Harbour, Rivers & Ferries
The Waterfront
The harbour that made the city rich — Ellis Island, the free Staten Island Ferry, Governors Island and the piers that came back as parkland.
4 placesWhitehall to St George
Staten Island Ferry
Twenty-five minutes across New York Harbour past the Statue of Liberty, every half hour, around the clock, for nothing. The best free thing in the city.
New York Harbour
Ellis Island
Twelve million people came through this hall between 1892 and 1954. Around forty per cent of Americans have an ancestor who was processed in it.
800 yards off Manhattan
Governors Island
An army base for two centuries, closed to the public until 2005, now 172 acres of car-free park eight minutes by ferry from Lower Manhattan.
Southern tip of Manhattan
The Battery
Twenty-five acres at the bottom of the island, named for the gun battery that stood here, and the departure point for every boat in the harbour.