There may be no more cinematic season than fall in New York. No wonder “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail” filmed here at the height of the harvest. When that coveted sweater weather arrives each year, roasted chestnuts begin to appear in street vendor carts and the trees — a reported 5.2 million of them — transform every borough of Gotham into a pumpkin spice wonderland.
And while every neighborhood feels worthy of a stroll and a chai latte at that first burst of fall, don’t forget to also explore toward the end of October, says Grant Braswell, licensed associate real estate broker at Compass. “One of the biggest things in Park Slope in the fall is Halloween,” he says. “Everyone gets in on it, houses get decorated, there’s lights, there’s giant eight foot spiders on huge nets that people put out… it’s just something that everyone loves.”
Here, a few favorite places to take a bite out of the Big Apple pie.
Fall in New York: 6 Top Neighborhoods for Foliage and Food
Inwood, Manhattan
“Being right on the water and all of the parks that both neighborhoods have, [Inwood and Riverdale are] sort of the perfect places for fall,” says Stephenie Skyllas, licensed real estate salesperson for the Bizzaro Real Estate Agency, who lives at the border between Kingsbridge and Riverdale.
One of Stephenie’s top riverside restaurants for an autumnal nosh in Inwood: The Hudson, which serves lobster grilled cheese and Wagyu burgers on brioche buns. “You can sit outside and see all the leaves changing across the water on The Palisades,” she says.
Just north of there, Inwood Hill Park is Skyllas’ favorite green space in town. “It is one of the last sort of natural parks in New York City, and what I mean by that is there’s still amazing playgrounds and ball fields and all of that, but there’s untouched forests. It’s not like Central Park where it was designed by humans.” (Bonus: the park also offers a topnotch farmer’s market, Inwood Greenmarket, on Saturdays year-round, where local delights range from 1857 — a handcrafted potato vodka from Schoharie County, New York — to apple cider from Samascott Orchards & Nine Pin Ciderworks).
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“In the fall, all the apples start coming,” Skyllas says. “You can get fall foods like your apple cider and your apple cider donuts and all of that sort of yummy stuff direct from the people who are making it, and then you can go sort of on a little hike through Inwood Hill Park.”
Finally, don’t miss one of her other farm-to-table go-to restaurants of choice, The Inwood Farm. Current dishes include brussels sprouts with green apple, prosciutto and hot honey and Faroe Island Salmon with beurre blanc sauce. It may seem too good to be true, but it’s fall-real.
Park Slope, Brooklyn
“One of my favorite things anytime of year, but especially once it’s a little cooler and not as wet as spring, is going into Prospect Park,” Braswel says. “Especially in the fall, I prefer meandering more in the fields because then you get the open views of all the leaf changes and everything, and some cool breezes coming through and getting down to the Nethermead [rolling meadow]. You really don’t feel like you’re in the city in the fall.”
Plus, as a particularly storied section of Brooklyn, Park Slope is chockablock with bakeries and coffee shops that put national chains to shame, including Velvette Brew—a barista-owned spot that offers buttery Italian cookies with their highly Instagrammable lattes. Just a few minutes walk away on the border of Park Slope: The Brooklyn Botanic Garden may get most of its fanfare in spring and summer, but fall is no slouch. You may see fiery orange 20-f00t-tall Japanese maple trees and a century-old sweetgum tree dressed in cherry-read leaves as you wander through the 52 acre grounds.
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Riverdale, The Bronx
“Van Cortlandt Park is one of the biggest parks in the city, with several old houses and a bunch of old creepy graveyards,” Skyllas says of the manicured expanse. She often makes a beeline, though, for the horse stables. “You can go up there and go hiking all around the north end of Van Cortlandt Park, and you really have no clue that you’re in New York City. So for everybody who wants the trees and the nature, but needs to take public transportation or doesn’t have all day, you can just go up there. My little secret is to go to the northwest corner of the park and it’s not busy. You almost never see other people if you’re out there hiking, which I think is amazing in New York.”
Another favorite green (and red, orange, yellow) space of Skyllas is Riverdale Park. “I’m a big water person, so I love the parks that are near the water — especially in the fall, because of course, across the other side of the Hudson is The Palisades, and all of those leaves are stunning.”
Nearby, her favorite restaurant in Riverdale is the farm-to-table Moss Café. They source from local farms for dishes like heirloom tomatoes and herbed goat cheese on peasant bread. “It’s a kosher restaurant, so they’re closed on Saturdays,” she notes. “The food is incredible. And it’s seasonal because they get food from farms all throughout the Hudson Valley.”
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If you enjoy “spice, spice, baby” with your desserts, stop in at the iconic Lloyd’s Carrot Cake for what may be the most delectable carrot cake of your life, thanks to their optional walnuts and raisins and signature cream cheese frosting. (You know it’s good when they ship nationally, from right here in Riverdale.)
Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
Braswell lives in Windsor Terrace, where many street-facing gardens set it apart from other neighborhoods and make it a great place to take in the onset of fall in New York. “You have some of these really big trees with leaves that sweep down the street,” he says. “That’s when you’re like, like, ‘Oh, winter’s coming. That big breeze coming in over the cemetery and through the street.”
One of Braswell’s coffee shops of choice in Windsor Terrace is the ELK Cafe, on the Southwest corner of the park, which has its own working fireplace for the coziest feel imaginable. “I like flat whites everywhere I go,” he says. “It’s a coffee shop where I think they do it right and it’s cute, and it’s right by the park.”
If you’re craving a seasonally inspired dinner, Della Valle is locally beloved for their tagliatelle bolognese and leafy outdoor patio.
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Greenwich Village, Manhattan
If New York City were a band in need of an album cover photo, they’d no doubt shoot it in Greenwich Village. In the fall (of course). At a time of year synonymous with back to school and bibliophiles, Greenwich Village is autumnal perfection, thanks to historic Washington Square Park and a plethora of college students on their way to class. (It’s creepy and ghastly, but near Halloween, don’t miss the Hangman’s Elm—it’s more than 300 years old and was reportedly where “traitors” were dispensed with during the American Revolution.)
On Sullivan Street, Third Rail Coffee makes note-perfect cortados and iced lattes with local Battenkill Dairy Farm milk. Head to Mille-Feuille for some of the best pastries this side of Paris, including the extremely autumnal chausson aux pommes (a puff pastry pocket filled with de facto apple pie).
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Upper East Side, Manhattan
As the leaves in Central Park swirl, there may be no more iconic place to take them in than the Met’s Temple of Dendur gallery. Behind the circa 10 B.C. stone temple, glass spans the entire wall — overlooking a prime panorama of the trees.
While on the Upper East Side, it’s worth trekking to 787 Coffee, which has locations on both east 70th and 80th, to indulge in a rum-infused espresso or dulce de leche latte, which are exactly as debauched and delicious as they sound (and not actually alcoholic, since the booze evaporates).
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Stop in at Levain Bakery for a pumpkin ginger spice loaf cake — only offered seasonally — Orwashers, which has perfected babka with their Sticky Bun Babka Muffins drizzled in caramel schmear.
And finally, you can’t do fall in New York right without walking the iconic Mall and Literary Walk in Central Park. Enter at 66th street to stroll under two towering rows of American elm trees that were the fanciful imaginings of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the 19th century. Squint, and you can picture Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal there, snuggled up in cable knit sweaters and each other.
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