Exploring New York City’s waterfront

City Island, Eastern shore of the Bronx, off I-95 North

For a taste of New England in the city, the Bronx’s City Island is sort of an open secret. With roughly 1,500 modest homes but little tourism, it has a rich maritime history as a boatbuilding and yachting center that served as home to oystermen, clam diggers and navigational pilots.

Pictured: Dawn Castillo, of Parkchester, Bronx, with son, Austin, on the outdoor terrace at Tony’s Pier Restaurant on City Island on Thursday, May 7, 2015.
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Photo Credit: Linda Rosier

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Photo Credit: Linda Rosier

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex, Pier 86 at 46th Street and 12th Avenue, Manhattan’s West Side

The West Side of Manhattan is the berth of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, a 900-foot-long vessel that served tours of duty in World War II and the Vietnam War and now functions as a military museum.
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Photo Credit: Anthony Lanzilote

For hundreds of years, New York City’s perimeter was working waterfronts, largely industrial, frequently derelict and seedy, more often places to be shunned than explored.

But in recent decades, the roughly 520 miles of coastline in the city has been transformed in many places, as waterside parks have sprung up and crumbling piers have been restored and converted to veritable playgrounds.

To take advantage of the city’s newfound waterfront wealth, here are six suggestions.