The Best Outdoor Happy Hours in New York City

By Molly McArdle
March 03, 2017
Credit: Annie Schlechter
Whether it's in a backyard, a patio, a rooftop, a garden, or a sidewalk, when the temperature's right in New York City, there's no better place to be than outside with a drink in your hand.

Here are some of Travel + Leisure's favorite spots to celebrate happy hour in the big city's version of the great outdoors.
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Boat Basin Café

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Order drinks at the bar for happy hour specials, but bring them outside to watch the sun lower the Hudson at this Upper West Side stalwart.

West 79th Street, New York

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Chilo's

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Since One Last Shag closed its beachy backyard, Chilo's patio picked up the slack. Head there for the taco truck parked out back, their three rotating varieties of frozen drinks, and their mysterious collection of doorknobs in the shape of Teddy Roosevelt's head.

323 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn

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Forrest Point

Credit: Courtesy of Forrest Point

An enormous open-air eatery on the Bushwick border, relax under their greenery-filled arbor for food, drinks, and shade.

970 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn

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Grand Banks

Credit: Doug Lyle Thompson

Docked at Pier 25 just west of Soho, this is a real boat that disembarks once the season turns. The next best thing to having your own boat, plan to go aboard on a sunny weekday afternoon: oyster specials run from 4-6PM Mondays through Thursday.

Pier 25 Play Area, New York

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Hot Bird

Credit: Alejandro De La Cruz via Flickr

When the weather's right, this cash-only auto repair shop-turned-bar will light up a cozy and crackling fire pit on the patio.

546 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn

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June

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A relaxed wine bar (and restaurant!), it's cozy back patio is strung with garden lights.

231 Court Street, New York

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Lavender Lake

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With a boisterous backyard right just up a block from the Gowanus, this bar is open and airy. Happy hour specials run till 8, and all day on Mondays.

383 Carroll Street, Brooklyn

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Maison Premiere

Credit: Courtesy of Maison Premiere

With an outdoor space that looks like the secret garden, a $1 oyster happy hour, and cocktails that can't be beat (try the absinthe piña colada), it's no wonder this place draws crowds.

298 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn

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Mulberry Project

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A little oasis of calm in the middle of Little Italy, this speakeasy makes charming use of limited outdoor space. Follow the stairs down to the red door and through it out back.

149 Mulberry Street, New York

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Nowadays

Credit: Courtesy of Nowadays; Photo by Natalie Keyssar

Queens is rich with beer gardens, and this Ridgewood spot is practically a small forest. Grab a picnic table with a colorful umbrella and relax in one of the greenest places to drink in all of New York City.

56-06 Cooper Avenue, Ridgewood

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Pod 39 Rooftop

Credit: Annie Schlechter

A striking rooftop option in east midtown, head to the top of the Pod 39 Hotel for their top-floor bar. It's less a roof bar than roofless, with gorgeous open-air colonnades and arches reaching up to an open sky.

145 East 39th Street, New York

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Sayra's Wine Bar

Credit: Courtesy of Sayra's Wine Bar

Do the Rockaway (sorry) (not sorry) and check out this beach-y bar just blocks away from both the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay. You won't have to change out of your bathing suit to relax in its lush and surfboard-strewn patio.

91-11 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Far Rockaway

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Tatiana Grill

Credit: Wally Gobetz via Flickr

Try a taste of old Brighton Beach with this beachside Russian institution. Make sure you grab a seat on the boardwalk-fronting patio and watch the tide (or the people) go in and out.

3145 Brighton 4th Street, Brooklyn

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By Molly McArdle