Make Manhattan a Love Island With These Unique Valentine’s Date Ideas

With enough romantic excursions, any island can be Love Island — even Manhattan. This is especially true of our district, which is brimming with non-traditional things that make for perfect Valentine’s date activities. If you’re looking for a creative date idea — or if you want to pair a special prix fixe menu with love boats, love notes and love poems —  we rounded up a few suggestions. 

Ride a love boat

Believe it or not, the Staten Island Ferry is still one the city’s best free date spots. The boats depart from Whitehall Terminal (4 Whitehall St.) every 30 minutes from the ferry terminal and take about 25 minutes to get across the harbor, carrying passengers past the Brooklyn shoreline and right by the Statue of Liberty. Enjoy the view from its outside decks, or cuddle up inside and gaze out the windows; and if you’re looking for dinner and a date, we should be getting Dunkin’ on the ferry any day now.  

Tour a historic vessel with your crush

If you’d rather be lovesick than seasick, the 1885 tall ship “Wavertree” is docked at the Seaport and offers pay-what-you-wish tours on the weekends. You’ll get to see the outdoor areas, main deck and quarter deck of the 2,000-ton ship, which is one of the last large sailing ships made of wrought iron. 

Take a spin on a carousel

Another part of island life? Sea creatures. While you probably can’t get up close and personal with any of them in the middle of February, you can still ride one. The SeaGlass Carousel in Battery Park features 30 massive fiberglass sea creatures, illuminated with color-changing LED lights to mimic the bioluminescence of the deep ocean.

Get a little sloshed

The good folks at Simply Wine (55 Liberty St.) are pouring a “love-themed lineup” for their weekly Friday tastings on Valentine’s Day from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The cozy and bright shop is a great place to pick up some small batch wine and liquors in the neighborhood for your  Valentine. 

Print your own love notes

You can toss a love letter out to sea, or just hand it to your sweetie on the subway, but whatever you want to do with it, you should start at Bowne & Co. Stationers (211 Water St.). It’s an offshoot of one of New York’s oldest printing shops, dating back to 1775. The small shop at the Seaport now occupies a former cast iron stove warehouse, and in addition to selling stationary and other paper goods, offers workshops on the art of printmaking. You can sign up for a workshop that will teach you how to make your own stationery, using in-house historic fonts — and if you’re looking for post-V-Day plans, we’re teaming up with Bowne & Co. for a special “acquaintance card”-making workshop on February 20. While advanced registration is at capacity, we will be able to accommodate walk-ins based on availability. If you’re interested in joining us, we encourage you to attend!

Art in the dark

Nothing’s more romantic than hanging out in the dark with bae, but true darkness can be hard to come by in the city. That’s not the case at Mercer Labs, the 36,000 square-foot museum of art and technology at 21 Dey St. It’s home to co-founder and creative director Roy Nachum’s immersive visuals and interactive displays, and its After Dark series makes for an exciting date night (it’s open until midnight!). Responsive features will reveal “new dimensions of art, prompting a rethinking of the boundaries between reality and illusion.” The experience is supposed to spark an enduring sense of reflection. Find tickets here. 

Sports bar movie night

Beckett’s Sports Bar (48 Stone St./81 Pearl St.) might be better known as a game day destination than a romantic date spot, but on Valentine’s Day, they’re classing up the joint with a romantic movie night. A $16 ticket gets you popcorn, champagne, roses and a spot to catch a special movie (title TBD). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.; email [email protected] for details.  

Read love poems at Poets House

A search of the Poets House catalog brings up 5,739 poems about love, which is maybe enough poems to last you a lifetime of Valentine’s Days. But you can spend this year browsing a few of those titles: The library at 10 River Terrace is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. the day after. If you want even more odes to Eros, check out Poets House’s calendar of events.

Dine in pink

The Watermark at Pier 15  is going all pink for the pinkest time of the year. Pink lights will illuminate the 10,000 square-foot restaurant, which will also be decorated with flowers, heart installations and twinkling lights. The pink spectacle will last until mid-April, so you can keep the loving spirit going in the spring. 

Prep for the next holiday 

Once Valentine’s Day is over, it’s time to focus on the next big holiday: the Oscars. Take your date on a tour of the 2025 Academy Award contenders with our guide to exploring Oscar buzz in Lower Manhattan — the big event airs on ABC on Sunday, March 2. 

main photo: iStock