The Atlas Obscura Guide To Queens

76 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Queens, New York

Updated August 22, 2024

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Unusual Attractions in Queens

Queens, New York

Surreal Elevator

Nondescript elevator doors open to reveal a stunning, surreal world.

Abandoned fort ruins

Queens, New York

Fort Totten

Read between the lines of the subway map to find the hidden abandoned Civil War fort.

Houdini's Grave

Queens, New York

Houdini's Grave

The final resting place of the great escape artist, where some still gather to wait for his escape from death.

Detail of the Texaco map terrazzo mosaic tile floor of the New York State Pavilion (Tent of Tomorrow), 2009

Queens, New York

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

The remnants of two World's Fairs are here, complete with a 12-story globe, a mini-Manhattan, and a UFO-shaped pavilion.

Queens, New York

The Ganesh Temple of Queens

This enormous Hindu temple in Queens serves incredible dosas in its basement canteen.

Lobby of the TWA Flight Center

Queens, New York

TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport

This futuristic airport terminal was abandoned for decades before reopening as a hotel—with a vintage plane of its own parked out back.

Central Park

Queens, New York

Panorama of the City of New York

The crown jewel of the Queens Museum is a nearly 10,000-square-foot architectural model of the city originally built for the 1964 World's Fair.

Queens, New York

The Underground Home

A hyper-luxurious, 12,000- square foot home might be buried beneath Queens, still waiting to protect you from nuclear missiles.

See All 76 Things To Do in Queens

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Queens

Queens, New York

The Ganesh Temple of Queens

This enormous Hindu temple in Queens serves incredible dosas in its basement canteen.

View from the Brooklyn Navy Yard location

Queens, New York

Brooklyn Grange Farms and Apiary

Two New York rooftops are home to the largest rooftop soil farms in the world.

Queens, New York

The Golden Shopping Mall

An easy to overlook storefront hides some of the most authentic and regionally diverse Chinese food in New York.

Queens, New York

Rokhat Kosher Bakery

Serving Central Asian breads that range from cracker-crisp to warm and fluffy, this bakery brings Bukhara to Queens.

See all 22 Places to Eat in Queens

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Atlas Obscura Itineraries

The Many Flavors of NYC’s Five Boroughs

More than eight million diverse individuals call New York City home, and many of them share their heritage through food. Whether it’s a billiards hall that serves stellar Bhutanese fare or a mosque where Malian vendors sell snacks for just a few hours each Friday, the city offers a vast culinary landscape for those willing to explore it. Venture beyond the flashy hotspots with months-long waiting lists and you’ll find New York’s true flavor lies within the small restaurants and stands rooted in its thriving immigrant communities.

Explore Queens, New York

Unique Restaurants & Bars 9

Architecture 8

Restaurants 8

Abandoned 7

Art 6

Hidden 5

Food 5

Music 5

Immigration 5

History 4

Outsider Art 4

Museums 4

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Stories About Queens

This colossal freedom statue stands in front of Nigeria's Badagry Heritage Museum in Lagos State. Badgery, a small town near Nigeria's border with Benin, was the site of a large slave port.

The Untold Stories of the Women Who Led Slave Revolts

Their inspiring acts of resistance were ignored or erased for centuries—until now.

Podcast: Houdini's Grave

Searching for the great beyond in Queens, New York.

by The Podcast Team

October 25, 2022

Podcast: The Louis Armstrong House Museum

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

by The Podcast Team

Why Do Tennis Crowds Have to Be So Quiet?

The game's long, weird, elitist history provides some clues.

by Dan Nosowitz

August 11, 2020

This portrait of late doctor Ydelfonso Decoo is in the Queens Museum parking lot.

This Mural in Queens Highlights COVID-19's Impact on People of Color

An image of a brave doctor, large enough to be seen from space.

by Matthew Taub

Checking In on the Algae of a Brooklyn Reservoir With a Microbiologist

Sally Warring knows a lot about what we can't see.

by Sabrina Imbler

December 10, 2019

In this image looking southeast at the border between Queens and Brooklyn, the area briefly known as Haberman is at center-left, beside Newtown Creek.

The Brief, Baffling Life of an Accidental New York Neighborhood

Welcome to Haberman, Queens, population: zero.

by Isaac Schultz

October 15, 2019

Sesame and poppy seeds, dried onion and garlic, coarse salt. In a word: Everything.

Everything You Need to Know About the True Origins of the Everything Bagel

There's a lot of history in every bite.

by Dan Nosowitz

Lists Featuring Queens

The Geographic Center of NYC is located on a traffic meridian on Queens Boulevard.

Vale of Cashmere.

Underneath the entrance to the nature walk is a small separate garden (Michelle Enemark CC Attribution Share Alike)

30 Unexpected Places to Have a Joyful Adventure in New York City

Including Geographic Center of New York City, Vale of Cashmere, and Marie's Crisis

Phyllis Diller

Detail of the Texaco map terrazzo mosaic tile floor of the New York State Pavilion (Tent of Tomorrow), 2009

18 Places to Discover Innovation in Roosevelt Island and NYC

Including Holographic Studios Inc., Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and Patent Pending

Overlooking New York Harbor.

Gravestone at Trinity Churchyard.

The New York Marble Cemetery.

Unique Cemeteries in New York

Famous and historic graveyards to visit in the five boroughs.

Including Green-Wood Cemetery, Trinity Churchyard, and First Shearith Israel Graveyard

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