Current ranking based on review analysis and technical signals.
How we chose: 5 places selected by rating and number of reviews. Source — Google Places. Updated 04 August 2026.
At a glance
| # | Place | Score | Reviews | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington Square Park | ⭐ 9.3 | 32 941 | Editors' pick |
| 2 | Madison Square Park | ⭐ 9.3 | 21 699 | — |
| 3 | Little Island | ⭐ 9.5 | 17 535 | People's favorite |
| 4 | Union Square Park | ⭐ 9.3 | 17 470 | — |
| 5 | City Hall Park | ⭐ 9.1 | 16 223 | — |
Highlights
-
Editors' pick:
Washington Square Park -
People's favorite:
Little Island
Opening hours
Every place in this selection stays open late.
Check the hours before you set out — they shift on holidays and out of season.
Full ranking
1. Washington Square Park · ⭐ 9.3
(32941 reviews)
+7 photos
New York, 10012, United States
Nine and three-quarter acres, one marble arch, one fountain that doubles as a stage, and roughly twenty thousand people buried underneath. Washington Square is the most concentrated public space in New York: a park that is simultaneously New York University's quad, the city's most reliable outdoor concert venue, a serious chess arena, a protest ground and a tourist landmark. It…
«We're foreigners and we came to New York this year for the Christmas atmosphere. One of th…»
2. Madison Square Park · ⭐ 9.3
(21699 reviews)
+7 photos
11 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010, United States
Six and a fifth acres of lawn, gravel walk and old London plane trees sit wedged between the Flatiron Building and the towers of NoMad, and almost every square foot of it carries a story. This is where the torch-bearing arm of the Statue of Liberty stood for six years while New York was shamed into paying for her pedestal. This is where the young men who codified baseball were…
«We walked down Broadway which brought us right to the corner of this beautiful park. It is…»
3. Little Island · ⭐ 9.5
(17535 reviews)
+7 photos
Little Island, Pier 55 at Hudson River Park, Hudson River Greenway, New York, NY 10014, United States
Nothing else in New York looks like it. Little Island is a 2.4-acre park that does not touch the shoreline: it floats on 132 pot-shaped precast concrete piers, nicknamed tulips, whose rims rise anywhere from about fifteen to sixty-two feet above the water. The unequal heights make an artificial topography — hills, valleys, overlooks — where none could exist on a flat pier deck.…
«A really cool place to sit and relax or just take a walk. A cool piece of architecture!!!»
4. Union Square Park · ⭐ 9.3
(17470 reviews)
+7 photos
201 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10003, United States
Union Square has two jobs and has had both for well over a century. Four days a week it is a working farmers' market, one of the largest in the United States, where restaurant cooks and neighbors buy from the same regional growers. The rest of the time it is New York's default place to gather when something has happened — the square where a quarter of a million people massed in…
«Union Square Park ist zwar eher ein kleiner Park, aber trotzdem einer der lebendigsten Ort…»
5. City Hall Park · ⭐ 9.1
(16223 reviews)
+7 photos
Broadway &, Chambers St, New York, NY 10007, United States
Before it was a park it was the Common, and before it was the Common it was the edge of town: a rough triangle of grazing land where colonial New York put the things it wanted outside the city — an almshouse, a gaol, a prison workhouse, a gallows, and a militia parade ground. Then, between 1766 and 1776, it became the place where New Yorkers raised Liberty Poles and British sol…
«A pretty little park in front of City Hall. In the middle there's a nice fountain and a fe…»
Questions & answers
Which place tops the ranking? Washington Square Park — score 9.3/10 (Editors' pick).
How many places are in the list and how were they chosen? The selection includes 5 places chosen by our editors based on rating and reviews.
What is the average rating in the top? 9.3/10 — average score of 5 places in the list.
Which place has the most reviews? Washington Square Park — 32941 visitor reviews.
See also:
Best flower shops
Sources: Google ratings and reviews, official websites and social media of the places, other open data. Selection and texts by the new-york.name editorial team, August 2026.