The Bronx

Why go

The New York Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo provide substantial nature-focused anchors, while the Bronx Museum of the Arts offers a different cultural purpose. Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park are separate outdoor choices. The borough rewards a visit built around one of these interests, with additional stops chosen for their actual location.

What to look for

• Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park are major outdoor destinations.
• The New York Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo anchor separate nature-focused visits.
• The Bronx Museum of the Arts has interpreted twentieth-century and contemporary art since 1971.

The full story

The Bronx is the only New York City borough with most of its land on the United States mainland. The Bronx River divides a hillier western section from a flatter eastern section, giving its geography more variety than the name of a single borough suggests. Major open spaces were deliberately reserved as urban development moved north and east from Manhattan in the nineteenth century. Migration also shaped its cultural history. European communities were followed by arrivals from the Caribbean and African American migrants from the southern United States. That mix helped make the Bronx an important source of Latin music and hip hop. Neighborhoods experienced very different patterns of development and hardship, including severe housing loss in parts of the South Bronx during the 1960s and 1970s. These histories call for attention to particular places rather than one blanket description.

Useful to know

• Pick a museum, garden, zoo or park before selecting transport into the borough.
• Check the chosen attraction’s access and allow for travel between any additional stops.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.