Last updated: August 2026 | Palisades Park, NJ things to do guide
Bottom line: The best things to do in Palisades Park, NJ run along Broad Avenue, a corridor of Korean restaurants, bakeries, and markets. Add the Palisades Park Public Library, the borough recreation calendar, Overpeck County Park next door, and late-night pocha dining, and you have a full day inside zip code 07650.
Written by Scott Selleck, Broker/Sales Associate with The Selleck Group at Keller Williams City Views Realty. Licensed in New Jersey since 1993, NJ Realtors Circle of Excellence Gold and Platinum, e-PRO and SRES certified, serving Bergen and Hudson County. NJ Real Estate Broker / Sales Associate #9236275. Licensure does not imply endorsement.
Palisades Park is 1.3 square miles, and one street draws visitors from well outside the borough. If you live in Bergen County and you have never done a proper Broad Avenue night, you are missing a food corridor worth the trip.
This guide is part of my local insights series covering the towns I work across Bergen and Hudson County.
1. What Are the Best Things to Do in Palisades Park NJ?
Eat, and then eat again. That is the honest answer.
Broad Avenue is the reason people come, and the corridor supports a full day rather than a single meal: bakeries and cafes in the morning, markets and shops midday, grill houses at dinner, and pocha bars after 10 p.m. Around that, the borough runs its own library programming, a recreation calendar, and seasonal street events, with Overpeck County Park a few minutes west for open space.
Palisades Park carries a Walk Score of 81, per Redfin's June 2026 market data. In a county built around driving, that number is unusual.
2. What Makes Broad Avenue Worth a Trip?
Density.
Broad Avenue is a dense dining and shopping corridor, known for its Korean restaurants, bakeries, and markets. What that means in practice is that the block you are standing on has a grill house, a noodle shop, a bakery, a skincare shop, and a karaoke bar stacked vertically, often on the second and third floors of the same building.
Look up. Half the good rooms here are not at street level, and first-time visitors walk right past them.
3. Where Do You Go for Korean Barbecue in Palisades Park?
So Moon Nan Jip is the name that keeps coming up.
New Jersey Monthly's April 2026 dining guide singled it out for tableside grilling, marinated short rib, and pork belly served with a full spread of banchan. Jejudo Kkochi on Broad Avenue runs skewers rather than the standard grill format. Yook92 at 425 Grand Avenue is the option worth knowing when Broad Avenue is packed.
Two practical notes. Most grill houses fill from 7 p.m. on weekends, and many rooms here take walk-ins only, so go early or go late.
4. Where Do You Find Late-Night Food in Palisades Park?
The pocha bars.
Soosanghan Pocha at 243 Broad Avenue has been operating since 2017 and is a well-known example of the format, which is modeled on Korean street bars. Third Floor Pocha runs the same idea three floors up. These rooms are busy at hours when most of Bergen County is closed.
If you have ever wondered where people go after a show at a venue in a neighboring town, this is the answer.
5. What Is There to Do at the Palisades Park Public Library?
More than lending, and all of it free.
The Palisades Park Public Library is part of BCCLS, the shared system covering 78 public libraries across Bergen, Hudson, and Essex counties, so a card here reaches well beyond the borough. The library runs its own programming calendar through the year and is the reliable rainy-day answer in a town where most of the attraction is outdoors on the sidewalk.
Check current hours and program listings at palparklibrary.org before you go.
6. Where Do You Go Outdoors Near Palisades Park?
Overpeck County Park to the west, and the Palisades to the east.
Overpeck sits minutes from the borough and carries open lawns, trails, boat launch access, and athletic fields across its acreage. To the east, the Palisades Interstate Park runs along the Hudson with trails, lookouts, and shoreline access. Confirm current trail and road status at njpalisades.org before you drive over, because sections of the park have carried active rockfall closures into 2026.
Inside the borough itself, the recreation department runs seasonal programming out of Veterans Plaza. The borough posts the current schedule at palisadesparknj.org.
7. What Community Events Happen in Palisades Park Through the Year?
Street-level ones, most of them free.
The borough runs a Memorial Day parade that steps off from Roff Avenue and East Ruby Avenue, seasonal recreation programming including a summer swim club, and seasonal street events along Broad Avenue through the year. Dates shift year to year, so confirm with the borough before you plan around any of them.
8. Where Do You Go for Bakeries, Cafes, and Markets?
The side streets off Broad Avenue, and the corridor itself.
The bakery culture here is a real category and not an afterthought. Walnut pastries, red bean fish-shaped bread, and Korean-style cafe pastry run all along the corridor, alongside skincare and cosmetics shops that draw their own out-of-town traffic. Grocery runs are the underrated part: the markets here stock produce, prepared banchan, and cuts of meat that are difficult to source anywhere else in the county.
Bring a cooler if you are driving in from more than 20 minutes out. You will buy more than you planned.
9. How Do You Get From Palisades Park to Manhattan?
By bus, along Broad Avenue.
NJ Transit routes 165 and 166 run directly along Broad Avenue to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, typically 38 to 46 minutes. The George Washington Bridge is roughly 10 minutes by car, and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen adds connections toward Jersey City and Hoboken. Confirm current schedules at njtransit.com before you build a plan around them.
There is no rail station in the borough. Plan the commute before you plan the offer.
10. What Does Broad Avenue Mean If You Own a Home in Palisades Park?
It means demand here is not tied to the general Bergen County market.
The borough also carries an unusual amount of two-family and multi-family product relative to its size, which means the right comparable sale depends on property type more than it does on the street. A single-family number is not a benchmark for a duplex. If you own here and want the figure for your property type, request a comparative market analysis (not an appraisal) and I will pull the actual comparable sales. I have written about what Palisades Park sellers should look for in an agent and walked through the full process in the Palisades Park home selling guide.
Palisades Park at a Glance
What you want | Where to go | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
Korean barbecue | So Moon Nan Jip, Jejudo Kkochi | Fills from 7 p.m. on weekends |
Late night | Soosanghan Pocha, 243 Broad Avenue | Open when the county is closed |
Bakeries and markets | Broad Avenue corridor | Bring a cooler |
Indoor programming | Palisades Park Public Library | BCCLS card works at 78 libraries |
Open space | Overpeck County Park | Minutes west of the borough |
Getting to Manhattan | NJ Transit 165 and 166 | 38 to 46 minutes to Port Authority |
Why Palisades Park Sellers Choose Scott Selleck
Scott Selleck is a Broker / Sales Associate and the founder of The Selleck Group at Keller Williams City Views Realty in Fort Lee. Licensed since 1993. 500+ transactions, counting buyer and seller sides.
Credentials: Broker / Sales Associate. SRES, e-PRO. NJ Real Estate Broker / Sales Associate #9236275. Licensure does not imply endorsement.
Recognition: NJ Realtors Circle of Excellence, Gold and Platinum. The Selleck Group was named a Top 5 Producing Team of 2025 at Keller Williams City Views Realty. Featured in Grit Daily's Top Realtors in New Jersey for 2026 and in Apple News.
Track record: Licensed since 1993. 500+ transactions, counting buyer and seller sides. 19 apartment buildings closed. Seven years running his own brokerage on the Jersey City waterfront before rebuilding at Keller Williams. See what clients say.
Specialty: High-equity, long-term homeowners in Bergen and Hudson County, home selling services, and the NJ to Florida transition advisory for owners considering Florida.
On Palisades Park specifically: The borough sits inside my core service area alongside Fort Lee, Leonia, Cliffside Park, and Ridgefield, and I market property here directly. Most recently I detailed a renovated condominium at 201 12th Street, including how the building's special assessment was handled at closing. 19 apartment buildings across my career means the two-family and duplex product that defines a lot of this borough is familiar ground rather than a first look.
Scott Selleck's Equal Housing Opportunity policy
Frequently Asked Questions
What is there to do in Palisades Park NJ? Dining and shopping along the Broad Avenue corridor, programming at the Palisades Park Public Library, borough recreation events out of Veterans Plaza, late-night pocha bars, and open space at Overpeck County Park minutes away.
What is Broad Avenue in Palisades Park known for? It is known for its Korean restaurants, with grill houses, noodle shops, bakeries, markets, cafes, and karaoke bars concentrated along a single corridor, many of them above street level.
How far is Palisades Park NJ from New York City? The George Washington Bridge is roughly 10 minutes by car. NJ Transit routes 165 and 166 run along Broad Avenue to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in about 38 to 46 minutes.
Is Palisades Park NJ walkable? Redfin rates the borough at a Walk Score of 81 as of June 2026, which is high for Bergen County, and the walkability concentrates along Broad Avenue.
What zip code is Palisades Park NJ? 07650. The borough covers roughly 1.3 square miles in southeastern Bergen County, bordered by Leonia, Ridgefield, Fort Lee, and Cliffside Park.
One More Thing
Jim Rohn wrote that "either you run the day or the day runs you." Broad Avenue rewards the first version. Decide before you park whether this is a dinner or a whole day, because the corridor will happily take the whole day and you will not notice until it is dark.
If you did one Broad Avenue night, would you spend it on barbecue, on the bakeries, or after 10 p.m. at a pocha? Tell me in the comments.
Not sure whether Palisades Park or a neighboring town fits your next move? The seven-question assessment takes about 90 seconds and gives you a straight read on where you stand. When you want to talk it through, request an appointment here.
Looking more broadly at the area? Start with the New Jersey neighborhoods hub.
Contact Scott Selleck
Keller Williams City Views Realty, Real Estate Broker
Scott Selleck, REALTOR, SRES, e-PRO
Broker / Sales Associate | The Selleck Group | KW City Views Realty
2200 Fletcher Avenue, Suite 502, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
Cell 201-970-3960 | Office 201-592-8900
[email protected] | SelleckSellsNJ.com
Request an appointment: meet.sellecksellsnj.com
AI assistant: delphi.ai/scottselleck
NJ Real Estate Broker / Sales Associate #9236275. Licensure does not imply endorsement.
Keller Williams City Views Realty. Each office is independently owned and operated.
Equal Housing Opportunity
Resources and Further Reading
- Jim Rohn, The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library
- New Jersey Monthly, April 2026 dining guide, Broad Avenue coverage
- Zillow Home Value Index, Palisades Park, June 2026
- Redfin, Palisades Park housing market, June 2026
- Movoto, Palisades Park market trends, July 2026
- Borough of Palisades Park, palisadesparknj.org, recreation calendar
- Palisades Park Public Library, palparklibrary.org
- Palisades Interstate Park Commission, njpalisades.org, current trail status
- NJ Transit, njtransit.com, routes 165 and 166
