Travel — Noozify Original — February 27, 2026

Why You Should Consider Spending Time in Queens

By Adam Canissario

Tourists flock to Manhattan when they visit New York City, but they're missing out on one of the best boroughs. Queens is a diverse, vibrant borough with something for everyone. Here are some reasons why you should consider spending time in Queens — or even booking your accommodation there — when you visit the Big Apple.

While New York City as a whole is known for its diversity, Queens takes it to the next level. Nearly half of the residents of Queens were born outside of the United States, meaning that a huge variety of cultures is represented in the borough. The Endangered Language Alliance has mapped more than 700 language varieties across the metro area, which it calls the most linguistically diverse urban center in the world, and Queens is where that map runs densest. From Greek to Egyptian to Guatemalan to Chinese to Korean to Indian restaurants (and more), you can find exceptional cuisine from all over the world in Queens. Plus, because so many people from different cultures live in Queens, you'll find a wide variety of experiences from cuisines to cultural festivals to events taking place throughout the year.

The easiest way to see that diversity is the 7 train, nicknamed the "International Express" for the string of immigrant neighborhoods it threads along Roosevelt Avenue. The route was named a National Millennium Trail by the federal government in 1999. Get off at Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue, where around 60 percent of residents were born outside the United States, and walk from 74th Street's Little India to the Tibetan momo counters and Colombian bakeries on Northern Boulevard. Stay on to the end of the line at Flushing–Main Street and you're in Queens' Chinatown, which has grown larger than the original one in Manhattan, with a Koreatown stretching east along Northern Boulevard.

Manhattan is home to some of New York City's most popular attractions, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to see in the other boroughs. In fact, Queens is home to some of the city's best museums, including the Museum of the Moving Image, Noguchi Museum, and Queens Museum. The Museum of the Moving Image sits in Astoria on the old Astoria Studios lot and opened in 1988 as the country's first museum devoted to film, television, and video, and its Jim Henson exhibition is worth the trip on its own. In Long Island City, MoMA PS1 occupies a 19th-century public school that closed in 1963 and reopened as an art space in 1976, joining forces with the Museum of Modern Art in 2000. And in Corona, a modest brick house on 107th Street is where Louis Armstrong lived from 1943 until his death in 1971, and a Louis Armstrong Center opened steps away in 2023 to hold his archives. If you're looking for a break from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, Queens is the perfect place to go.

In addition to being home to some of New York City's best museums, Queens is home to Flushing Meadows Corona Park. At roughly 900 acres, it's bigger than Central Park and the largest park in Queens (the old 1,255-acre figure was retired after a 2013 survey). F. Scott Fitzgerald's "valley of ashes" in The Great Gatsby was this very dump, which Robert Moses had leveled to host the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs. The Unisphere, a 140-foot stainless-steel globe built by U.S. Steel for the 1964 fair, is still the park's centerpiece, and the Queens Museum occupies the 1939 fair's New York City Building, which also housed the United Nations General Assembly from 1946 to 1950. Inside, the museum keeps the Panorama of the City of New York, a 9,335-square-foot model of all five boroughs, roughly 895,000 buildings, built for the 1964 fair and still updated. The park features a zoo, a science museum, a theater, and more. If you want to experience some of New York City's nature without leaving the borough, visiting Flushing Meadows Corona Park should be the first item on your New York to-do list. If you're a sports fan, Flushing Meadows Corona Park is where the world famous US Open tennis tournament is played annually, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, its home since 1978, where Arthur Ashe Stadium seats 23,200 — and the park is just minutes from Citi Field, the home of the NY Mets, which replaced Shea Stadium in 2009.

Astoria deserves its own day. The neighborhood's Greek roots show in its tavernas and bakeries, while Steinway Street has become a Little Egypt of Egyptian and Middle Eastern restaurants and hookah cafes, and Bohemian Hall, the oldest beer garden in the city, has been pouring since 1910. At the far end of the borough, Rockaway Beach stretches 150 blocks along the Atlantic and is the city's only legal surfing beach; the A train or the NYC Ferry will get you there.

If you're looking for affordable lodging in New York City, look no further than Queens. Because it's not as popular with tourists as Manhattan, you'll be able to find more affordable hotels and Airbnbs in Queens than you would in other boroughs. Queens is not as busy as Manhattan, so you can leave the crowds of other tourists behind when heading back to your hotel — but still have plenty of things to do and see locally. The neighborhoods of Astoria and Long Island City in Queens are especially convenient to Manhattan by subway and bridge and tunnels.

It may not be as centrally located as Manhattan, but Queens is still a very convenient place to stay while visiting New York City — and it's much more budget-friendly. Many of the city's subway lines pass through Queens, making it easy to get around without a car. The N and W reach Astoria, the E, F, M, R and 7 meet at Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue, and the 7 runs around the clock between Flushing and Hudson Yards. The Long Island Rail Road is the faster way to reach Flushing and Citi Field on game days, and NYC Ferry's Astoria and Rockaway routes turn the trip into a boat ride. In addition, LaGuardia Airport is conveniently located in Queens — and so is JFK — so if you're flying into or out of New York City, chances are you'll be passing through Queens anyway.

If you're planning a trip to New York City, don't limit yourself to Manhattan — be sure to check out Queens. With its diversity, affordability, convenience, and abundance of things to see and do, Queens just might be your new favorite borough.