The Bronx in Bloom: Gardens, Art, and Local Culture

The series of visits to New York City’s outer boroughs led by arts journalist Richard Selden continues with a two-day tour to the northernmost, the Bronx—the perfect destination for a spring getaway.
The itinerary includes the glorious urban oasis Wave Hill in the borough’s Riverdale section, 28 acres of gardens overlooking the Hudson River and the Palisades. At the spectacular New York Botanical Garden, the group enjoys special timed-entry access to all aspects of Cosmic Nature, a series of landscape and building installations by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose 2017 Hirshhorn exhibition drew huge crowds. 

Explore the 80-year-old Arthur Avenue Retail Market in the Belmont neighborhood, the center of the Bronx’s Little Italy, and also stop in a few nearby food shops and bakeries. See the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, a charming early-19th-century farmhouse where the writer spent the last years of his life with his ailing wife, Virginia.

A visit to any of New York’s boroughs calls for eating at favorite local spots: Savor Albanian and Kosovo cuisine at a dinner at Cka Ka Qellu (a New York Times Critic’s Pick) and dig into lunch at the venerable City Island seafood eatery Sammy’s Fish Box.

GENERAL DETAILS

• Cost includes bus transportation, lodging, all activities, and the following meals: 2 lunches, 1 dinner, and 1 breakfast
• Overnight accommodations are at the Residence Inn New York the Bronx.
• Tour departs by bus from the Mayflower Hotel, Connecticut Ave. and DeSales St., NW, with a pickup stop at the I-495 Exit 27 carpool parking lot at approximately 7:55 a.m.
• Single-room supplement $100 (factored into the Single Room Member and Single Room Non-Member pricing).
• Shared rooms at the Residence Inn are suite style, with a king or queen bed and pull-out sofa.
• Singles registering at the double-room rate are paired (on a nonsmoking basis) if possible, but must pay the single-room supplement otherwise.
• Detailed information is mailed to registrants about four weeks prior to departure.
• Registrants may want to consider purchasing trip insurance.