Best Sledding Hills in New York City

Many of my favorite memories from growing up in NYC involve snow days. The outdoor parking lot on my corner would plow all the snow to one corner of the lot, making our own private sledding hill and we would use garbage can lids or pieces of cardboard to sled down this very short, but very steep hill. We also liked to tunnel in between the parked cars to create forts. Ah, but times have changed. My street urchin days are over and nowadays we use real sleds and real hills to go sledding.

Here are the best places to go sledding in New York City.

Central Park Sledding:
By far the most popular sledding hill in Manhattan is Pilgrim Hill in Central Park. Just north of the 72nd St. entrance at Fifth Ave., Pilgrim Hill is a steep slope with a gentle end for lots of speed and not too rough of a ride. When Pilgrim Hill is too crowded, head to Cedar Hill between 76th and 79th st. just south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Riverside Park Sledding:
Riverside Park is less crowded and has many different hills. The one near Hippo Playground at 91st St is popular.

Inwood Hill Park:
Perhaps the best and more unknown sledding hill in Manhattan.

More Manhattan Sledding: A reader also recommends 91st St between 2nd and 3rd Aves. It's a pedestrian block on a hill that's popular with neighborhood kids.

Prospect Park Sledding:
Take the F train to 7th Avenue and 9th Street. There's a great sledding hill right inside the park at 9th St. Brooklynites also love the sledding hills all around the Nethermead, a great field that feels like you're in the middle of the woods.

Fort Greene Park Sledding:
Fort Greene Park is like a mini Central Park and has 4 hills. including one gentler one. Don't be tempted to sled down the stairs. It looks smooth, but people have been injured.

Brooklyn Heights Sledding: A reader recommends the dog run at the end of Orange Street.

Queens Sledding:
Forest Park. The popular spot is the golf course where, technically, sledding is not allowed because it's deemed unsafe by the parks department. But it's th fast, steep hill that makes it so popular. There's also a hill in Forest Park at the Mary Whale Playground at 79th St and Park Lane.

Other Queens Sledding: Juniper Valley Park at 75th St. and Lower Highland Park.

Bronx Sledding:
People like to sled at Ewen Park because it has stairs for climbing back up the hill. Its long steep hill is considered one of the best sledding hills in the city, but sledders have to bail at the bottom before hitting the hay bales the parks department puts up to keep people from going out into the street.

Van Cortlandt Park has nice gentle hills for little kids. Also, Crotona Park at Fulton Ave around 174th St.

Staten Island Sledding:
Clove Lake Park is the official sledding spot in Staten Island, but kids love Dead Man's Hill in Silver Lake Park.

Where do you like to sled? Let us know in the comments below.

Find more seasonal fun in our Winter Activity Guide.