Sunset Park: Views, Access and What to Know

Sunset Park is a 24.50-acre community park in Brooklyn, between 41st and 44th Streets and 5th and 7th Avenues. NYC Parks lists its address as 41st Street and 44th Street, between 5th Avenue and 7th Avenue. The park’s location makes it a nearby outing from The Vue Express @ 39th Street: it’s about a 7-minute walk from the hotel.

The park’s green fields and pedestrian walkways sit alongside facilities that include basketball and handball courts, soccer fields, playgrounds, public restrooms, eateries and Wi-Fi hotspots. For a separate waterfront outing, see this guide to Bush Terminal Park. If you’re building a wider Brooklyn itinerary, browse this guide to choosing a Brooklyn museum visit.

Head to the park’s highest point for views of Manhattan’s skyline, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn neighborhoods, and the hills of Staten Island and New Jersey. The park also has a September 11th Living Memorial Grove, a sand volleyball court and an outdoor swimming pool.

Sunset Park Pool first opened to the public in 1936. NYC Parks describes it as a summer facility: an outdoor Olympic pool measuring 259 feet by 162 feet, with a depth of 3.5 feet. The pool and play center opened as part of a Works Progress Administration project and underwent an extensive restoration in the 1980s.

Walking is a straightforward option for reaching the park from the hotel. If you’re taking the subway, the MTA lists the 45th Street station as served by the N and R trains, and the 36th Street station as served by the D, N and R trains.

The D also serves 9th Avenue. Check current service before setting out, as routes and schedules can change.

NYC Parks lists general park hours as 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., unless other hours are posted at the park. Its page doesn’t specify which entrances or paths are open or provide a park-wide accessibility description.

The pool is marked accessible in the NYC Parks pool directory; that designation applies to the pool, not necessarily to every path or entrance.

The Sunset Park Recreation Center is closed for reconstruction, and NYC Parks directs visitors to its Capital Tracker for project updates. For current park information and transit service, check the official site before you go, including NYC Parks and the MTA.

NYC Parks describes the pool as a summer facility and says the park and pool become summer destinations. In colder months, the recreation center and playground draw visitors. The outdoor pool’s seasonal role is useful to keep in mind when planning, but the available park information does not give a seasonal schedule for all facilities.

Dogs are allowed off leash only on the Oval lawn, near 44th Street, 41st Street and 6th Avenue. The park also has spray showers and outdoor pools among its listed facilities, so check the current NYC Parks information if access to a particular feature will shape your visit.