New York Botanical Garden: Inspiration For Your Visit and Tips for Families
Spanning 250 acres, the New York Botanical Garden is a lush oasis in the Bronx, NYC’s northernmost borough. The grounds are breathtaking, and exploring this iconic institution is a must when you’re visiting the Big Apple. I’m a sucker for botanical gardens, and the New York Botanical Garden is a world-famous, tourist to-do and travel checklist item for good reason!
Tips for Visiting the NYBG with Kids
Let’s be real— most kids can only take so much of admiring pretty plants and listening to mom read placards detailing different flowers’ Latin names. Here’s what we recommend to have a happy visit to the New York Botanical Garden with kids!
- If you’re visiting in the Fall, Winter, or Spring, wear layers. With all the walking you’ll be doing, being able to shed layers may come in handy. Whichever season you visit, wear comfortable walking shoes.
- Get your kids excited by encouraging them to take their own photos of all the interesting and new flowers, trees, and plants they find. Here’s an unofficial photo scavenger hunt you can download for free!
- The paths are largely unshaded, so apply sunscreen.
- Check the NYBG website to find out if any drop-in kids’ activities will be happening during your visit.
- Register for the free Nature Quest to gamify the garden experience— should make things more interesting for your kids!
- Visiting with kids under 8 years old? Plan on spending a lot of time at the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. This special children’s space offers 12 acres of kid-friendly fun and activities to keep your little ones entertained.
- Ride the tram for a relaxing trip through the park! There are few things that little kids like more than a fun train ride, amirite? But caution: when it’s busy, the wait times are long.
When To Visit
To avoid crowds, avoid Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays! The New York Botanical Garden is constantly hosting special events and exhibits that draw large crowds, including New York locals and tourists alike. As you might’ve guessed, these usually take place on weekends. For a more tranquil garden experience, we recommend visiting on a Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. The garden is generally closed on Mondays. Wednesdays are free entry, which means—drumroll, please— crowds.
If you absolutely must visit during the weekend, we recommend heading there around 3 pm on Saturday afternoon, and as soon as opening (usually 10 am) on Sunday.
For the most colorful, vibrant blooms, visit mid-May through June. Our second favorite time to visit is right in the heart of autumn when the trees are saturated with the deep reds, warm oranges, and bright yellows of Fall.
Admission
As of writing this post, here are the ticket prices to get into the NYBG:
Adults: $28; Seniors (65+): $25; Students (with valid ID): $25; Children (2–12): $12; Children under 2: Free; Members: Free*
Now, that’s before any transportation costs— including parking— so for a family, these costs add up.
Save on admission
- Option 1: Attend when admission is free! You can enter the New York Botanical Garden with a free Grounds-Only pass all day on Wednesdays and from 9-10am on Saturdays. Note that a Grounds-Only pass does not include access to the certain facilities, including the Conservatory, the Library, or use of the Garden’s tram.
- Option 2: Get discounted tickets ahead of time via GetYourGuide or Viator. As of writing, tickets cost the same from either site, with adult tickets available for just $23 and kids’ tickets going for just $10.
- Option 3: For families of four or more, the Family Membership (currently $135), offers a fantastic deal. Membership includes unlimited full access for a year, a few comped passes for friends, discounts, and even a bunch of free parking passes. Members also get reciprocal access to dozens of other botanical gardens throughout the USA (even Canada!)
With two adults and three school-aged children, we opted for a Family Membership, and for us, it’s so worth it! The complimentary parking pass made traveling to the NYBG very convenient, and within weeks, I’d already used our reciprocal garden admission benefits, too.
See the other botanical gardens we’ve visited (and written about) here.
Heads up, this post is syndicated from my personal blog, Aspire to Wander. You can view the original, including more photos, here: NYC For Families: Inspiration For Your Visit To The New York Botanical Garden. If you happen to be looking for my Day 9 post for Blogtober 2019, this isn't it! For Day 9, I posted about my WordPress host, which I didn't think would be a topic of much interest to my fellow Steemians, so instead, I've republished this post from my personal blog to my Steem blog. Thanks for reading!
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Great post with beautiful pictures.
Botanical Gardens are one of my favorite things and the New York Botanical Gardens is at the top of my list!. I have seen both Henry Moore and Dale Chihuly there! There is a wonder and magic with gardens like this. I feel amazed and alive.
It's truly an amazing place! I do kindaaaa wish we lived closer to the NYBG though so I can really take advantage of my membership, though. The Roberto Burle Marx exhibit this summer was so gorgeous, and yes I DID wait in line to smell the stink of a blooming corpse flower!
Side note: I recently decided that I MUST visit a botanical garden or arboretum in every new place/region I visit— it's this totally separate botanical garden bucket list that I'm sure my boys will be thrilled to help me complete 😂
!BEER
I have that same goal. A garden in every city I visit. Next month I am going to the Brooklyn and I got my airbnb right next to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and am so excited to visit it. I have also become a self ascribed "Chihuly Groupie" so that I can visit a new city and garden each year where he is exhibiting. 2020 is Nashville, Tennessee, which I have never been.
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BEER.Hey @sjarvie5, here is a little bit of
BEERfor you. Enjoy it!Very nice visit to Botanical Gardens!
Thanks for presenting this on #pypt @pypt
Thank you for stopping by, @bluefinstudios! :-D
Excellent guide to one of my favorite places! My kids are all grown now, but those kiddie tips are really useful. Entry fee tips too! Came to you from #pypt.
Thank you for reading, @owasco! Do you still visit the NYBG often?
Awesome photos! I like to see a lot of green colors and great contrast!
Found it on #pypt @pypt
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by, @ph1102! 😀
Beautiful travel post especially I always like the travel-related posts... I visited the Botanical garden in Singapore which was really amazing and I guess you have enjoyed your time there... Good to hear you on #pypt show...
Thank you, @priyanarc! During the visit when I took the photos included in this post, the exhibit in the Conservatory was actually an orchid show put on as an homage to the gardens in Singapore! (and inspired by Crazy Rich Asians) 😀
That's a very classy botanical garden. Makes me think about a museum right in the heart of nature :)
Damn, what a lovely post -- are you in our city? :)
@raymondspeaks - okay, forgive the ignorance here - by city do you mean the Discord for Neoxian (if so, yes, but just joined, and haven't participated much in chat yet... at all), or something else? 😅
Yes, the Discord - we're a bit imaginative haha. In real world terms it's our Discord server, yup. In internet roleplay land - it's the City of Neoxian :)
I find I’m super introverted, even with the semi-anonymity provided by the web, but I’ll definitely try to join in the convos there!
look forward to seeing you there :)
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wow, this botanical garden is really beautiful. I am a big fan of those and I regularly visit the botanical garden here on my home city, everyday when I walk to work and back home ^^ .. Those places are absolutely amazing for relaxing while doing nothing but admiring the nature around us. I do not know if I ever have the chance to go to New York, but If I will be there one day this will be a certain destination ;) .. Thank you for inspiring me with it !
Hello
How nice it is that I stayed so far away, I think I wouldn't leave there with so many orchids and flowers.
The greenhouse is beautiful with a romantic style and your information thinks it is very useful.
When I'm lucky enough to travel, I'll keep that in mind
Happy Friday
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I googled and this is accessible via subway. i have a layover in JFK in December for 17 hours. I might add this up on my list. Although it is winter so I dont think it will be as beautiful as they are in your photos!
17 hours is a bit tight, and there are so many things to see in NYC if you did want to explore a bit, but this is far enough away from JFK (like it'll literally take you 2-3 hours if you rely on the subway only), that I wouldn't recommend it for your layover! But there's plenty of stuff in Manhattan. :-D
If you do find yourself in NYC toward the tail-end of winter, it'll look like it does my photos— I took these photos in the very beginning of April this year, so not much was in bloom quite yet. The super colorful images are from inside the Conservatory, which houses loads of warm-weather flora all year round.
Right! I have lots of stuff which I haven't seen in Manhattan yet so I guess I'll be going to the city for this layover. But I would love to see winter flowers as well but I can do this some other time. Thank you for your suggestion!