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So this week I and two of my friends are planning on going to the Bronx Zoo and also the Botanical Gardens for the day. I have a few questions about how to best plan this day out and get to my destinations, especially because I'm going by subway and foot.
1. Is the best way to get to the zoo from Penn by subway to take the 2 line to West Farms Sq and E Tremont? According to the zoo's website, it's a two block walk from there. Will it be easy to find after we exit the station?
2. We're all 18 so we just want to be cautious; we're don't want to do anything stupid. I know a lot of people say the Bronx is a bad area. Is the area we're going to bad?
3. What is the best way to get from the Zoo to the NYBG? I would prefer to avoid walking long distances if the area is sketchy.
4. Say we end up going to the NYBG after the Zoo. What is the fastest route to get from the Gardens back to Penn? I know I can get the D or B line by walking 8 blocks (according to NYBG's website) and again, I wouldn't mind walking as long as the area is safe. I seriously wouldn't want to get stuck walking around in a bad neighborhood.
Take the 2 train to W Farms SQ and enter the zoo at the southern end.Walk through and around in the zoo in a generally northerly direction with the Fordham Road Gate as your goal for an exit. Use a zoo map.
When you come out onto Fordham Road/Pelham Parkway you will see the Botanical Garden directly across the road but they closed off that entrance( and a great natural connection between the two) and put up traffic barriers so you have to go left(along the walkway along Fordham Rd) for a short distance until you get to the edge of Bronx Park at Southern Blvd/Kazimiroff Blvd( it has 2 names).Then cross Fordham Rd ( R)with the pedestrian light and head North on Kazimiroff/Southern.The Botanical Garden main entrance will be a little ways up on your right.
After your time in The Botanical Garden you can either take a metro north train from the Botanical Garden stop(closest, see garden maps) to Grand Central,walk to D train as you said or walk back along Fordham Road/Pelham Parkway( past the ZOO entrance again) to the Pelham Parkway stop of the 2 at Pelham Parkway/White Plains Road.
Of all the areas you might walk in, the area around W Farms Sq will look the most intimidating but it's fine during the day...especially in the AM.
If you go to the D train just walk along Bedford Park Blvd to the Grand Concourse.If you choose to come out of The Botanical Garden at the same ( Main) entrance the walk to Pelham Parkway/ White Plains Rd is about the same(or shorter) distance and might be the safest route.
USE MAP(S) !!!!!!
Metro-North will be fastest from Midtown, but it's all schedule dependent, since if you have to wait for a train, you're probably better off using another mode of transportation.
If you don't want to walk in the area, save between the Zoo and NYBG, take the bus. You can take the BxM11 express bus from Madison Avenue to the zoo. There are limited buses in the afternoon, since this stop is not made at all times on this route.
You could also take the bus up, and Metro-North back to Midtown if you are not comfortable walking to the subway. Then you'd need to take the shuttle (subway) to Times Square and the subway back to Penn.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Thank you guys for your responses. I just have one more concern though. I think I've got the actual directions and subways figured out now, but I want to know more about the area. Is it a safe area to walk in? I knwo it's not a long walk from West Farm Sq/East Tremont to the zoo entrance nor from the Fordham gate exit to the Gardens, but as I said, we're all 18 and we're probably going to look really out of place. Are we going to be alright?
You should be fine, since it's during daylight hours, and the zoo gets many tourists. It's a pretty busy area, so you're not walking into a lonely, forbidding place. Just use common sense and don't flash large amounts of money, iPods, phones, etc. since that could make you a target for a pickpocket anywhere in the city.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Unless I'm very much mistaken, you can also enter the zoo via Pelham Parkway, and that station on the #2 line is even closer to the entrance than the one at West Farms Square.
OP, I just did this solo as a female in the middle of the day and it was very easy to find the zoo from the W. tremont stop (I took the 5, but same diff). I tried the express bus the first time I went to the zoo and braved the subway the second, and it really wasfine. There's a housing project right there but it wasn't 'scary' and I was walking alone. No one bothered me and there's big signs saying ZOO with arrows everywhere. Lots of other tourists also and this was about 11AM on a thursday. it's not all boarded up row houses and graffiti, although I'd be nervous about doing it at night.
Unless I'm very much mistaken, you can also enter the zoo via Pelham Parkway, and that station on the #2 line is even closer to the entrance than the one at West Farms Square.
The Pelham Parkway stop on the 2/5 at White Plains Road is in fact the closest stop to a zoo entrance( either the Fordham Rd entrance or the one at Bronx Park East/Boston Rd.
I suggested they use the South entrance because they want to go through the zoo and into the Botanical garden aftrewards and it made more sense to start at the South and work North to cut down on backtracking.
choice #1 Take the 2 train to east 174th Street and transfer to the Bx19 bus downstairs , the bus will drop you off in front of the southern Blvd (Main Entrance). If you get of at the corner of fordham and southern blvd (that the next stop) your across the street from the Botanical Gardens, but not the entrance.
Choice #2 take the 2 Train to East Tremont/West Farms Sq and walk too the zoo i think that entrance is little Asia.
P.P.S Pack a lunch and plenty of water!! the zoo is now EXPENSIVE
Wednesday is free but so crazy. if you want to truly enjoy it go on a off/ regular payday and try the Bug-Go-Round near Crans nest Court fun for lovers and kids
So this week I and two of my friends are planning on going to the Bronx Zoo and also the Botanical Gardens for the day. I have a few questions about how to best plan this day out and get to my destinations, especially because I'm going by subway and foot.
4. Say we end up going to the NYBG after the Zoo. What is the fastest route to get from the Gardens back to Penn? I know I can get the D or B line by walking 8 blocks (according to NYBG's website) and again, I wouldn't mind walking as long as the area is safe. I seriously wouldn't want to get stuck walking around in a bad neighborhood.
Thank you
The 8 short blocks from the Botanical Gardens to the Bedford Park Blvd. subway (B & D lines) is quite alright during the day. I just walked there this past Wednesday.
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