Gantry Plaza State Park covers 12 acres of shoreline on the borough’s Western coast. With the East River and Midtown Manhattan to the immediate west, the park contains playing fields, fishing piers, a promenade, and outdoor furniture in a site that was once a dock facility with gantry cranes. A 120-foot-long and 60-foot-high neon Pepsi-Cola sign adds to the mystical, urban-rural feel. (The soda maker used to operate a bottling plant in the northern portion.)

Inside scoop: The park keeps growing. Recently, LIC Landing was completed in a section to the south of Gantry. With similar spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline, this new public space features a promenade, children’s play area, fields, and an upscale café, COFFEED. A ferry that goes to Manhattan and Brooklyn stops there too.