Long Island City is the closest you can get to Midtown without paying Midtown, and from the water it feels like you could reach across and touch the Empire State Building. The things to do in Long Island City are mostly art, food and staring at the skyline, which is a perfect baked itinerary. LIC munchies are better than the glass towers suggest, and the Long Island City waterfront is one of the great free views in New York.
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The LIC vibe: towers versus old Long Island City
There are two LICs. Tower LIC is the waterfront and Court Square: glass high-rises, gyms in the lobby, dog-walkers with matching jackets, and a lot of people who moved here for a ten-minute commute. Old LIC is warehouses, auto body shops, rowhouses, factories turned studios, and a few old bars that remember when this was all industry. Vernon Blvd sits in the middle and holds the neighborhood together.
Trains are the selling point. The 7 runs along the top, with Vernon Blvd-Jackson Ave one stop from Grand Central. The E/M stops at Court Square and Queens Plaza. The G ends at Court Square, which makes LIC the G's last stand. The East River ferry docks at Hunters Point South. And the Pulaski Bridge walks you over Newtown Creek into Greenpoint in about ten minutes. To the north, Astoria is a short ride on the N/W.
LIC munchies: Vernon Blvd and beyond
Vernon Blvd is the main strip, and it's a solid mix: pizza counters, taquerias, Thai and Japanese spots, diners, bagel shops, a few old Italian places and wine bars. Nothing flashy, all reliable. Court Square and Jackson Ave add more delis, ramen, burgers and food halls in the bases of towers. Bodegas cover the chopped cheese and the bacon egg and cheese, and halal carts park near the train stops with white sauce for days.
Here's the hot take: Queens is the best food borough and Manhattan knows it. LIC is the doorway. Ride the 7 a few stops east into Sunnyside and Woodside and you're into Irish pubs, Filipino spots, Thai, Colombian bakeries and Tibetan momo spots. Keep going and you hit Jackson Heights. See the NYC munchies guide and our late-night food guide for where the city stays lit.
Things to do in Long Island City baked
The perfect baked LIC day: take an edible before you leave the apartment, ride the 7 one stop from Grand Central, spend an hour or two at MoMA PS1, eat on Vernon Blvd, then walk to the water for sunset. It's art, food and a view in about six blocks.
The Pepsi-Cola sign on the waterfront is a landmark in its own right, a giant red neon sign glowing over the river. Seeing it lit up against the skyline when you're baked is pure New York. Then walk the Pulaski Bridge into Greenpoint for donuts, or hop the ferry to Manhattan for the ride, arriving already floating. For more moves like these, see things to do high in NYC.
MoMA PS1, the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park
MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art space in an old public school building, and it's one of the best places in the city to see weird, ambitious art. The rooms are classrooms, the hallways are stairwells, and some installations stay put for years. Wander slow. It's made for that.
Up on the Astoria edge, the Noguchi Museum is a calm, quiet space full of stone sculptures and a garden that feels like a deep breath. Across the street, Socrates Sculpture Park is an open-air sculpture park on the water with big rotating installations, with much of it closed for seawall work until spring 2027. For a baked movie night, Museum of the Moving Image is a short trip north; see our guide to NYC movie theaters.
The Long Island City waterfront: Gantry Plaza and Hunters Point South
Gantry Plaza State Park is named for the old rail gantries that loaded barges, and they still stand on the water like giant sculptures. The view of Midtown, the UN and the Empire State Building is ridiculous. Hunters Point South Park, just south, is newer and bigger, with lawns, a curving path and more skyline. Together they make one of the best waterfronts in the city.
Hunters Point South is a city park and it's smoke-free. Gantry is a state park with its own rules, so read the signs. Easiest move either way: sesh at home, then come sit by the water. Our guide to where you can sesh covers the rules, and the seasons guide tells you when sunset here is worth the wind off the river.
Long Island City: the good and the annoying
The good
Trains everywhere. One stop to Manhattan. Free skyline views that people in Brooklyn pay rent for. Great art, solid food, and the rest of Queens right behind you.
The annoying
Tower LIC can feel like an airport lounge with a dog park. The 7 gets packed and has a weekend schedule all its own. The wind off the river in winter is brutal. And when the G ends at Court Square, it really ends. Walk.
