Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden

First time visiting the Children’s museum in YEARS. We had the absolute best time with our family! From the moment we walked in, the staff was very welcoming. The museum was so well kept. Every exhibit was hands on, educational, and perfectly tailored for kids of all ages. My children were completely engaged from start to finish. I love they provide an area for you to park your stroller, set your kids book bag or personal belongings to the side so you can truly enjoy the entire experience.

Snug Harbor is a wonderful place to visit. If it were in Manhattan, it would be absolutely filled with visitors. The National Register of Historic Places said that it was the most important collection of Greek revival buildings in the country. It’s beautiful, and you can have some restorative alone time there. My top three picks would be the Staten Island Museum, the Noble Maritime Collection and the Chinese Scholars Garden. If you haven’t been, do yourself a favor and walk around and enjoy the culture and nature.

It's a really nice place to spend the day. I went only to the botanical garden and visited none of the buildings but I am planning to go back. Spring is probably a better time to go to admire the flowers better. I wish I lived closer so I could just spend my free evenings there.

Amazing community center with lots of activities and things to visit. Favorite things including Staten Island Museum and Noble Maritime Collection. Both are suggested admission pay as you wish. Nice calm relaxing place to walk around in. Well connected on public transit with a bus stop right out front.

It's a great park to spend at least half a day, if not the full day. Walkable, shaded for most parts, easy to navigate. The Chinese garden was pretty and worth dropping in. We could not see it entirely as there was a private wedding ceremony going on but I could see why! Parking was not a problem and it also has the Children Museum (closes at 5). All the attractions were not open to the public like the secret & butterfly garden, I guess it was down for maintenance (would have given them a 5 star). Don't forget to try the ice cream parlor in the Park, good flavors, my fav walnut maple!

Nice trail there was a market there this weekend bought some honey.Ate ice cream eregger, really good they didn't take cash this pass weekend. Really nice place.

This place is so amazing. I got to see ancient China without even traveling to China. The tickets are pretty cheap, it’s $5 per adult and $4 for seniors. Even the botanical was so pretty. There was a lot of great views to check out and plenty of pictures you can take. The New York Chinese Scholar garden was the best. I was bummed the harbor eats wasn’t open yet. But this is a good place to check out scenery with the elders. Oh did I mention they also have a little pond for the fishes.

Chinese scholar garden is great with bamboos, Chinese building with gold fishes. Kids definitely love it. They do charge 5$.

I came here in October for the NYC Winter Lantern Festival, which I believe is still ongoing. It's surprisingly close to southern Brooklyn, so it was a quick car ride away. Though Snug Harbor has a parking lot, we weren't sure if they charged a fee, so we just parked in the residential area that's a block away. I mistakenly thought the festival was for releasing lanterns into the sky, but the lanterns were just stationary on the ground. Still, it was a really cool experience. They had a lot of variety when it came to the lanterns, and some even moved/changed colors. There wasn't much else to do besides take pictures with the lanterns. They also had a mini market that consisted of one or two stalls that sold mini lanterns and three food stalls that sold regular festival food like funnel cake.

Hidden Gem !! What a beautiful and peaceful place , lots of history if you stop to pay attention . The garden is beautiful and the Bamboo Forest was definitely my favorite part . The only downer was the fact that you don't really have lots of signs telling you where the entrance is , mont people were lost and didn't know where to find the entrance . But once you do it's simply so beautiful . The bathroom situation could also be upgraded , their bathroom is not that clean , they didn't even have toilet tissue or soap to wash your hands. Aside from that it is certainly a place to visit .

This is the second time this happened to me, took my friends to see the Chinese garden but it was closed. They definitely don't say this on the website or google reviews. Too much traveling for people who coming from a different borough just to enjoy the garden . I feel so bad for my friends! So I had to make it up to them & end up doing a photoshoot! The fall colors are still not here but it's coming ! But it was still beautiful for a lovely afternoon shoot. We ended up going to the 9/11 museum. Lots of you probably don't know about it, yes there is 5 museums inside this property ( if I m not mistaken) also went to the Staten Island museum. I definitely request the authorities to keep updating when they are closed.

Heard about this place and the overall maintenance of the location left little to be desired. The best part was the NY Chinese Scholar's Garden (extra fee) and even that was in disrepair. The gardens themselves seems to be unmaintained with overgrowth or dead plants everywhere and it was a bit confusing on what to look at. It was an easy walk around the garden but confusing as there weren't clear paths in most areas and again, not well maintained so some areas we weren't sure if they were indeed part of the garden or not. The few flowers we did see were beautiful and loved the covered archway.

Really enjoyable little nature spot. We tried to go to the New York Chinese Scholar Garden, but I don't think it was open on the day we went. So that was slightly disappointing but it's still a really cool place to walk around and be in nature. Went this past summer and I forgot how cool and vibrant green the grass was! It was a hot July day, but the trees and greenery adds a bit of a cooling sensation. I would recommend (or just giving myself advice) visiting in the spring or fall, for sure.

I've loved the botanical gardens in all of the other boroughs, but this one fell incredibly short even with tempered expectations. The grounds are small and the paths aren't well labeled so it's easy to get lost. My friend and I had to go on a Tuesday so we didn't get to check out the Chinese Scholar Garden. The grounds themselves are free admission, but honestly it wasn't even worth the trek out for the limited foliage and scenery. The Allée was nice, as were some of the cottages. Perhaps the experience would have been better had we gone to the Chinese Scholar Garden, but even then we didn't really enjoy Snug Harbor.

I've been going to Staten Island to visit friends & all those time i thought the Staten Island ferry is its only attraction! I guess i was wrong. The Snug harbor is part public park, cultural center, and botanical garden. 14 or so different gardens in all! It's a nice place to go on a warm sunny day to soak the beauty of nature. Entrance to the garden grounds is free except the Chinese scholar garden & the museums. Theres parking inside and its also free. We came on the weekend and it was not hard to find a spot. I wanted to check out the Chinese garden but its close for an event that day. All the more reason for me to come back! Theres a lot of interesting historic buildings in the campus. The place use to be a retirement area for sailors during the 1800s. If you want to escape the hustle & bustle of NYC without really leaving the city, then this is the place.

NYC Winter Lantern Festival 2021 Review: What an absolute rip off! This was a complete waste of time, money, and planning for a baby-free date night out. If you were like us, and experienced this back in 2019, your expectations are pretty high. This year's installments are mediocre at best, and leaves you wondering what went wrong. The larger than life lanterns - where are they?! All of these little cute lanterns are great if you have little kids, but charging $25 per person and then another $20 for VIP parking is BEYOND criminal. Do NOT come here to eat either. Their food selection is pathetic, overpriced, and lackluster. Want a hamburger? $10. Want dumplings? $12 for eight pieces. The price gouging is impossible for families to actually feel this would be worth another visit next year. Instagram is definitely deceiving; watch the YouTube reviews first to get a better idea about whether this is worth the toll fees or not. We will NOT be coming back - EVER!

It was a rainy morning. Hence, I decided to cheer myself up by going to Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island. If you are into flowers photography, I recommend checking out this place. I was playing around with the zoom feature on my IPhone 11 camera. I'm glad the sun finally decided to appear while I was there. The lighting made the colors pop in the pictures. Did you know color evokes emotion? Yellow represents hope and happiness. Blue represents trust and loyalty. Of course, red represents love. If you want to travel here, I recommend taking the S44 or S40 bus.

A nice retreat with some gardens that are somewhat kept up. Beautiful cherry blossom row. Events here and there. Some of the cottage structures and the gardens could be given more care, with proper funding.

This was our first time experiencing a light show and we are very excited. We were able to find parking very easily but the GPS was very confused. It made us take several laps around the park. There's no parking on site unless you pay for VIP parking otherwise you would need to use street parking. We got on the line to pay for tickets and there was only one person on staff. I would suggest buying tickets in advance as you do pay service charges when buying tickets on site. Then we went to check in and there's two people. Upon entry of the park we noticed there was barely any personnel on site except by the Holiday market. The lights were very beautiful and well done. Some were moving and/or changing color! And there was many opportunities for photos. There weren't many benches available to sit down. The entire show can be viewed in an hour. Come when it's dark because then you can see the lights better. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes that you wouldn't mind get dirty as it's outside. They have porta potties but no hand washing station. The food was okay and most of the items are sitting under a heat lamp. We got churros, fried Oreos, and hot cider. Cash is preferred as they charge a $1 - $2 service fee. They have a live DJ and a dance floor, if you are feeling the beats. Overall, a great experience for adults and children alike.

I too crossed the Verrazano to experience the Winter Lantern Festival this past season. I helped market the event and had a good idea of what I was walking into, which is essentially an outdoor light installation made for kids. Had I expected something made for adults I might've been thrown for a loop, as it appears some other reviewers here were. I brought my sister who has autism, and the sensory overload was actually a really good environment for her and she had a blast touring the different light installations, from mechanical lit up underwater creatures to interactive phone booths. We even got an iconic photo by the entrance, where the grand arches of light are the most impressive of all the different light shows. As others mentioned, the food stall area left much to be desired, particularly when the food stands was marketed as one of the draws of the event. There was an apple cider stand and another stand selling funnel cake and truly not much else. It's true you can get through the whole exhibit in under an hour, but again this installation is really made for children, who generally only want to spend an hour doing any one activity. I have no experience with kids, so don't blame me if I'm totally far off on that. Snug Harbor is also known for hosting other large food festivals and for their Botanical gardens, so I'll have to review again if I visit for another event.

There were areas of the garden that are wonderful and other areas that needed a lot of work. The NY Chinese Scholar's Garden is a lovely architectural walk. The Allee is picturesque and a few of the other gardens closer to the entryway were very nice. Other areas were growing wild with weeds and in need of desperate maintenance. The garden is, however, free to the public and a great attraction if you're local to the area.

This review is for the 2021 Winter Lantern Festival. Having been here multiple times in the past, I have to say that I'm thoroughly disappointed this year. The reason why we kept on coming back each year was because it was well run, and the display would expand and become more elaborate. However, when we visited a month back, we were surprised to see that there were only about 1/3rd the amount of lanterns present compared to previous years. There were maybe two or three new ones, but the rest looked like the leftovers of the lanterns used in the previous years and now just scattered around. The food option is also more limited. The lanterns themselves definitely still looked very nice, but unfortunately it was not an experience that I'd want to return to.

Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden is a nice escape in Staten Island. The borough is industrial, with a focus on ships, but Snug Harbor feels like your elsewhere. I stopped by during the day and while I had a bit of a problem parking, I found a spot. Not sure if I parked illegally but hey, it worked. Snug Harbor is a smorgasbord of activities. There are museums, greenery, food, and the star of the show, the Chinese Scholar's Garden. It's a great spot to relax, surrounded by beauty, with a variety of different things you can do. It ended up being one of my favorite spots in Staten Island.

It was a hot and sunny day when we arrived at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden. According to their website, the venue is the result of more than four decades of restoration and development to convert a 19th century rest home for sailors to a regional arts center, botanical gardens, and public park. Snug Harbor consists of 28 buildings, fourteen distinctive botanical gardens, a two-acre urban farm, wetlands and park land on a unique, free, open campus. The majestic Main Hall was built in 1833, and the Music Hall was built in 1892. There are 14 distinctive gardens spread across the campus including the celebrated New York Chinese Scholar's Garden and the Richmond County Savings Foundation Tuscan Garden. We were impressed with the beautiful grounds and buildings, and greatly enjoyed the York Chinese Scholar's Garden. Admission to the park was free, but there was an admission fee to the Scholar Garden - $5 Adults, $4 Seniors/Students. We also stopped for an impromptu picnic at their Harbor Eats snack shack, which offers tasty treats like cheeseburgers, hot dogs, cheese fries and sweet potato fries. OK - I did say tasty - I didn't say healthy! You can sit at their patio tables or on the grass with blankets they provide. It's a beautiful setting abutted by gardens and trees. We wandered into the hands-on children's museum (admission charged here too), which a great place for your children to explore, learn and have fun. It would be easy to spend several hours or more here. The grounds are expansive, and you could easily spend an entire day here. We'd be delighted to return.

Want to do a little wedding ceremony at the Chinese scholar. We paid for the tickets. One of the staff came up say you can't because you have to have permit and professional photographer if you have tripod and camera. Permit cost $350. They are so rude about say on the website. If you search photo and snugg harbor thank you find it. Hey we did email and call you don't pick up. We were almost finish with our little wedding ceremony even though we pay $350. They say we didn't pay the permit we trespassing. How we we trespass we pay for the tickets. Not worth going and I will not come here again.

Had so much fun at this event! This is great for kids or even a date night! The entire walk around the park only takes 30 minutes. Even though it is so short, I still highly recommend it. Do not waste your money on the hot chocolate, it's gross!! If you get there around 5, there's street parking right outside of the gate! Can't wait to see what they come up with next year!

Snug Harbor has so, so much potential. There are several buildings within this complex. The children's museum, a theater, a reception hall, botanical gardens and several others. The children's museum is very reasonably priced but if you're a germaphobe you probably should avoid it. It also hasn't been updated in ages. The botanical gardens are great but overgrown. With a little tlc they could be a showstopper. Make sure to spend the extra for the Japanese garden (not stroller friendly). The reception hall is old and tired. When I was getting married we looked here first. Unless you have a serious decorating budget there are better options. I like that they are really, really trying to breathe some new life into this place. The first ever Winter Lantern Festival was a great attempt but very poorly executed. Parking was a nightmare and I felt terrible for the homeowners on these normally sleepy little streets. With the proximity to the Staten Island ferry this complex should be a big attraction for the island. With so many cultural attractions in one area NYC really needs to send some money their way.

Popped in here for the Winter Lantern Festival - parking fills up quickly, and there's a shuttle from further down near the SI ferry and Wheel parking lot, or you can park in the neighborhood for free. $23 for an adult, $15 for kid, senior or other categories. You could get a Groupon there at various times, too. The paths were lined with some soft grey material to walk on (good since it was so messy after the rain - lots of mud) and the light festival itself was great, with a mini show of scarves, dance, face-mask (bian lian) and other arts displayed. The slippery nature of the lawn/mud made it a lot more painful to get around with strollers and the lot, so I would highly recommend being able to walk (or shoulder carry kids) as it is crowded and dark (despite being a light festival, hard to find people). Food carts and various lanterns across the lawn, including the zodiac, African animals, sea-theme, and panda areas, plus the general gorgeous lighted walkways. The place is crowded and the crowds move slow, so being there around an hour at least is probably how long it takes to walk around and see all the lanterns. Also a cool vendor that did the bing tang sugar candy in the shape of zodiac animals. Will have to come back to look at the Scholar's garden in the spring! And next time visit when it's not muddy....

A local gem that definitely punches above its weight. I went here for the NYC Winter Lantern Festival, and it was very nicely organized and tastefully done. The grounds were well-kept, and the lights were enough to keep you interested without forcing people to stand around excessively. I loved it. I'll be back next year.

Winter lantern festival review. I've only been to one other lantern festival (in Toronto many years ago) which was much much better (way less crowded and also much more variety of lanterns). Pros: -Groupon tickets available -some exhibits were cool Cons: -way too crowded. Seems like they oversold the event. It was tough to get a good photo because there were people everywhere -parking looked tough. We arrived right at opening and the lot was already full. We were lucky enough t get a street park right by the entrance but when we left it looked pretty horrendous outside... no spots even remotely close -very muddy floors, so don't wear nice shoes -poorly organized. Minimal signs. When we exited, it took some time to figure out how to return to car

It was a great experience, ideal for kids, family and couples. We attended the snug harbor winter lantern festival (from 10/29/21-11/7/21). Thankfully we went 11/6 instead of 11/7 as the last day coincided with the NYC Marathon. We got there around 5pm so there was still light out which helped when taking photos with few people. We were lucky to park right in front at the entrance as the lot was full. It's about the length of 2 avenues to get to the entrance of the lantern festival. Everyone is taking photos at the light tunnel, I would recommend walking past and going further in to take photos. I found the paths to be accessible with just a bit of wobbly walkway due to flooring on top of soft grass. As it got darker all the exhibits got brighter so it was really cool. I do recommend wearing thick layers/warm patches because it got very cold closer to 6pm. The exit is a LONG way back to the entrance so be prepared with a stroller or have comfy shoes. There's available food trucks but they weren't great, funnel cake was overcooked and thin. Parking was difficult for anyone coming around 6pm so be prepared. Overall, it was a great experience, made for a wonderful memory, and photos came out great thank you Yelp!

I came here for the Staten Island museum; however, that is only one of the many establishments here on this lovely piece of land. It's so spacious and wide open space. There's a botanical garden, a butterfly garden, and so much more. There is a picnic seating area with tables and chairs. The lake is around the corner from the picnic area. You can totally spend hours here it's so tranquil. As I was leaving there was a couple taking their engagement photos. So beautiful. Snug Harbors general ground and botanical garden hours: Open daily from dawn to dusk. Staten Island Museum hours: Wednesday - Friday: 11am - 5pm Saturday - Sunday: 10am - 5pm Last gallery entry at 4:45 pm

This place was so cool for the NYC Winter Lantern Festival. A friend of mine gave us a pair of free tickets for my husband and I and we decided to bring my mother-in-law along. This place is great for all ages. It was freezing, but well worth a 2 hours Saturday date night. The lanterns were remarkable, tall, and brightly lit. They have the animal kingdom lanterns, Chinese zodiac, plants, and Chinese landmark structures. They also have 30 minutes cultural aerobatic shows every hour of the night and they open Wednesday - Sunday nights. Don't bother paying for parking, we parked near the South Gate entrance and there were plenty of residential parking everywhere.

My friends on Staten Island told me I should visit Snug Harbor. I'm glad I listened to them. Once you get there you'll find some beautiful grounds to walk around in. There are a few museums, the Maritime, Children's and the Staten Island Museum. There is also a Chinese Scholars garden for contemplation and walking. I visited the Maritime museum which has many sailing ship models and maritime themed artwork. Most of the artwork is by John Noble a noted maritime artist. They even put his houseboat studio in the museum, see my photo below. The scholars garden is a beautiful place for walking or photography on a nice day. We went during the week so we would not encounter any school kids and we had the place to ourselves. You can get there by car or the ferry then a bus. The ferry would be more convenient as traffic to Staten Island is always terrible. Enjoy your visit, I did!

This review is for the NYC Winter Lantern Festival at Snig Harbor cultural center. The festival runs from November 20th 2019 to January 12th 2020. It is billed as Family friendly Chinese-style lantern festival with eight acres of lights, live cultural shows, interactive exhibits, and more. We ended up going the last few days before the end of the festival on what turned out to be one of the warmest evenings so we really had a good time. If going on a weekend, be sure to book the on-site parking as space is limited. We ended up really enjoying the amazing light sculptures and there were so many amazing photo opportunities. The kids really loved the dinosaur section and the amazing alligator sculpture you can walk through. If you end up going, you might be able to get cheaper tickets through Groupon which can offer a substantial discount ticket price. Highly recommend for something new to do.

What a wonderful, peaceful, bucolic place to visit! I can't wait to see the gardens in every season. My husband and I visited in the height of summer and it was like being transported to somewhere in Europe! Parking can be a bit tricky, as other reviewers have pointed out - but if you're a local and looking for a nice, FREE, day-date - I highly recommend!

I came here on a sunny day a few weeks ago and was not disappointed. Spring was in full bloom, so there were many different varieties of flowers to look at. On top of that, they have different areas to explore, most of which are free; I believe you have to pay $5 for the Chinese Scholar's Garden when it's open. Great place for families or to relax and read on the grass. I took off one star because parking can be a hassle; they do have a free parking lot, but you may have to parallel park on the streets outside of the garden if it's full

10 minutes by S40 bus from Staten Island ferry terminal. It is a nice place to hang out on any one lazy day you are having. The suggested season to be here depends on your preference. We used the side gate entrance for today's visit. Signage is not well visible. We don't see staff wandering around. It took us a while to figure out the visitor center location. Glad that Wi-Fi was working and helped me to view a park map. There are so many things to see and do in here. Getting inside is free. It houses 2 museums ( Staten Island Museum and Staten Island Children's Museum - entrance fee suggested ) , a beautiful and gorgeous Chinese garden ( for a $5 fee) , horticulture gardens, dedication gardens, heritage farms and visual arts/ performing arts centers. The grounds are well maintained. It is not as big as NY or Brooklyn Botanical but for a fee free charge visit, worth of the time and effort. I enjoyed most the Chinese garden- quiet, peaceful and charming place. The secret garden came next to my list. I had pleasant visit. I may say, school children are frequent guests - there were three school buses during the visit. Btw, NYCID is acceptable but need to fill up first a membership form at Visitors center to be able to go inside the Scholars Garden for free. Rules apply to the museums as well.

A beautiful day to take a stroll in a fabulous setting. The weather was perfect To be outside . The atmosphere was perfect, quiet and peaceful. The scenery gorgeous. A perfect Way to spend a day off from work and leave the craziness behind

We came here for the winter lantern festival organized by Staten Island Cultural Center event. Simply amazing. Such a great event. The tickets are available on groupon. The event is available until Jan 6 2019. Before it ends, a must go event!!! Don't miss it. I posted some pictures of lanterns, and all that light up figures. As fantastic it looks from pictures, you must see it in person with your own eyes. Make sure dress up well, its cold outside and you just want to stay more over there. Make sure you have warm clothes, warmers under your pants, warm socks, boots, hats, scarves and gloves necessary. Also there are some food trucks and portable potties available.

This was a nice night out for the family/friends. We enjoyed ourselves and took tons of pictures. They did a great job with the displays & the show they give every hour of the night was cute too. They sell fried Oreos and hot coco aswell as other items if your hungry. Enjoy & and bundle up!

Nicole and I came here for the Winter Lantern Festival and had a great time. Only issue was that there was no parking (find parking on side streets) and it was muddy (they put in platforms on the paths to help but not enough). We went around 6 pm and it was packed but we expected it lol. If you want to avoid the crowd you can go at a later time (8:30-9 pm) as that is when most of the families start leaving. For the dslr Photographers out there, I recommend bringing a flash with you. It gets fairly dark really early during the winter time and you will need to fight with the lighting of the lantern. The people there also encourage you to use flash so that you can get nice pictures unlike most of the venues I've come across. I didn't take too many pictures on my camera but the cellphone shots sufficed. Also be aware there are only porti potties at the location. If you need to go to the bathroom, be sure to go before. Overall you will get some nice shots of the lanterns!

The venue was great, the lanterns were beautiful. Why the one star?? Because the NYC Winter Lantern Festival organizers were difficult to work with. They do not have a number to call if you have any issues at all and you can only contact them via email. I purchased a Groupon and proceeded to use it to purchase the tickets online as instructed. It was all fine and dandy until I received the receipt in my email saying I was charged $102.72 for 4 tickets. So this must be some kind of misunderstanding and computer glitch. Ok fine, I contact info@newyorkee.com and explain to them what happened. I included the Groupon voucher and the receipt I got in my email to show them that I should not be charged and please refund the money. Esther from the lantern festival refused even after all the emailing and proof of prior purchase. It's very dishonest and I'm not looking forward to anymore events held by these people. She just told me to get a refund from Groupon instead. Of course she would, the Groupon price is a much better deal than the $102.72 full price she would rather keep. The lanterns were beautiful, but the event was ran very unethically. Be aware if you are using a voucher. Otherwise, the full price isn't really worth it.

The Winter Lantern Festival was TERRIFIC! And for all of you Manhattanites hesitant of making the trek to Staten Island - don't be. After taking the fun (and free) ferry over to S.I. - you board a shuttle bus to go to Snug Harbor Botanical Gardens. It's about a 10 min ride and free with your ticket. The Lantern Festival is beautiful and full of wonderment. And yes, a richly instagrammable opportunity - though try to be in the moment when you can. Superb for adults and children alike. Some tips: (1) they say to meet the the shuttle bus at E exit. Not true. It's at the main exit - about B or C. Look for the signs. (2) Wear boots good for mud. There are pathways you walk on plastic board, but you go off those sometimes and the ground is a bit muddy. (3) porto potties only. Try to time your nature calls for the ferry terminal. (4) It takes about an hour to go thru it all. To go from UES for our 5 pm tickets we got to Ferry about 4 pm, got to SI just before 5 pm. And we took the 7 pm ferry back to Manhattan. Home by 8 pm. (5) Make an effort to go see the guy who spins sugar. Right after you exit the festival area, there is an area with food trucks. Nothing too special except for a masterful guy who spins sugar into beautiful pieces. It's worth the extra few steps.

They are hosting NYC Winter Lantern Festival. It is amazing. All the staffs are very friendly, even through they are standing in the cold. All the lanterns are well spread out so it is not over crowded. The lanterns are very detailed. The cultural performance starts at 7pm and 8pm.

This year's not like earlier. Less lighted characters, much less area. Last years had cultural shows, agreed it was not listed this time but that was one of the highlights last time. Also the food :( vendors this time are the usual fair ones with vanilla burger and churros. Not worth the time, disappointing if you have seen earlier ones.

We had a lot of fun coming here last Saturday. It was definitely a cold night but the Winter Lantern display was quite spectacular. I am not positive whether it's the same partners who put on a lantern display at our local botanical gardens back in Norfolk Virginia but I noticed some similar exhibits (maybe even some the same). I loved walking around seeing the various lantern displays and the ones that moved were very cute and cool. Two major issues here though, one, they do not have a very large parking area. For the amount of people this exhibit pulled, we had to park about a ten minute walk away several streets away. Parking was a total nightmare and we actually spent about 20 minutes looking for a spot having to circle around the various residential streets. Two, the grounds were VERY muddy. I know it's winter and so there isn't any growth but the small walkways they had didn't accommodate all the people there and many of the exhibits you had to veer off the path to get a closer look and it made a total mess of our shoes. Not sure why there wasn't any grass and it was just straight mud pits but probably something that should be considered for upcoming events there.

Super duper boring. Staff seemed like they hated their lives and were very unhelpful. Saw a gentleman try to re-enter the completely empty museum to use the restroom and get turned away. EVERYTHING from the Gardens to the Children's Museum cost way more than they are worth. It would be a pretty place for a photo shoot in the spring however if you want to pay the fee and deal with the people.

My dad and I attended the Winter Lantern Festival held here last weekend. I purchased tickets through Groupon and redeemed them online ahead of time and already had a barcode to scan. It appeared that it's possible to redeem them in person as well but this way you have to stand in another line prior to being able to enter. I definitely recommend doing so ahead of time because the line to enter is CHAOTIC and you definitely do not want to spend anymore time waiting on an extra line before you can enter. Once you make your way through the first line to enter and move through the lighted tunnel (the most crowded and least enjoyable part, simply because of how many people there are all at once) the crowds start to come apart and you walk at your own pace around the space. This was definitely a unique exhibit with a lot to see. I also liked that there were multiple Instagram photo props throughout the exhibit so people weren't waiting in line to use one. Although this is the first year this exhibit is held here if you look closely at the displays you can see that they're a bit dirty so it appears that they are being reused from another exhibit held elsewhere. (Curious to see if this will become an annual event held here or if they continue to move their location.) I did notice some food stands at the end but did not get a close look as to what they were selling as we already decided to eat somewhere else after leaving. What I did not notice anywhere were bathrooms so I am not sure if they have any available for use during this event.

I went to the NYC Winter Lantern Festival on a Saturday with a group of five for the 5pm appointment. It wasn't crowded until later on. I bought tickets to the festival through Groupon because there was a deal and it was cheaper. The NYC Winter Lantern Festival was amazing and there were lots of photo opportunities! The lanterns were huge and were so beautiful, in person. There were assorted lanterns such as the Chinese zodiac animals, Chinese dragon, sea animals, pandas, and more. This was a perfect exhibit to go and enjoy with family! I'd suggest you to check the weather and layer up, if needed to, because we came on a cold, windy Saturday. Another tip would be to not wear white sneakers because I did that and had mud on them, which was quite upsetting. If you get off the pathways, you'd end up walking on mud--gross. You should definitely watch where you're walking and I highly recommend wearing boots.

I visited Snug Harbor for the NYC Winter Lantern Festival. The entire exhibit was absolutely beautiful! The space was a great setting in exhibiting different lights/displays without being too crowded. There was a walkway that simply guided you from one light to the next. There were shows at 7pm & 8pm, as well, that I found very entertaining. There were various food trucks at the end of the walkway (Ex: Nuchas, C Bao, lobster grill, etc). Food was slightly overpriced. Personally, I think this is the kind of place you go to just once to experience, take your pictures and enjoy--since it is a bit pricy ($26 at the door). But regardless, the Festival was still beautiful and I'd recommend anyone to visit and experience this!

What a wonderful light festival. I went to the Hello Panda Lantern Festival the week before and there were enough different things that I didn't feel like I was wasting my money for attending the NYC Lantern Festival. Lots of beautiful displays of lights and lanterns. It's a schlep but it was worth it. The food was not as good as The Hello Panda Festival and I thought there were limited retail opportunities until I attended the NYC Lantern Festival. There were T-shirts and tote bags but the design was just so-so. Nevertheless, the displays were magical and the entertainment was great. The directions to the VIP parking were horrendous and the person at the entrance told me the wrong street to drive down. Once we finally got there, it was really great. Well worth the $25 entrance fee. Highlight was the talking dinosaur. He had a lot of personality and was so sweet and friendly. Love the entrance and the exit but there were lots of great photo opps.

It's a little tricky getting here unless you have a car or bike. I biked here in June and walked around the greenhouse and then the tower with a mini topiary garden maze. After then I paid the $5 to get into the Chinese scholar garden (see my separate review) which was stunning!

Had my baby shower at Snug Harbor great hall this past Sunday, and to say it was perfect would be an understatement. Erin O'Keefe was amazing to work with from our first call. No detail was missed. The entire staff, Tanya, Antonio, etc. were so helpful, caring, and never missed a beat. It was the perfect day, every detail come to life. Thank you so much to the entire team, you made my baby shower dreams come true!

Came for the winter lantern fest and had a blast. You can really take your time walking through and enjoy all the hard work they did to put this event on. Thanks!

This is a very cool place to spend the day that most native New Yorkers don't even know about. This place is best categorized as a botanical garden. Near the entrance are a few administrative buildings but otherwise it is full of trees, flowers and a whole lot of quiet. There are a couple points of interest here. My favorite was the Chinese scholar garden. The architecture of the houses and the koi pond and bridges are designed in such a way that made me feel like I was in ancient China. Another interesting structure was the small castle which had a small garden maze. Overall, this was a nice place to get away from civilization. It is not easy to get to though. If you don't drive, you will have to take the public bus outside the Staten Island Ferry.

I took the family to the Winter Lantern Festival. It is promoted very well but executed poorly. The light display is wonderful. But that's it. First the parking. There isn't any. Be prepared to park on the street and walk or park far away and get shuttles in. Next, the path around the festival. Felt like a thousand sheep getting pushed through a narrow walk way to their death. Half the people walking slow to enjoy the festival lights and take pics. The other half rushing through? The path through the festival is WAY TOO NARROW for the amount of people going to accommodate both types of walking and/or speed walking as some like to do. The food was good but $12 for a small burger? Overall great idea. Terrible execution on logistics.