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101 Things to Do in Queens, New York

Discover the biggest borough

By , About.com Guide

seven subway

seven subway

Photo (c) GMPicket
  1. Eat in one of the best Thai restaurants in New York City and order your meal Thai spicy.
  2. Wander Flushing Meadows lonely as a cloud in the winter.
  3. Bring your bocce set to Spaghetti Park and get Italian ices at the Lemon Ice King of Corona across the street.
  4. Spot planes. Anywhere.
  5. Go birding at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
  6. Ride a bike along the Cross Island Parkway and Little Neck Bay all the way to Fort Totten.
  7. Stroll the Tudor-ific Forest Hills Gardens and imagine the homes belong to fancy Hobbits.
  8. Drink beer at Bohemian Hall's beer garden.
  9. Bring a first-timer to PS 1 and nonchalantly "discover" the art in the basement's old furnace room.
  10. Don't bat an eyelid when the waiter puts anise next to your espresso at any Italian restaurant in northeast Queens.
  11. See how many cemeteries you can hike in one day without getting in a car, bus, train, or plane.
  12. Got a boat? Sail to Flushing Meadows Marina and dock your boat while you go to the US Open or see the Mets.
  13. Buy a day pass for the US Open for one of the tournament's first few days and enjoy the best tennis, inches from your face.
  14. Even better, pay nothing to see great tennis at the US Open Qualifying Tournament.
  15. Get binoculars. Find your building at the great Panorama of New York City at the Queens Museum of Art.
  16. Spend a day at the beach in the city. Visit the Rockaways.
  17. Gawk at the homes on stilts in Broad Channel.
  18. Go fishing at Gantry Plaza State Park. Catch and release, please!
  19. Kayak the East River with the LIC Boathouse.
  20. Get a slice in Ozone Park, Astoria, Glendale, or Middle Village.
  21. Get a roti in Richmond Hill.
  22. Get a kebab in Jackson Heights.
  23. Get dim sum in Flushing.
  24. Get a little tipsy on Vernon Blvd, but keep it down, please. People are sleeping.
  25. Shop Jamaica Ave for bargains and any baseball hat you could imagine.
  26. Go to another beach. This one on the East River.
  27. Rent bikes in Long Island City and visit art up and down the East River. Or just enjoy the views.
  28. Visit the Irish stretch in Woodside.
  29. Visit the Filipino stretch in Woodside.
  30. Stretch yourself at yoga classes in the summer at Socrates Sculpture Park and many other parks.
  31. FUTBOL! Get on the soccer pitch at Flushing Meadows.
  32. Challenge your family to the adventure course at Alley Pond Park.
  33. Challenge your family to a geo-cache game of historical homes in Queens.
  34. Challenge your family to compare cannoli from Italian bakeries.
  35. Find a new spice at the Despana, Spanish importers, in Jackson Heights.
  36. Find a new spice at Patel Brothers in Jackson Heights.
  37. Eat meat skewered on a sword in Rego Parkistan.
  38. Draw a picture of what you would do with those eyesore structures leftover from the World's Fair.
  39. Draw an escape route if you're near them on a windy day.
  40. Eat Korean food in Bayside.
  41. Eat Turkish food in Sunnyside.
  42. Stay on the sidewalk of Queens Boulevard until it's safe to cross. This may take a while.
  43. Get a German beer and catch a movie at Atlas Park.
  44. Do something for free for once!
  45. Go golfing in the snow.
  46. Run the marathon, or just cheer a marathoner in LIC.
  47. Dance with dragons at the Lunar New Year Festival in Flushing.
  48. What's better than a farm in the city? Nothing.
  49. Well. Maybe a street fair in July is better. Really.
  50. Explore the borough via the 7 subway, aka the International Express.
  51. Wear white to the Phagwah Parade.
  52. Learn to race a sprint bike at an honest-to-goodness velodrome.
  53. Warm up and dance your heart out at WarmUp.
  54. Get avant garde at the Chocolate Factory Theater.
  55. Check off all the winners of Best in Queens.
  56. Go on a walking tour.
  57. Rediscover the old neighborhood.
  58. Celebrate your birthday at Pio Pio.
  59. Celebrate your anniversary at Il Toscano.
  60. Celebrate your love of Goodfellas at the Clinton Diner in Maspeth.
  61. Just go laugh at what was McDowells in the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America.
  62. Go the St. Pats Parade in the Rockaways.
  63. Go the St. Pats for All Parade in Sunnyside.
  64. Go to the Memorial Day Parade in Little Neck and Douglaston.
  65. Catch the Red Storm at St. John's. Go Johnnies! What? Johnnies?
  66. Go to Citi Field for the food...OK, for the Mets.
  67. Follow Eating in Translation into a grocery store.
  68. Camp at Alley Pond Park.
  69. Catch the Big Apples Circus in Cunningham Park.
  70. Bike the Vanderbilt Parkway between Cunningham Park and Alley Pond Park.
  71. Play tennis in that huge tennis bubble where the Grand Central and Cross Island meet.
  72. Discover colonial history and early American history. The Flushing Remonstrance! The King Manor Museum!
  73. Bike a neighborhood. Any neighborhood.
  74. Malba! Go to Malba. I mean, what a name! You should see a place with a name like that.
  75. Bring the kids to the Queens Zoo.
  76. Bring your dreams to the aviary geodesic dome at the Queens Zoo.
  77. Visit a fortune teller in Main Street, Flushing.
  78. Pull off the LIE for Bagel Oasis.
  79. Forget Broadway. Go to the Secret Theatre. Or the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center. Or more at Queens College.
  80. Tango at Thalia Theatre.
  81. Take a spin on the carousel in Forest Park.
  82. Hike Forest Park in the fall.
  83. Play mini-golf under the Apollo rockets at NY Hall of Science.
  84. Sway to the music at the Reggae music fest.
  85. Sway to the music at the Forest Park bandshell.
  86. Dance at a Greek nightclub in Astoria, and throw cocktail napkins.
  87. Shop for kawaii bargains or just I Love NY t-shirts in downtown Flushing.
  88. Go on a taco taste along Roosevelt Avenue.
  89. Try a new restaurant during Queens Restaurant Week.
  90. Find your way behind the scenes at the reopened Museum of the Moving Image, one of the best museums in NYC.
  91. Find a piece of history. There's local history around every corner, even Revolutionary War battlefields.
  92. Take the train to the plane. What can I say? I like trains. You can take the AirTrain to JFK for a neat ride.
  93. Dare to take the tunnel tour at Fort Totten.
  94. Clamber over battlements at Fort Tilden.
  95. Eat at Rudolph Valentino's home - Valentino's on the Green.
  96. See contemporary art for free at the little-known Fisher Landau Center for Art.
  97. Join the crowds at summertime festivals in Flushing Meadows.
  98. Shop for miniature works of art in downtown Flushing.
  99. Get a load of Louis's House!
  100. Follow a local blogger.
  101. Find something to do this weekend. Sign up for our free newsletter and get weekend event listings.
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