or vary it a little by taking the Manhattan Bridge back and then onto the bike path along the Hudson river to where you began. Total ride for me this day was 25 miles of incredible sights along the waterfront and into downtown Manhattan. the views are incredible of the skyline growing ever larger as you approach downtown. Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in the distance and the ride over the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges affords views not seen any other way. There are plenty of places to stop to refresh yourself and take in the views. So, weather you bring your own ride or rent a citybike - "just do it"! It can be one of your most memorable experiences of the city!
Written June 27, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
louisburtoncrane
New York City, NY47 contributions
Oct 2019 • Solo
In Manhattan, Riverside Park is only second to Central Park. It is a masterpiece of land use. This ribbon of riverfront land embraces a major highway, the underground NYC - Albany Amtrak Rail Line, clay tennis courts, a dozen play grounds, soccer fields, baseball fields, a skate board park, basketball courts, a small track, a marina. You’ll find Grant’s Tomb, Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and Riverside State Park, which has a 50 meter pool, a soccer pitch, and an ice staking rink, all for a pittance of an entry fee. Go for a walk along Cherry Walk (by the river, 96th to 125th), especially during March and early April. It will take your breath away. Take your dog for a romp at the dog run at 105th or 85th Street. He’ll thank you for it. Check out the statue of Joan of Arc, La Pucelle, on the drive at 93rd Street; she saved France from perfidious Albion. Have a drink at Ellington’s, a bar that operates in season at 105th Street. Venture farther north and you’ll find the Little Red Light House of Swift & Ward fame.
Written October 8, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ian M
13 contributions
May 2019
Its a very nice park near the river, but forget to stroll near to the river. The greenway is a near exclusive, busy bicycle track and you will feel uncomfortable due to the traffic.
Written June 27, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Well I've walked there many times and felt completely safe. So have my family member's and friends. I always say if you don't feel safe, than don't do it!!! I love NYC!!!!
Written August 5, 2018
Can tourists hire bicycles here? Thanks
Written April 10, 2018
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