Best date spots: Bronx

There’s something going on nearly every night of the week at this spirited Riverdale Irish pub, whether it’s live music, a monthly quiz night, or occasional comedy shows and book readings. If you’d prefer to entertain your date with rehearsed stories about yourself, there are plenty of quiet corners for doing that as well.

Plan a series of dates at this brick-walled pub, a bona fide craft-beer headquarters. You and your squeeze can attempt to become Gold Members of the bar’s Beer Club by sampling and rating 100 different quaffs from their brew list. And thanks to a sizable lineup of domestic-leaning taps, a rotating cask and plenty of bottles, hitting that mark isn’t all that hard a task.

In the ’70s, a group of community activists established this institution to showcase the work of African-, Hispanic- and Asian-American artists, and to create a meeting point for the surrounding multicultural community. And they mean it about being inclusive—admission is free.

Want to experience more exotic flora than Central Park has to offer? Whisk your beau away to the NYBG’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Here, you can experience 11 different ecosystems, including a rain-forest canopy with fig and rubber trees as well as an American desert terrain with cacti and mesquite plants. Back outside, you can explore the 250-acre landscape covered in diverse gardens; in the winter, check out the fir and spruce trees in the Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum. After you’re done exploring, duck under the shade of one of the more than 30,000 trees to do a little planting of your own—and by that we mean kisses, on each other.

You’ll find meticulously groomed gardens, as well as stunning views of the Hudson River and the Palisades, at this formerly private estate. A free shuttle from the Metro-North Riverdale station (and at the end of the 1 train) will escort you to the garden. Enjoy the view, take a hike through the woods, then stretch out on the wide lawn to canoodle and soak up the sunshine. For gratis admission, visit Saturday (9am–noon) or Tuesday (Nov–Apr, July, Aug all day; May, June, Sept, Oct 9am–noon).