Riverside Park is my favorite place to go when I feel like wandering around a big park, but I’m not in the mood for the crowds and the vastness of Central Park. Riverside Park runs from 72nd St. to 158th St., and has a unique long, “narrow” layout (I put narrow in quotes because it’s not actually narrow, like The High Line, but it has that long, railroad-esque shape as compared to Central Park). It’s big enough that you feel like you can kind of escape, but it consistently feels a lot less crowded and a lot more quiet and relaxing than Central Park. Not to mention that venturing over to the West Side gives the added bonus of bringing you past Levain and/or Momofuku Milk Bar :). Nothing like a wander through the park with a good book and a good snack! Click through for more…

Interestingly, Riverside Park was designed by the same landscape architect who designed Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted (who also designed Prospect Park in Brooklyn).

Riverside Park offers beautiful views over the Hudson.

The Garden People’s Garden is a particularly charming little spot in the Park, a community garden tended to by volunteers and featured in the final scene of You’ve Got Mail.

Gotta love that Upper West Side architecture.