! Alert

New York Harbor will be experiencing planned closures on Wednesday, February 7, 2024. Because of this, Governors Island ferry service may be impacted between 12:30-1:30pm and 6:30-7:30pm on February 7. Times are subject to change; click here or follow us on Twitter for updates.

New York Harbor will be experiencing planned closures on Wednesday, February 7, 2024. Because of this, Governors Island ferry service may be impacted between 12:30-1:30pm and 6:30-7:30pm on February 7. Times are subject to change; click here or follow us on Twitter for updates.

Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage Returns Novem­ber 17

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Photo by Sari Goodfriend

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced the Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage will open Novem­ber 17, trans­form­ing his­toric Colonels Row into a sin­gu­lar sea­son­al des­ti­na­tion for the sec­ond year in a row. The pop­u­lar Win­ter Vil­lage will include a 7,500-square foot skat­ing rink for vis­i­tors of all ages to enjoy, along with win­tery activ­i­ties, fes­tive dec­o­ra­tions, games, cold-weath­er food and drinks, and warm­ing fire pits. The rink will be open Thurs­day through Sun­day and all New York City pub­lic school hol­i­days, with addi­tion­al Win­ter Vil­lage activ­i­ties avail­able sev­en days a week. 

We are so excit­ed to invite New York­ers and vis­i­tors to Gov­er­nors Island for the return of Win­ter Vil­lage,” said New York City May­or Eric Adams. Cold weath­er doesn’t have to mean being stuck inside — it can mean ice skat­ing and sled­ding with your friends or sit­ting around a fire with your fam­i­ly. And with the return of Win­ter Dog Days, I’m sure Gov­er­nors Island will be a pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion for every mem­ber of the family.”

Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to show­case its unique and uplift­ing con­tri­bu­tions to New York City’s cul­tur­al land­scape through the Win­ter Vil­lage,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria Tor­res-Springer. From ice skat­ing to Jen­ga to toasty drinks, there’s some­thing for every­one in the fam­i­ly at the Win­ter Vil­lage and I encour­age all New York­ers to take advan­tage of Gov­er­nors Island year-round.”

The secret is out: Gov­er­nors Island is tru­ly a mag­i­cal place all year long, and we are so excit­ed to wel­come New York­ers back to the Win­ter Vil­lage,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. In addi­tion to some pret­ty spec­tac­u­lar skat­ing, Win­ter Vil­lage vis­i­tors will once again be able to enjoy some of the same amaz­ing food trucks, excit­ing pro­gram­ming, and stun­ning land­scapes that make Gov­er­nors Island a great place to vis­it all year long.” 

In addi­tion to the rink, the Vil­lage will fea­ture bike and sled rentals from Blaz­ing Sad­dles NYC and win­tery activ­i­ties includ­ing lawn games like corn­hole, can jam and giant Jen­ga; fire pits; win­ter arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming, and a sparkling dis­play of hol­i­day lights through­out his­toric Colonels Row. The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage will be open through Feb­ru­ary 2023

Expand­ing on last year’s pub­lic hours, the ice rink will be open Thurs­days and Fri­days from noon to 5:30pm and Sat­ur­days and Sun­days from 10am to 5:30pm, with event pack­ages and buy­outs avail­able dur­ing addi­tion­al hours. The rink will also fea­ture events, activ­i­ties, and Free Admis­sion Thurs­days,” with admis­sion fees waived for all vis­i­tors every Thurs­day. Rink admis­sion and skate rentals can be reserved online at www​.gov​is​land​.org start­ing mid-November. 

Island ven­dor Lit­tle Eva’s will be open dai­ly at the Win­ter Vil­lage with a sea­son­al menu, com­plete with warm drinks and new takes on their clas­sic com­fort food like brats, veg­an chili, fish and chips, soups, and more. A rotat­ing series of New York City’s best food trucks, in part­ner­ship with the New York Food Truck Asso­ci­a­tion, will round out the Island’s win­ter eats. 

The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage is pre­sent­ed with sup­port from The May and Samuel Rudin Fam­i­ly Foundation.

Gov­er­nors Island’s award-win­ning park is open to the pub­lic every day, along with recre­ation activ­i­ties like bike rentals, a Com­mu­ni­ty Climb­ing Boul­der, Ham­mock Grove, The Hills, Pic­nic Point, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art com­mis­sions, includ­ing work from Charles Gaines, Duke Riley, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, and Mark Hand­forth are also cur­rent­ly on view through­out the Island. 

QC NY Spa con­tin­ues to be open dai­ly on Gov­er­nors Island, with heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, and a new bar and bistro. This win­ter also marks the return of Win­ter Dog Days, where dogs are allowed on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days through­out the win­ter months. Dogs must be leashed while on Gov­er­nors Island except for in the Week­end Win­ter Dog Park, locat­ed adja­cent to Liggett Terrace. 

Gov­er­nors Island is a jew­el for New York City, not just in the sum­mer months, but now year-round, ” said Con­gress­man Jer­ry Nadler. Today’s announce­ment of Gov­er­nors Islands Win­ter Vil­lage invites vis­i­tors from all over the city to engage in ice skat­ing, hot choco­late by the fire and weath­er friend­ly activ­i­ties and fes­tiv­i­ties. I’m thrilled to con­tin­ue sup­port­ing Gov­er­nors Island as a dynam­ic resource for all New York­ers and I am excit­ed to see the expe­ri­ence cre­at­ed for vis­i­tors in the win­ter season.”

I am hap­py that the Win­ter Vil­lage will be return­ing this sea­son,” said State Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh, who rep­re­sents Gov­er­nors Island. New York­ers will once again have access to great food and excit­ing events for all ages, includ­ing ice skat­ing, win­ter activ­i­ties, fun games, and fes­tive dec­o­ra­tions. I encour­age every­one to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island this win­ter and enjoy this win­ter won­der­land. I applaud the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for their ongo­ing efforts to make Gov­er­nors Island a more acces­si­ble, enjoy­able, and engag­ing place to vis­it and explore.”

Regard­less of the time of year, Gov­er­nors Island is always a must-vis­it des­ti­na­tion, and the sec­ond-annu­al Win­ter Vil­lage has some­thing for every­one. I encour­age all New York­ers to hop on the fer­ry and try one of the many win­ter­time activ­i­ties or hud­dle by the fire pits,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. Thank you to the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for being incred­i­ble stew­ards of and con­stant­ly expand­ing pub­lic access to all that the island has to offer.”

Com­ing off the heels of pump­kin point week­end and the many oppor­tu­ni­ties to enjoy the amaz­ing canopy of fall foliage and bucol­ic nat­ur­al beau­ty of Gov­er­nors Island, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 is delight­ed to wel­come the sec­ond Win­ter Sea­son!” said Tam­my Meltzer, Chair­per­son of Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty 1. We look for­ward to the pub­lic enjoy­ing the Island’s beloved open spaces glis­ten­ing with fresh snow, the amaz­ing unfet­tered har­bor and sky­line views, events and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming. Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 is thrilled that the Trust con­tin­ues to enhance the pub­lic’s access to this price­less nat­ur­al resource through sun, snow and beyond.”

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org. Trust-oper­at­ed sea­son­al week­end Brook­lyn fer­ry ser­vice will return in Spring 2023.

Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, seniors 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before noon on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time.

NYC Fer­ry also serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn route. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it www.ferry.nyc.