Teardrop Park, Battery Park City

Once you find this lush park, it feels as if you're on an ancient piece of land the mini city around it spared. Kids get that: Its wild slide awakens in them a serious sense of adventure. Canopied paths wind past huge boulders and tiered rocks make the water-play spot feel more like a natural spring than part of any playground. And the long silver slide descending a mini rocky mountain inevitably elicits love at first sight.