On a budget, FDR Four Freedoms Park still earns its price.
Free (plus tram/ferry fare)
Louis Kahn's last design: a triangle of lawn and granite narrowing to a stark open 'room' at the island's tip, framing a head-on view of the Midtown skyline across the river. The exact moment worth the trip is standing at the far end where the lawn funnels you between the granite walls and the city snaps into a centered, symmetrical frame — go in late-afternoon light when the skyline glows and the white granite warms. Quiet, contemplative, almost never crowded. The appeal is purely architecture and calm, so it's wasted on anyone wanting bustle — and check hours, the park closes some days seasonally.