Day Tripper: Kew Gardens

Between keeping within your budget and scheduling time off from work, planning a vacation can be stressful.

If you find you have too little time to travel and not enough money in your bank account, there’s no need to fret.

Each Thursday, Douglaston Patch will profile one of the five boroughs’ unique neighborhoods, where you can sample some local culture and culinary delights.

This week’s pick is Kew Gardens:

10 a.m.

Spend the morning outdoors at Forest Park, where visitors can play 18 holes of golf, take a horseback ride or use the bocce, handball, shuffleboard and tennis courts.

The park offers three trails for hiking, which range in distance from a half-mile to 1.75 miles.

Then, head over to the Q Gardens Gallery, which boasts a large collection of vintage photographs of neighborhoods across the five boroughs as well as shots of celebrities.

The gallery, open from noon to 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday, is located at 80-61 Lefferts Blvd.

1 p.m.

For lunch, stop by Dani’s House of Pizza, a popular Italian restaurant and pizzeria that has been in the neighborhood for 52 years.

Visitors can grab a slice in the eatery’s upstairs section, which is counter seating only.

Those eating downstairs in its dining room can order from Dani’s full menu, which includes a variety of pastas, salads, casseroles, eggplant, veal and chicken dishes, seafood, heros and desserts.

3 p.m.

Catch an afternoon movie at the historic Kew Gardens Cinemas, which was built as The Austin, a double feature house, in the 1930s before being converted into an art house theater in the 1950s and, much later, an adult movie palace.

In 2000, it reopened as Kew Gardens Cinemas, screening popular current independent and foreign films. It is the borough’s leading first-run cinema.

The Art Deco-designed movie house features a wide range of snacks, including popcorn and candy, but also freshly baked cookies and coffee.

This weekend, the theater is screening French thriller “Point Blank,” Irish action comedy “The Guard,” Holocaust drama “Sarah’s Key,” Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” and “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.”

The cinema, located at 81-05 Lefferts Blvd., also screens Metropolitan Opera and ballet performances.

7 p.m.

Finish your day by having dinner at Austin’s Steak and Ale House, a popular local eatery and bar that offers indoor and patio seating.

Its menu includes soups, salads, quesadillas, steaks, burgers, sandwiches, pastas, seafood and chicken dishes as well as a wide variety of wines and domestic and imported beers and microbrews.

The restaurant is located at 82-70 Austin St.