50 Free Things to Do on Staten Island

Free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The 25-minute ride across New York Harbor gives you one of the best views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Lower Manhattan skyline in the city - and it costs nothing. Billions of dollars of real estate on both shorelines. Round trip is free. This alone is worth the trip.

Free. The St. George Ferry Terminal is one of the most beautiful transit buildings in New York - a grand 1951 Art Deco structure with harbor views from every window. The surrounding St. George neighborhood has a small arts district, the Staten Island Yankees ballpark, and the borough hall. A ten-minute walk from the terminal covers more than most visitors ever see.

Free with a MetroCard swipe. The only above-ground rapid transit line in NYC outside of Manhattan, the SIR runs 14 miles down the eastern shore of Staten Island from St. George to Tottenville. The whole line is above ground or elevated, giving views through neighborhoods and woods that no subway line in the city can match. Ride it end to end for a free tour of the borough.

Free always. A 2,800-acre forest preserve in the heart of Staten Island with 35 miles of hiking trails - the largest contiguous natural area in any NYC borough. Six major trail systems ranging from easy to difficult, plus the Greenbelt Nature Center. Todt Hill within the Greenbelt is one of the highest points on the Eastern Seaboard between Maine and Florida. This is serious wilderness inside a city.

Free. The 83-acre grounds of Snug Harbor are open every day from dawn to dusk at no charge. A stunning campus of Greek Revival buildings, more than 20 distinct gardens, a rose garden, a sensory garden, and the Secret Garden with its drawbridge and castle entry. One of the most beautiful free spaces in the city. Staten Island residents get free access to the Chinese Scholar's Garden on the first Saturday of each month.

Free. A 226-acre national park at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Fort Wadsworth was the longest continually operating military fort in the United States and its masonry batteries and earthworks are extraordinary to walk through. The Visitor Center is free, open Friday to Monday 10am-4pm. The views of the Narrows, the bridge, and the harbor from the fort are among the best in the city.

Free. The 2.5-mile Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk along South Beach is one of the longest boardwalks in the United States and offers views of ships entering New York Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean. The beach itself is free. From the boardwalk you can see the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge looming overhead - an extraordinary piece of infrastructure. Swimming in summer, walking year-round.

Free to explore the park. At the very southern tip of Staten Island - and the southernmost point of New York City - this 265-acre park sits on a coastal preserve with maritime forest, beach trails, and the 1680 Conference House, a stone manor where Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge met British Admiral Howe in one of the last attempts to negotiate peace before the Revolutionary War.

Free. Part of the Staten Island Greenbelt system, High Rock Park has ponds, meadows, kettle holes, and some of the most accessible woodland in the borough. The park has five distinct ponds connected by trails, free guided nature walks, and a resident great blue heron. A good entry point to the larger Greenbelt system.

Free. A serene park with a large central lake in the middle of Staten Island, often described as the borough's answer to Central Park. Free to walk, fish, and explore year-round. The trails around the lake connect to the wider Greenbelt system and offer some of the most peaceful walking in any borough.

Free. Four interconnected lakes in the North Shore with mature trees, trails, and one of the few 300-year-old tulip trees remaining in New York City. The park connects to the Staten Island Greenbelt and has tennis courts, ice skating in winter, and one of the most ancient individual trees in the city.

Free. A quiet salt marsh park on the southern shore with the only purple martin colony in New York City. Migrating monarch butterflies stop here in fall. Free birding year-round. One of the most genuinely wild free spaces in any borough - peaceful, uncrowded, and largely unknown outside the immediate neighborhood.

Free. A 580-acre park on the southern shore that is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. A peninsula jutting into Lower New York Bay with a beach, a marina, hiking trails, and wildlife. The birding during migration season is exceptional. The park connects by trail to the Staten Island Greenbelt White Trail.

Free every Thursday from 2 to 4pm, walk-ins welcome. A 100-acre living history museum with 28 buildings dating from the 1690s to the early 20th century - one of the oldest and most extensive historic museum complexes in New York. In summer, costumed re-enactors bring the colonial village to life. A new exhibition opening in June 2026 celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Pay what you wish ($3 suggested). A Victorian Gothic cottage on the shore of Staten Island where pioneering photographer Alice Austen (1866-1952) lived most of her life. The house overlooks New York Bay and the park surrounds it with sweeping views of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. Alice Austen was a self-taught photographer who documented immigrant life, high society, and street culture decades before anyone else was doing it. Also a nationally designated site of LGBTQ+ history.

Free always. Staten Island lost 274 people on September 11 - more per capita than any other borough. The Postcards memorial at the St. George waterfront is a moving and architecturally significant tribute, with two wing-shaped forms oriented toward where the Twin Towers stood. The harbor view from the memorial connects the site to the skyline it faces. Free, open at all times.

Free. The New Brighton branch is the flagship. Free events, exhibitions, and cultural programs year-round in multiple languages. A free NYPL card unlocks the full New York Public Library system. The library system on Staten Island runs some of the most active community programming of any borough branch network.

Free. The longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere when it opened in 1964, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects Staten Island to Brooklyn and frames the entrance to New York Harbor. The views from Fort Wadsworth directly beneath it, and from South Beach below it, are extraordinary. The bridge itself is visible from dozens of free vantage points across the borough.

Free. At 409 feet above sea level, Todt Hill is the highest natural point on the Eastern Seaboard between Maine and Florida. It sits within the Staten Island Greenbelt and can be reached via the Blue Trail. The surrounding neighborhood of large houses and wooded streets is one of the most distinctive residential areas in any borough.

Free to walk. A neighborhood of winding streets, wooded hillsides, and hidden architectural gems in the middle of the island. The Staten Island Lighthouse at the top of Richmond Terrace was built in 1912 and is still active. The surrounding neighborhood has the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art below the hill - one of the most unexpected free-to-view buildings in New York.

Free. The waterfront along Stapleton on the North Shore has been transformed into a public park with views of the harbor and the Manhattan skyline. The old naval base site is being redeveloped into a mixed-use waterfront. The esplanade here is a quiet and beautiful free walk with one of the more unusual views of the city skyline.

Free to explore. The neighborhood around the ferry terminal has become a small arts district with galleries, the Snug Harbor-affiliated arts organizations, and a free outdoor sculpture walk. The St. George Theatre is a stunning 1929 Moorish Revival building visible from the street. The neighborhood has a gritty energy that feels nothing like the rest of the borough.

Free to walk. The North Shore neighborhoods - New Brighton, Tompkinsville, Stapleton - have a layered history and some of the most interesting free streetscapes in the borough. Victorian rowhouses, immigrant communities, and waterfront views. The area around Bay Street is the commercial heart of the North Shore and has a distinct character entirely unlike suburban Staten Island.

Free to walk the surrounding area. The neighborhood around Historic Richmond Town is one of the oldest settled communities in New York City, with houses dating back centuries visible from public streets. The area has an almost rural character completely unlike Manhattan - the antithesis of a New York City neighborhood, and entirely free to explore on foot.

Free. Take the Staten Island Railway to its final stop at Tottenville - the southernmost neighborhood in New York City. The surrounding streets have a quiet small-town character unlike anywhere else in the five boroughs. Conference House Park is adjacent. The view from the shore here looks across the Arthur Kill toward New Jersey - a genuinely different edge of the city.

Free outdoor concerts on the Snug Harbor grounds as part of the City Parks Foundation SummerStage series. The backdrop of the Greek Revival buildings makes it one of the most beautiful free concert settings in the city. Check the SummerStage calendar for this summer's Staten Island lineup.

Free fitness classes in Staten Island parks throughout the year. Yoga, Zumba, boot camp, and more. No registration required. Check nycgovparks.org for the current schedule of free Shape Up NYC classes across the borough.

The New York Philharmonic's annual free outdoor concert series includes a Staten Island date, typically in Clove Lakes Park or on the Snug Harbor grounds. Free, no tickets. One of the most special free music experiences in the city. Check the Philharmonic's website each summer for the specific date and location.

Free to view the exterior. The most unlikely free sight in New York - a replica Tibetan mountain monastery on a hillside in Staten Island housing one of the largest collections of Tibetan art outside of Asia. The building itself, visible from the road, is extraordinary. The grounds are viewable at no cost; small admission to enter. An entirely improbable thing to find on a Staten Island hillside.

Free, 24 hours. Taking the ferry after dark is one of the best free experiences in New York City. The Manhattan skyline lit up across the water, the lights of the bridges, the harbor traffic - it is one of the great visual experiences the city offers. Free, every hour through the night. No tourist attraction on the island can match it.

Free to view from public roads and shoreline. The tidal strait between Staten Island and New Jersey is home to one of the most atmospheric free sights in New York - dozens of rusting, abandoned ships and barges beached in the marsh. Visible from the shoreline near Rossville. A haunting and genuinely unforgettable free sight.

Free to view the Greek Revival buildings from the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center. The five original colonnaded buildings of Sailors' Snug Harbor, built between 1831 and 1880, are among the finest examples of Greek Revival institutional architecture in the United States. Walking the main allée between the columns feels like stepping into a different century.

Free to explore. The Rossville and Charleston neighborhoods on the western shore are the most rural parts of New York City. Farms, wetlands, and marshland along the Arthur Kill. The Blazing Star Burial Ground here has headstones dating to 1750. This is as far from Midtown Manhattan as New York City gets while still being New York City.

Free. New York State's only natural area preserve within New York City - a 259-acre preserve of freshwater springs, streams, clay pits, and rare plant communities in the southwest corner of Staten Island. The freshwater spring here has flowed continuously for centuries. Free hiking trails, birding, and some of the quietest natural space in any borough.

Free. The Outerbridge Crossing connects Staten Island to New Jersey at the southernmost point of New York State. The view from Conference House Park and the surrounding shore takes in both the bridge and the Arthur Kill. Free always. Almost no tourists ever see this part of New York.

Free to view the exterior and attend some events. The Staten Island Museum is housed within the Snug Harbor campus and has rotating exhibitions on the history and natural history of Staten Island. Some exhibitions have small admission fees; check their website for current free events and free-admission days. The building itself is part of the historic Greek Revival campus and free to admire.

Free. A long, quiet beach on the eastern shore of Staten Island, adjacent to Miller Field - a former US Army Air Corps base now used as open parkland. The combination of beach, boardwalk, and the open fields of Miller Field makes this one of the most spacious and uncrowded free outdoor spaces in the city. Free always.

Free. Within the Snug Harbor grounds, the Heritage Rose Garden has species from around the world, including roses that were popular in the 19th century. The Connie Gretz Secret Garden requires crossing a drawbridge and passing through a castle to enter - one of the most charming free experiences for families in the city. Both gardens are free within the Snug Harbor grounds.

Free to walk around. The home of the Staten Island FerryHawks in St. George has one of the most dramatic ballpark settings in minor league baseball - the outfield faces directly onto the New York Harbor with the Manhattan skyline beyond. Even without a ticket, the harbor views from around the ballpark are worth the ferry ride.

Free. One of the stranger and more satisfying free hikes in the city - Moses' Mountain within the Staten Island Greenbelt is a 90-foot artificial hill made entirely from construction debris buried during the 1960s. Named for Robert Moses, it now has mature trees, trails, and views over the surrounding Greenbelt. Access via the Yellow Trail.

Free. A quiet, largely residential beach on the eastern shore with views of the Lower Bay and the Rockaways. The surrounding area has a small beach-town character unlike anywhere else in New York City. The marshes at the northern end are excellent for birding during spring and fall migration.

Free. A detour from the Red Trail in LaTourette Park leads to the Heyerdahl Hill Ruins - the overgrown remains of a 19th century farmhouse deep in the Greenbelt forest. Finding them requires a short hike but no special equipment. One of the quieter free discoveries the city has to offer.

Free to view. An 1838 Greek Revival mansion on the National Register of Historic Places on the south shore of Staten Island, maintained by the NYC Historic Trust. The grounds overlook Prince's Bay. One of the most intact pre-Civil War manor houses in New York City, and one of the least visited.

Free. The Greenbelt Nature Center offers free exhibits on the natural history of the Greenbelt, free guided hikes, and free educational programming year-round. A good starting point for first-time Greenbelt visitors. The surrounding trails are accessible directly from the center's parking area.

Free. One of the oldest burial grounds in New York City, with headstones dating to the 1750s in the Rossville neighborhood on the western shore. Free and open to respectful visitors. The surrounding landscape of marshland, woods, and the distant Arthur Kill makes the setting unlike any other historic site in the city.

Free to hike. The largest section of the Greenbelt, with dense forest, the LaTourette Golf Course (pay to play), and miles of free trails. The historic LaTourette House at the center of the park dates to 1836. A free walk through here in autumn, when the forest canopy turns, is one of the most beautiful experiences available in any borough.

Free. The Prince's Bay area on the south shore has marshlands, a historic fishing community, and views across to New Jersey. Lemon Creek Park at the water's edge has the purple martin colony, egrets, herons, and the kind of stillness that doesn't exist in any other borough. Free always, and almost completely unknown to non-residents.

Free to view from the road. The overgrown ruins of a 19th century poorhouse farm complex in the woods of Seaview Hospital grounds. The crumbling Victorian brick buildings, visible from public paths, are among the most atmospheric urban ruins in New York City. Part of the broader Seaview Hospital complex, some of which is being restored.

Free to view the exterior. A small frame house in Rosebank that was home to Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi and Antonio Meucci, the inventor who is recognized as the true inventor of the telephone before Bell. The house is a National Historic Landmark. Free to walk past and read the plaques; small admission to enter. One of the most unexpected free historic sites in the city.

Free. Combine everything: the 8am ferry from Whitehall Terminal (free, harbor views), St. George waterfront (free), a morning hike in the Greenbelt (free), a picnic at Snug Harbor (free), the Postcards 9/11 Memorial (free), and the evening ferry back as the sun sets over the harbor. The whole day costs nothing. It is one of the best free days available in any city on earth.