How to escape New York without leaving it

Because the cheapest plane ticket is your MetroCard

Jun 26, 2025

New York has been baking — the kind of oppressive, sticky heat that makes you question every decision and long for that faint breeze to hit you again. With the heat dome pressing down on us, records are breaking, and the sidewalks feel like stovetops. The city’s infamous “urban heat island effect” only makes it worse — all that concrete and glass absorbs the sun, keeping the air up to 10 degrees hotter than the towns just outside it.

And because New Yorkers primarily rely on walking and the subway, the whole thing can feel entirely brutal. Sweaty. Claustrophobic. Inescapable.

But it’s not entirely.

Sometimes the easiest way to escape the city is by staying — slipping sideways into a place that feels just a little more hushed, a little more cinematic, and a lot less like Midtown in the summer. Below are a few of my favorite ways to do exactly that — little portals tucked across the boroughs that offer enough of a reprieve to help you breathe again.

Inside the BBG, you can forget you’re in a city. The air feels softer. The pace slows. Flowers bloom with no interest in your inbox, and for a blissful hour (or two), you can just be. There’s something magic about how alive it all is — not with people, necessarily, which is part of the charm. If you’ve got a NYPL card, check Culture Pass for a free admission ticket (usually once a year). Otherwise, it’s well worth the cost. Go alone. Don’t make plans. Let the trees do the talking.

2. Roosevelt Island – East River

Getting there is half the magic. For a few minutes, the tram lifts you out of the city — a slow, quiet ride with skyline views and not a horn in earshot. Roosevelt Island itself feels oddly dreamlike. Sleepier than Manhattan. Quiet. The skyline sparkles at night, and there’s ample space for picnicking, lounging, or just reading a book in the shade. You’re only a stone’s throw from the city, but it feels like you slipped through a wormhole.

3. The Met Cloisters – Inwood, Manhattan

Hop on the subway and head to the northernmost tip of Manhattan — you’ll feel like a traveler in your own city. The Met Cloisters are perched high on a hill, overlooking the Hudson, and they genuinely feel like something out of a French fairytale. A medieval art museum nestled in a Gothic-style monastery? Oh, yes. The gardens are pristine, the stone walls are cool to the touch, and on a quiet weekday, it might just be the most peaceful corner in all five boroughs.

Piece of advice (from my mistake): bring appropriate walking/hiking shoes for this… You will be climbing the hill to reach the Cloisters.

4. Green-Wood Cemetery – Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn

Hear me out. Green-Wood is stunning. It rivals Prospect Park in greenery, but it’s often overlooked which makes it the perfect place to disappear for a little while. Spanning 450+ acres, it’s not just a cemetery but a piece of Revolutionary War history, winding paths, and the final resting places of notable New Yorkers. You don’t need to make it a lesson, just wander.

5. Conwell Coffee Hall – FiDi, Manhattan

If it’s air-conditioning you’re after, Conwell Coffee Hall is your oasis. Housed inside a 1930s-era bank, the space is grand, cinematic, and surprisingly calm for downtown. Think tall ceilings, deco banker lamps, a jaw-dropping mural — and iced coffee ordered from where the old tellers once stood. It feels like something out of an old film. The cool air hits just right, and for a second, it’s like time slows down. You might even stay for a second cup.

New York will always be New York — intense, unrelenting, overstimulating. But there are still little pockets of peace to be found, if you know where to look. Sometimes the trick isn’t leaving the city. It’s finding the parts that let you feel like you did. Even if for an hour.

Wherever you find your quiet this week, I’m cheering you on. 💌
xx Raye

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