Find detailed descriptions of great hikes in New York City in our Find a Hike database. Click on the Region header at the top of the table to sort by region, then scroll down through the table to New York City.

Solitude and open space are in short supply within the New York City limits, but a number of places in the city still offer a respite from the bustle of the metropolis. Most of the parks in this region are rewarding for the peace and recreational opportunities they offer city-dwellers, but many also offer the bonus of having biological, geological or historical significance.

Thirteen percent of New York City's land area is reserved in parkland. The city is in the process of connecting many parks with urban greenways that eventually will total approximately 350 miles of walk and/or bike paths. Currently a greenway stretches down the entire western side of Manhattan, and the 40-mile long Brooklyn-Queens Greenway connects Coney Island in Brooklyn with Fort Totten in Queens.

Excellent references are available in these books available on this website: Take a Hike New York City, Walking Manhattan's Rim: The Great Saunter.

Parks within this region include:

Bronx Park

Pelham Bay Park

Van Cortlandt Park

Riverside Park

Fort Tryon Park

Inwood Hills Park

Prospect Park

Alley Pond Park

Forest Park

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

Staten Island Greenbelt

Great Kills Park

Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve