Everything’s looking up along the waterfront

Daunted, perhaps, by its concrete jungles, the island of Manhattan’s many visitors often forget its more than 500 miles of waterfront. Through Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy, more open spaces are being revitalized. Whether you spend lazy afternoons amid postcard-memorable landscapes, wiggle your toes in the sand, or pulse with the beat of a visiting headline band, New York’s waterfronts are worth the visit.

THE HIGH LINE: Phase Two Built in the 1930s, the High Line’s original function was to lift freight train traffic off the streets of Manhattan’s largest industrial district. Defunct since the ’80s, the structure was threatened by demolition in 1999, which encouraged various groups, including the City of New York, to work together in preserving it as an elevated public park. The first section, from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street, opened in 2009 to widespread acclaim. The latest section, between West 20th and West 30th, opened in June and includes new features such as the first lawn (West 22d-23d streets), a Woodland Flyover (West 25th-26th streets) that features a steel walkway under a canopy of sumac and magnolia trees, and a wildflower field (West 26th-29th streets).