New Brunswick Parks & Gardens

New Brunswick is home to a variety of parks and gardens that provide scenic escapes for relaxation and recreation. Buccleuch Park, a historic gem, features lush open spaces, walking trails, and recreational facilities. Rutgers Gardens offers a tranquil retreat with its diverse botanical collections, serene pathways, and seasonal events like farmer’s markets. Boyd Park, situated along the Raritan River, boasts stunning views, picnic areas, and biking trails. These green spaces are perfect for unwinding, exploring nature, or enjoying outdoor activities, all just a short distance from The Heldrich Hotel & Conference Center.

Monument Square Park

Monument Square is a public square, proudly situated in the entertainment district at the foot of Livingston Avenue and in front of the Heldrich Hotel. Featuring memorial sculptures and beautiful seasonal plantings, it is a lovely and significant statement to downtown New Brunswick.

Rutgers Gardens

It’s a place that even the locals drive by, unaware of the little oasis tucked under the Route 1 exit ramps. Here, you’ll find a bamboo forest, interwoven with a path that follows a small creek and tiny waterfalls along the way, several botanical gardens (one boasting the world’s largest collection of holly), and a slew of wooded nature trails.

New Brunswick Community Farmers Market

What started as just one home location on Jones Avenue in 2009 has grown to three market locations scattered across the city on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The weekday markets tend to be the quietest – which means more facetime with farmers and artisans, hawking everything from homemade honey and jams to local meat and veggies.

Giamarese Farm & Orchards

This 35-acre East Brunswick farm has been in the Giamarese family since 1941 and is the locals’ choice when it comes to pick-your-own with quite the roster: strawberries, peas, peaches, apples, pumpkins, and greens. But if you’re not into picking, a farm store sells produce, as well as eggs, homemade pies, jam, and honey.

Historic Walking Tours

Why are there Japanese monuments in the Willow Grove Cemetery? What secret underground location did flappers flock to during the 1920’s Prohibition Era to drink their bathtub gin? Your group will find the answers to these questions and more during a two-hour guided stroll with New Brunswick Walking Tour, which covers four centuries of quirky historical happenings.

The Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park Trail

One of the state’s most scenic bike paths calls Central New Jersey home: the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail. The smooth and flat route runs along an 1830s canal towpath from Frenchtown in the northwest down to Trenton in its southernmost point, then up to New Brunswick to the northeast over a continuous 70 miles along. With a dozen places to access it, the eastern side of the route (from New Brunswick down to Trenton) features 40 miles of scenic nineteenth-century bridges and bridge-tender houses, remnants of locks, and hand-built stone-arch culverts.