The Bronx has two of the most remarkable outdoor destinations in New York City — one the world’s largest urban cemetery and functioning arboretum, the other the city’s largest park at nearly 2,800 acres. Most New Yorkers have been to neither. That’s either a missed opportunity or an open invitation, depending on how you look at it. This walking guide covers both, and connects them into a half-day route that justifies the trip uptown.
Woodlawn Cemetery: The Bronx’s Open-Air Museum
Start at Woodlawn Cemetery, at 4199 Webster Avenue in the Bronx — the main entrance is on Webster Avenue, and you can also enter via Jerome Avenue at Bainbridge Avenue. The cemetery is open seven days a week from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Reach it via the #4 subway to Woodlawn (the last stop on the line), or via Metro-North’s Harlem Line to Woodlawn station.
Woodlawn is not a solemn place to avoid. It is, by any reasonable standard, one of the most beautiful landscapes in New York City — 400 acres of rolling hills, glacial ponds, mature trees in dozens of species, and an extraordinary collection of Gilded Age monuments, mausoleums, and sculptures commissioned by the industrialists, jazz legends, and civic leaders buried here. Among the notable residents: Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Herman Melville, F.W. Woolworth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
The Woodlawn Conservancy maintains the grounds as a certified arboretum with more than 140 documented tree species. Walking the main avenues in late May means flowering trees, lush canopy, and almost total quiet — the cemetery’s strict limits on recreational activity keep it peaceful in a way that city parks rarely are. Pick up a map at the administration office (open Monday–Friday 8:30am–4:30pm, Saturday 8:30am–2pm) and follow one of the self-guided walking routes, or download the VoiceMap audio tour before you arrive for a guided experience of the cemetery’s architectural and historical highlights.
Give yourself at least 90 minutes here. The grounds reward wandering.
The Art Deco Corridor on the Grand Concourse
From Woodlawn, take the #4 train south to 167th Street and walk west to the Grand Concourse — or take the D or B train to any stop between 161st and 167th. The stretch of the Grand Concourse from roughly 138th to 167th Street is one of the greatest concentrations of Art Deco apartment architecture in the United States, built in the 1920s and 1930s when the Bronx was a middle-class destination and developers were competing to build the most elegant residential buildings in the city.
Walk north from 161st Street along the Concourse and look up: terra-cotta geometric ornaments, fluted cornices, glazed brick in cream and gold, and lobby details in chrome and marble. The buildings are inhabited apartment houses, not museums, so the walk is best done along the sidewalk — but the architectural density is remarkable enough to justify the detour. The Lewis Morris building at 1749 Grand Concourse and the Andrew Freedman Home at 1125 Grand Concourse (now a cultural center) are standouts.
Pelham Bay Park
Head to Pelham Bay Park — New York City’s largest park at 2,772 acres — for the afternoon portion of this route. Take the #6 train to its last stop at Pelham Bay Park station. The park is three times the size of Central Park and encompasses salt marshes, coastal forest, beaches, and 13 miles of saltwater shoreline, yet it draws a fraction of the visitors that Central Park does on any given day.
The Kazimiroff Nature Trail, documented by NYC Parks, offers two self-guided loops around Hunter Island: the Blue Loop (1.24 miles) and the shorter Red Loop (0.94 miles). The trail leads through one of the oldest coastal forests in the New York region, along wetland borders, through interior forest, and out to the shore of Orchard Beach. According to NYC Parks, the trail passes the Twin Islands, a marsh and tidal inlet at Turtle Cove, and a famous glacial boulder. Interpretive signs along the trail explain the ecology.
Orchard Beach itself — the wide crescent beach at the park’s northern end, accessible by bus from the subway station — is worth a stop. On a late May Saturday it’s lively with Bronx families, food vendors, and the particular festive energy of a public beach that has been serving this borough for generations.
What You Need to Know
- Woodlawn Cemetery: 4199 Webster Ave (main entrance) or Jerome Ave at Bainbridge Ave | Open daily 8:30am–4:30pm | #4 train to Woodlawn or Metro-North Harlem Line to Woodlawn station | Free entry | (718) 920-0500
- Grand Concourse Art Deco walk: Best between 138th and 167th Streets | B, D, or #4 train to any Concourse stop in that range
- Pelham Bay Park: #6 train to last stop (Pelham Bay Park) | Kazimiroff Nature Trail starts near Orchard Beach parking area | Free admission
- Total time: Woodlawn + Concourse walk + Pelham Bay makes a full day; each section works as a standalone half-day trip
- Timing: Woodlawn gates close at 4:30pm — arrive by 2:30pm at the latest for a proper visit
The Bronx offers this particular combination — museum-quality cemetery, landmark architecture, and wilderness hiking — without the crowds that accompany equivalent experiences anywhere else in the city. That’s the hidden-gem reality: it’s all here, and it’s mostly empty on any given Saturday.
For waterfront routes, see our guide to the best scenic rides along the Bronx and NYC waterfront greenways.
