Statue of Liberty Sunset Cruise from South Street Seaport New York

South Street Seaport and Pier 16

South Street Seaport is where the port of New York grew up. In the early 1800s its East River piers were crowded with sailing ships, and the brick warehouses of Schermerhorn Row, built in the 1810s, still line the cobbled streets around Fulton Street. Pier 16 is the seaport's historic pier, where a 19th-century tall ship and an old lightship are moored as part of the neighbourhood's maritime museum.

To get to South Street Seaport, take the subway to Fulton Street, served by several lines, and walk about eight minutes east toward the river; Wall Street station is equally close. Come early and stroll the restored streets and the Pier 17 waterfront before boarding. The box office for this South Street Seaport cruise stands at the entrance of Pier 16, and seats are first come, first served.

Brooklyn Bridge and the East River

From Pier 16 the Brooklyn Bridge fills the view to the north. When it opened in 1883 it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, with a main span of 486 metres (1,595 feet), and the first to hang from steel wire cables. Its granite towers with their pointed Gothic arches were the tallest structures in the city at the time, and the web of cables is at its most photogenic in low evening light.

Across the East River lie the Brooklyn waterfront parks and the cobbled streets under the Manhattan Bridge, while the boat's turn gives a fine angle on both bridges together. This is the part of the trip where a Brooklyn Bridge cruise photo works best from the open deck: the sun sits behind Manhattan, lighting the towers on the Brooklyn side in gold.

Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center at golden hour

The boat follows the East River south past the heliport and the Battery, the green tip of Manhattan where the city's first Dutch fort stood in the 1620s. Above it rises One World Trade Center, 1,776 feet tall including its spire, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened in 2014 beside the 9/11 Memorial.

At sunset the glass towers of the financial district catch the last light and reflect it back across the water, and the orange Staten Island ferries cross in front of them. Many travellers say this view alone answers whether a New York sunset cruise is worth it: the skyline changes colour minute by minute, from gold to pink to the blue hour when office windows start to glow.

Statue of Liberty at sunset

In the harbor the boat slows in front of Liberty Island for photos. Dedicated in 1886 as a gift from France, the Statue of Liberty stands about 93 metres (305 feet) from the ground to the tip of her torch, and her thin copper skin has weathered to soft green. She faces south-east toward the harbor entrance, so in the evening the sun falls behind her and draws her outline against a glowing sky.

This sunset view is the reason people choose an evening sailing over a daytime one, and for many the best time to visit the Statue of Liberty from the water. Go to the outside deck a few minutes before the boat arrives. The cruise does not land on the island; it is a relaxed way to see the statue without island security lines.

Ellis Island and the harbor lights

Just north of the statue lies Ellis Island, its red-brick hall with four domed towers once the busiest immigration station in the country. Between 1892 and 1954 millions of new arrivals were inspected in its Great Hall, and many families in America trace their first steps on the continent to this small island, now the National Museum of Immigration.

As the boat turns back toward the East River, the city switches on its lights: the towers of Lower Manhattan, the lamps strung along the Brooklyn Bridge and the waterfront parks of Brooklyn. Find a seat on deck or by a cabin window for the last stretch, then step off at Pier 16 into the evening seaport, about 90 minutes after departure.