How to Spend a 10 Hour Layover in New York: LaGuardia to the Bronx
Updated October 3, 2026
A 10 hour layover in NYC from LaGuardia reaches the Bronx for the New York Botanical Garden's glasshouse and forest, then a deli lunch and cannoli on Arthur Avenue.
Few travelers think of the Bronx on a layover, and that's their loss. A bus across the Triborough and a quick commuter train bring you to one of the oldest and largest botanical gardens in the country. It has a Victorian glass palace and a patch of forest that has never been cut. A short walk south, Arthur Avenue is the Little Italy where people still do their actual shopping, with century-old bakeries, cheese shops and an indoor market built by Mayor La Guardia himself.
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Is it worth leaving the airport?
Yes, on a smooth arrival from Tuesday to Saturday, since the garden is closed on Mondays and the market on Sundays. This is a longer trip with a bus and a train each way. Garden tickets are for a set date and entry time, so book once your flight lands, and if things run late, skip the garden and spend the time on Arthur Avenue.
Getting from LGA into the city
Ride the M60 Select Bus Service from your terminal across the Triborough into Harlem, get off at Lexington Avenue and walk one block west to Harlem 125th Street station. Take a Metro-North Harlem Line local to Botanical Garden, buying the ticket in the TrainTime app first. Come home from Fordham station, a short walk from Arthur Avenue.
Plan on about 1 hr 59 min for the round trip between LaGuardia Airport and the first and last stops.
This plan also keeps 45 min to get out of the airport and 1 hr 30 min to get back through security before your flight. You can customize these buffers with Navi through text.
Times are estimates, not guarantees. Confirm your boarding time with your airline and check entry requirements before leaving the airport. You are responsible for getting back in time for your flight.
Visa and entry
You'll rarely meet a customs desk at LaGuardia: its traffic is nearly all domestic, and Canadian passengers go through US preclearance before they fly. A day in the Bronx brings no new paperwork. Allow a little extra time for security on the way back, since the terminals get busy.
What to do with your bags
Bounce is the simplest answer: book a partner shop near the Harlem station or close to Arthur Avenue in the app and leave your suitcase there for the day. As of October 2026, those shops start from $2.90 a day. The garden's paths and the busy market aisles are no place for a roller bag.
The 10 hour plan, stop by stop
About 5 hr 46 min in the city
Time to head out from LaGuardia Airport for New York Botanical Garden. It's a 1 hr 1 min transit ride if you leave now. Here's the link
Founded in 1891 and spread over more than 250 acres of the Bronx, the garden is as much a scientific institution as a park, with one of the world's great herbariums. As of October 2026, an All-Garden Pass costs $35 on weekdays and $39 at weekends, tickets are for a set date and time, and it's closed on Mondays. Its centerpiece is the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a white Victorian glasshouse modeled on the palm houses of England, holding rainforest and desert galleries under its domes. Nearby, the Thain Family Forest preserves old woodland along the Bronx River that was never logged, with the rose and rock gardens a short walk away.
Tip: Pick up the free garden map at the entrance and head for the Haupt Conservatory first, before tour groups fill its galleries.
- Time here
- 2 hr to 3 hr
- Website
- nybg.org
NaviTime to head out from New York Botanical Garden for Arthur Avenue Retail Market. It's a 20 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
Mayor Fiorello La Guardia opened this indoor market in 1940 to move the neighborhood's pushcart vendors off the street, and it still feels like a covered piazza. Inside you'll find produce stands, Italian groceries, a butcher and a counter of hand-rolled cigars. The main event is Mike's Deli, where long heroes stuffed with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers are made to order and eaten at the tables in the aisles.
Tip: One hero feeds two, so order one to split and grab a communal table near the counter; if you skip meat, the eggplant parm hero is the one to get.
- Time here
- 45 min to 1 hr 10 min
NaviTime to head out from Arthur Avenue Retail Market for Teitel Brothers. It's a 1 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
Jacob and Morris Teitel, Jewish brothers from Austria who arrived through Ellis Island, opened this grocery on Arthur Avenue in 1915, and their family still runs it three generations later. It's closed on Sundays and Jewish holidays. Jacob learned Italian before English to serve his neighbors, and he set a mosaic Star of David into the doorway during the Depression, where it remains. Inside, wheels of Parmigiano, hanging provolone, cured sausage, olive oils and tins of tomatoes crowd every shelf, and staff slice prosciutto to order.
Tip: Look down at the entrance for the tile Star of David before you go in, then ask for a small wedge of aged provolone to snack on.
- Time here
- 15 to 25 min
- Website
- teitelbros.com
NaviTime to head out from Teitel Brothers for Madonia Brothers Bakery. It's a 1 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
Mario Madonia, a baker from Sicily, opened this shop over a century ago, and his great-grandson now runs it with a business partner, still baking Sicilian and European loaves the old way. The prosciutto bread is studded with cured meat, the olive bread is a neighborhood favorite, and the cannoli get their ricotta at the counter, never ahead of time. Shelves of biscotti and Italian cookies make good souvenirs.
Tip: The bakers pull loaves in batches all day, so ask what just came out of the oven, and pick up a fennel and raisin loaf, a Madonia specialty.
- Time here
- 15 to 25 min
- Website
- madoniabakery.com
NaviTime to head out from Madonia Brothers Bakery for LaGuardia Airport. It's a 58 minute transit ride if you leave now. Here's the link
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