Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The area’s biggest attraction is this 1225-acre park, built for the 1939 World’s Fair and dominated by monuments such as Queens’ most famous landmark, the stainless steel Unisphere (the world’s biggest globe, 120ft high and weighing 380 tons). Facing it is the former New York City Building, now home to the Queens Museum of Art. Just south are three weather-worn, Cold War–era New York State Pavilion Towers, which were part of the New York State Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair. If entering the park from the subway walkway, look for the 1964 World’s Fair mosaics by Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol (just down from the ped bridge from the subway). Also nearby is the tall Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the rest of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Head west on the pedestrian bridge over the Grand Central Pkwy to find a few more attractions, including the New York Hall of Science. The park actually has grounds too, on its eastern and southern edges. The top-notch AstroTurf soccer fields are popular for organized and pick-up soccer, and there’s a pitch-and-putt golf course that’s lit up for drunken golfers at night.