The Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly year-round, offer­ing vis­i­tors access to 120 acres of expan­sive open space just min­utes from Low­er Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. The Island’s 43-acre, award-win­ning park — rec­og­nized for its inno­v­a­tive, cli­mate-resilient design — fea­tures rolling lawns, vibrant land­scapes, and ample space for pic­nick­ing and out­door recre­ation. Ham­mock Grove’s rec­og­niz­able red ham­mocks com­ple­ment sev­er­al expand­ed path­ways nes­tled among a young urban for­est. This year marks the 10^th anniver­sary of the Hills; the South Island Park’s unique cli­mate-resilien­cy fea­ture for­ev­er trans­formed New York­ers’ rela­tion­ship with New York Har­bor. Ris­ing up to 70 feet above sea-lev­el, these icon­ic feats of engi­neer­ing offer unmatched views, inter­ac­tions with pub­lic art, bio­di­verse nat­ur­al habi­tats, oppor­tu­ni­ties for explo­ration, and more, all while serv­ing as a mod­el for sus­tain­able urban design. 

Bike rentals from Blaz­ing Sad­dles are avail­able dai­ly for vis­i­tors to explore sev­en miles of car-free paths, with Free Bike Morn­ings every week­day between 10am-12pm. The Island is also home to three CitiBike docks, locat­ed at each fer­ry land­ing and at Pic­nic Point. Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment, includ­ing Fort Jay and Cas­tle Williams, will reopen this sum­mer for both ranger-led and self-guid­ed tours. The Yard, play:groundNYC’s Adven­ture Play­ground offer­ing a unique kids-only space for imag­i­na­tion and explo­ration, is open every week­end from 12 – 4pm.

Oppor­tu­ni­ties to engage direct­ly with the research, devel­op­ment, and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions through­out the Island this sum­mer include GrowNYC’s Teach­ing Gar­den and Con­tain­er Farm, locat­ed on the Parade Ground, as well as Earth Mat­ter NY’s Com­post Learn­ing Cen­ter — both open week­ends from May to Novem­ber. Vis­i­tors can also wit­ness inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions in action via the Trust’s Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram, with a record-break­ing 17 dif­fer­ent cli­mate pilot­ing projects through­out the Island. Pilot projects will host live demon­stra­tions and work­shops through­out the peak season. 

Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC)’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island will hold per­for­mances, pub­lic pro­grams, and open stu­dios through­out the sum­mer along­side their annu­al Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val; the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture (IPA) will hold open library hours and exhi­bi­tions; Col­lec­tive Retreats is open through Novem­ber for overnight stays in their glamp­ing-style accom­mo­da­tions along with din­ner and drinks at their Sun­set Ter­race cock­tail bar and Three Peaks Lodge water­front restau­rant; and QC NY is open dai­ly with two heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, a full-ser­vice bistro, sen­so­ry saunas, a salt room, and more. 

The Trust will offer wheel­chair-acces­si­ble tram ser­vice, free and avail­able to all guests. These elec­tric acces­si­bil­i­ty vehi­cles will depart from Sois­sons Land­ing and Yan­kee Pier Fri­day through Sun­day from Memo­r­i­al Day to Labor Day, stop­ping at sev­er­al key loca­tions through­out the Island. 

Gov­er­nors Island remains one of New York City’s most unique loca­tions for events of all kinds. See a selec­tion of upcom­ing ear­ly sum­mer events below, with more to be announced through­out the season:

• May 16: Damask Rose: A Gath­er­ing, by Bahar Behba­hani, pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts
• May 30 & 31: Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix
• June 6 & 7: NYC Footy’s annu­al Gov­Cup tournament
• June 9: Sun­set Soirée, ben­e­fit­ting the Gov­er­nors Island Foundation
• June 10: New York City Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion Youth Cli­mate Summit
• June 13 & 14: Jazz Age Lawn Party
• June 19 & 20: my tongue is a blade, by Sweat Vari­ant, pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC)’s Riv­er to Riv­er Festival
• June 20 & 21: FAD Market
• June 20: Porch Stomp folk music festival
• June 21: The Great Nosh
• July 4: Sail4th 250 Grand Review of Tall Ships at Gov­er­nors Island
• July 18 & 19: New York City Poet­ry Festival
• July 25: Jazz by the Water
• July 25 & 26: FAD Market

Gov­er­nors Island is a grow­ing culi­nary des­ti­na­tion with a diverse mix of cuisines avail­able to vis­i­tors dai­ly. New offer­ings this year include pre­vi­ous­ly announced Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, a full-scale, sea­son­al restau­rant bring­ing Pan-Amer­i­can cui­sine and an ener­getic and com­mu­nal atmos­phere to Sois­sons Land­ing, and the Theodo­ra Beach Club, Pre­sent­ed by Resy, a new din­ner series from Taco Vista, Brook­lyn-based restau­rant Theodo­ra, and media part­ner VinePair.

Return­ing ven­dors include Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny, Lit­tle Eva’s, Taco Vista, Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca, Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights, Threes Brew­ing, Sea Bis­cuit, Tokyo Drum­stick, La Newyork­i­na, Mak­i­na Café, and On Tea Road. The Food­ie Spot — a part­ner­ship with the New York City Hous­ing Author­i­ty (NYCHA)’s Office of Res­i­dent Eco­nom­ic Empow­er­ment and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty — will return to Liggett Ter­race for the sixth year in a row, spot­light­ing small busi­ness­es owned by grad­u­ates of NYCHA’s Food Busi­ness Path­ways pro­gram. Misi­pas­ta x Gov­er­nors Island, an inti­mate out­door sum­mer din­ner series pow­ered by Resy fea­tur­ing food from chef and restau­ra­teur Mis­sy Rob­bins, returns every Mon­day-Thurs­day from June 8 through August 31.

OPEN DAI­LY

• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny in the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal – Dai­ly, 7AM-2PM (open until 4pm Memo­r­i­al Day-Labor Day)
• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny at Liggett Ter­race – Dai­ly, 9AM-5PM
• Lit­tle Eva’s – Week­days, 11AM-5PM; week­ends, 11AM-6PM
• Mak­i­na Café – Week­days, 9AM-3PM; week­ends, 10AM-4PM
• Taco Vista – Sun­day-Thurs­day, 12 – 6PM; Fri­day-Sat­ur­day, 12 – 7PM
• Three Peaks Lodge at Col­lec­tive Retreats – Din­ner dai­ly from 5 – 9PM; Sun­set Ter­race Cock­tail Bar: Week­days, 3 – 9PM; week­ends, 2 – 9PM

OPEN WEEK­ENDS AND SELECT WEEKDAYS

• Brigs Sweet Shop – Week­ends, 12 – 6PM
• Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights – Week­ends, 10AM-6PM
• The Food­ie Spot – Week­ends, 9AM-5PM
• La Newyork­i­na – Week­ends, 12 – 7PM
• On Tea Road – Week­ends, 12 – 5PM
• Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca – Week­ends, 11AM-5PM
• Sea Bis­cuit – Week­ends, 12 – 7PM
• Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg – Thurs­day, 11AM-10PM; Fri­day, 11AM-11PM; Sat­ur­day, 10AM-11PM; Sun­day, 10AM-10PM
• Threes Brew­ing – Week­ends, 11AM-6PM
• Tokyo Drum­stick – Week­ends, 11AM-5PM

Through pub­lic art works, the annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram, and pub­lic events and pro­gram­ming, Gov­er­nors Island Arts — the arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust — cre­ates trans­for­ma­tive encoun­ters with art for all New York­ers, invit­ing artists and researchers to engage with the Island’s lay­ered his­to­ries, envi­ron­ments, and archi­tec­ture. Vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/arts to view the program’s pre­vi­ous­ly announced sea­son of cul­tur­al offerings.

Gov­er­nors Island’s sum­mer hours will return begin­ning May 22, 2026. From Memo­r­i­al Day through Labor Day, the Island will remain open until 10pm Sun­day-Thurs­day and 11pm Fri­day-Sat­ur­day, with the South Island Park — includ­ing areas like the Hills, Ham­mock Grove, and Pic­nic Point — remain­ing open until dusk. 

Fer­ries oper­at­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. In addi­tion, Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries sea­son­al­ly serve two Brook­lyn loca­tions: Pier Six in Brook­lyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook. These sea­son­al routes run direct­ly to Yan­kee Pier on Gov­er­nors Island from each loca­tion every Sat­ur­day, Sun­day, and hol­i­day from May 23 through Novem­ber 1, 2026. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it the Gov­er­nors Island website.

Vis­i­tors are encour­aged to reserve fer­ry tick­ets in advance of their trip through the Gov­er­nors Island web­site. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $5 for adults. Fer­ries oper­at­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before 11am on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers on Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries at any time.

The Trust also offers free fer­ry fares for non­prof­it and com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, youth camps, and senior cen­ters. To inquire about group vis­its, orga­ni­za­tions may email groupvisits@​govisland.​org.

In addi­tion, NYC Fer­ry serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly via the South Brook­lyn Route and the sea­son­al Gov­er­nors Island shut­tle. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it the NYC Fer­ry web­site, www.ferry.nyc.

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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ABOUT THE TRUST FOR GOV­ER­NORS ISLAND

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is the non­prof­it cor­po­ra­tion cre­at­ed by the City of New York that is respon­si­ble for the rede­vel­op­ment and oper­a­tion of 150 acres of Gov­er­nors Island. The Trust’s mis­sion is to real­ize the full poten­tial of Gov­er­nors Island for the inspi­ra­tion and enjoy­ment of all New York­ers, demon­strat­ing a bold vision for pub­lic space. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.