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The High Line is a 1.45-mile elevated park built on a former freight rail line that runs 30 feet above the streets of Manhattan's West Side, from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District north through Chelsea to 34th Street at Hudson Yards. It opened in sections between 2009 and 2019, and it has become one of the most visited attractions in the city, drawing about eight million people a year to a strip of wildflowers, art, and skyline views threaded between buildings.
The rail line itself was built in 1934 to lift freight trains off the deadly street-level tracks of Tenth Avenue, then known as Death Avenue. The last train ran in 1980, and for two decades the structure sat abandoned while self-seeded wildflowers took it over. A neighborhood group, Friends of the High Line, fought demolition and won, and the park's designers kept the spirit of that wild interlude: the planting mimics what grew there on its own, and stretches of original track run through the beds.
The walk passes the Whitney Museum at its southern end, cuts through the Chelsea Market building, crosses over Tenth Avenue at the amphitheater viewing platform, and ends at the Vessel and the Shops at Hudson Yards. Along the way there are rotating art installations, food vendors in summer, and some of the best views of the Hudson River and the new West Side skyline in the city.
The High Line has transformed Manhattan's West Side since it opened in 2009. Here are the key facts every visitor should know:
The High Line is open daily from 7am, and the walk changes with the hour and the season.
Weekday mornings before 10am are the best time: the path is quiet, the light comes in low across the Hudson, and you can stop at the viewing platforms without a line. By noon on any day, and all day on weekends from spring through fall, the narrower stretches become a slow shuffle, especially between 14th and 23rd Streets.
Late afternoon into sunset is the most beautiful, with the sun setting over the river and New Jersey directly to the west; it's also the busiest, so accept the crowd or go early. After dark in summer, the park stays open until 10pm and the lit skyline makes it a different walk.
Spring brings the plantings into bloom from April, and fall turns the grasses gold in October. Winter is quiet and stark, with the tracks and structure more visible, and the park closes earlier at 7pm. Rain empties it completely, and the path is fine to walk in light rain with the right shoes.
The High Line runs along Manhattan's West Side from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street, with entrances roughly every few blocks. The classic starting point is the southern end at Gansevoort and Washington Streets beside the Whitney Museum: take the A, C, E, or L train to 14th Street–8th Avenue and walk west for about five minutes.
For the middle of the park, the C or E to 23rd Street puts you a few minutes from the 23rd Street entrance. For the northern end, the 7 train to 34th Street–Hudson Yards exits beside the park's final stretch. Elevators are at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, and 34th Streets, and the entire park is wheelchair accessible.
Use our interactive NYC subway guide to plan your exact route from any hotel or neighborhood before you arrive.
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