1
Branch Brook Park
Park
337 acres10.6 mi of trail
Branch Brook Park Foot Path
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Newark
Newark, NJ parks, trails & bike paths
About 4% of Newark is conserved land, roughly 657 acres. There are about 23 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Branch Brook Park (10.6 mi), Vailsburg Park (1.5 mi), and West Side Park (1.4 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Newark, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Newark outdoors
Conserved land
4%
657 of 16,472 acres
Trails
23 mi
0.9 mi per sq mi · 13 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
30
2 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
12.1 mi
7.5 mi lanes · 1.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Vailsburg Park
Park
30 acres1.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
3
West Side Park
Park
32 acres1.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Weequahic Park
Park
178 acres1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Independence Park
Park
12 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Saint Peters Park
Park
11 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Riverfront Park
Park
19 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
8
Lincoln Park
Park
5 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 30 parks & preserves
- Ivy Hill Park18 ac · 0.3 mi trail · Directions
- Tichenor Park1 ac · 0.3 mi trail · Directions
- Jesse Allen Park8 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Badger Avenue Park2 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Newark Riverfront Park2 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- University Park1 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Norman Samuels Plaza4 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Mulberry Commons3 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Hennessey Street Park1 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Chambers Plaza1 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Riverbank Park9 ac
- Military Park6 ac · Directions
- Kasberger Field4 ac
- Harrison Park3 ac · Directions
- Mildred Helms Park3 ac · Directions
- Veterans Memorial Park3 ac · Directions
- Hank Aaron Field2 ac · Directions
- Broadway Park2 ac · Directions
- First Street Park1 ac
- New Street Plaza1 ac · Directions
- Hunterdon Street Park1 ac
- Thomas Silk Park1 ac
Who protects the land
657 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 6 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes7.5 mi
- Off-road bike paths1.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes3.6 mi
- East Coast Greenway (NJ complementary Newark to Rahway route) (bike route)0.5 mi
Courts & fields
- Basketball50
- Tennis50
- Baseball34
- Soccer17
- Football9
- Pickleball4
- Multi-sport2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Newark and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newark | 4% | 22.9 mi | 30 |
| Irvington | 3.1% | 1.9 mi | 2 |
| Belleville | 5.4% | 3.6 mi | 1 |
| Elizabeth | 2.2% | 3.1 mi | 19 |
| South Orange Village | 5.2% | 1.0 mi | 5 |
| Kearny | 3.2% | 2.9 mi | 11 |
| Maplewood | 21.9% | 17.1 mi | 4 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Newark's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 24.3-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.