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NYC subway stations you need to visit: Fulton Center, Hudson Yards and more

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  • The Red Hook stop is the highest subway station in the world, built at almost 9 stories tall and nearly 88 feet so that boats with tall masts sailing through the Gowanus Canal can clear the stop.

    “Smith-9th Street is very unique,” said transit enthusiast Max Diamond. “It’s the highest station in the system, and offers some amazing views of the New York City skyline.”

    Visitors can see the Statue of Liberty, as well as vistas of the Manhattan and Brooklyn downtowns.

    The stop also has a 14-foot blue mosaic of a nautical map by a Red Hook artist, illustrating the neighborhood’s history. The work at the station by Alyson Shotz includes 26 windows with silver reflective ink in the glass, each with a different historical nautical map from the 1700s to the 1900s of the local waterfront.

    “She has these prismatic maps, that reflect this waterfront history,” said Bloodworth. “She really uses the windows to bring light in.”

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    Photo Credit: Yeong-Ung Yang
  • Most New Yorkers don't want to go near the packed Times Square subway station, but it's worth visiting for tourists if they want to get a good glimpse of what rush-hour is like in New York City. The complex has eleven different lines and is used by 65.9 million people a year. Station performers also seem to be at a higher notch there than other stops, with four performance locations that are organized by MTA Arts & Design. Annual auditions are held each year at Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall.
    Photo Credit: Linda Rosier
  • This stop near the Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Gardens looks more like an Italian villa than a subway station, with a red terra cotta-tiled roof, a pair of four-story towers and an elegant clock. It has a plaque with the head of Mercury, a Roman god of transportation. There are also references to the Bronx Zoo, with mosaic and glass artwork that includes an elk and elephant at the entrance, and a peacock and lizard near the exit.
    Photo Credit: Yeong-Ung Yang
  • This elevated station has gorgeous views of northern Brooklyn and Manhattan, which include the nearby St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank and the Williamsburg Bridge. The station also features eight abstract, stained glass panels by Ellsworth Ausby that evoke space travels.
    Photo Credit: Yeong-Ung Yang
  • The 190th Street A train station is built into a hill in Washington Heights.
    Photo Credit: Yeong-Ung Yang

When commuters walk into the white stucco building with its red terra cotta-tiled roof, two four-story towers, courtyard and balconies, it can be hard to believe they are in a Bronx subway station.

Yes, the East 180th Street station, near the New York Botanical Garden, was designed to look like an Italian villa.

It’s one of many stops in the system that are destinations in and of themselves — attractions worth visiting for everything from a glass oculus with a 53-foot diameter, a column-free platform, impeccable views of New York Harbor and some of the best art work around.

These are some stations worth visiting whether you’ve got a train to catch or not:

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