A guide to New York leaves

Leaf-peeping in the five boroughs
Fall foliage is usually at its peak during the first weekend in November.

Central Park (centralparknyc.org)
Though the Great Lawn has ginkgo and sweetgum trees, some of the less popular spots offer foliage highlights. On Bow Bridge, look east for a vista of red maples; and at the 100th Street Pool, the reflection means twice the pretty. Near the end of the season, when leaves are finally ready to give up the ghost, head to Literary Walk: “You get a breeze coming through there, and the leaves kind of come down like snow,” says Neil Calvanese, VP of operations for the Central Park Conservancy.

New York Botanical Garden
(Bronx River Pkwy at Fordham Rd, Bronx; 718-817-8700, nybg.org)
Explore the arboreal Bronx spot from home with its online foliage tracker, which tells you when its trees—like the orange cutleaf staghorn sumac near the Ross Conifer Arboretum—have hit their fall-color peak.

Prospect Park (prospectpark.org)
Central Park’s cousin has a similar mix of colorful foliage. From the Peninsula, jutting into Prospect Park Lake and accessible from the Southwest park entrance, you can see a massive bald cypress with its knobby roots.

Riverside Park
(Riverside Dr between 72nd and 158th Sts, nycgovparks.org)
The Hudson-adjacent park is as close as you’ll get to a river cruise without risk of seasickness, and you can peer across to New Jersey’s own entry into the autumn hue contest, the Palisades. On this side of the river, the Woodland Restoration area near 110th Street is especially leafy.

Staten Island Clay Pit Ponds State Park (nysparks.com)
This preserve has educational programs and hiking trails to give you something to do other than gander at the leaves by Sharotts Pond—some of which are almost as orange as the ferry you came over on.

Van Cortlandt Park
(Broadway at 242nd St, Bronx; 718-430-1890, nycgovparks.org)
In Memorial Grove, 30 pin oaks and Norway maples, which turn orange and bronze in the autumn, stand in remembrance of fallen World War II troops—look for plaques bearing the names of Bronx soldiers at the bases of the trees.