When it comes to tourism, New York City's four boroughs that aren't Manhattan often get overlooked. It's understandable, but also a shame. Those other four boroughs, including Queens, contain fascinating and worthwhile sights that may fall off the general tourist's radar. But if your interests lie in sports, history, art and nature, making a few stops in Queens might be a good idea on any trip to the Big Apple.
Pro Sporting Events
- Queens is home to the New York Mets, who play at Citi Field in Flushing Meadows Park. Citi Field replaced the Mets' former home of Shea Stadium at Flushing Meadows and is notable for being a baseball-only designed ballpark that can't host football games as Shea did. The ballpark features many classic design elements reminiscent of the grand old baseball venues, such as Ebbet's Field, which once stood in Brooklyn next to Queens. Tours of the facility are offered throughout the year. Tennis fans flock to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows each year for the U.S. Open. The 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium is part of the complex, considered the largest tennis stadium in the world.
Museums
- Not all of New York City's renowned cultural institutions are in Manhattan. In fact, Queens is home to some of the city's more enthralling and specialized museums. They may be a lot smaller than, say, the Met or the Guggenheim, but you'll find some entrancing exhibits housed in museum galleries east of the Queensboro Bridge. For film buffs, a visit to the Museum of the Moving Image is a must. If you have children in tow, the New York Hall of Science is geared toward them with its many interactive learning displays. Art aficionados should check out both MoMA PS1 -- a branch of the Museum of Modern Art devoted to displaying experimental art in a historic space -- and the Queens Museum of Art.
Parks and Green Space
- If you have time to visit only one park in Queens, make it Flushing Meadows. Not only does it contain Queens' most well-known attractions, there's also a healthy dose of green space to boot. Head to Forest Park for a stroll through a real patch of woods and to Astoria Park for amazing city skyline views from the walkway along the banks of the East River. Surprising to many first-timers, and maybe even to some locals, Queens is home to a National Park at the Jamaica Bay Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area. The enormous, protected bay also contains a wildlife refuge that's a significant bird sanctuary and a popular spot for birders.
Historical Sites
- A good place to begin exploring area history is at the Kingsland Homestead in Weeping Beech Park. Built in 1785, it's a fine remaining example of the farmhouses that were once found throughout the area during colonial times and is now a house museum open for tours on selected days of the week or by appointment. More farm history can be found at the Queens County Farm Museum, a still-working farm dating to 1697 that claims to be the largest remaining undisturbed tract of farmland in New York City. From 1943 until his death in 1971, jazz great and cultural icon Louis Armstrong called the same house in Queens home. Today, that house is the Louis Armstrong House Museum, devoted to covering the life and legacy of the legendary musician.
