Segment Information (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012 sqft Properties	Mar. 31, 2011
Property rentals	$ 521,792	$ 532,865
Straight Line Rent Adjustments	21,808	12,781
Amortization of acquired below-market leases, net	13,813	16,606
Total rentals	557,413	562,252
Tenant expense reimbursements	81,607	89,669
Cleveland Medical Mart development project	55,059	40,699
Tenant cleaning fees	15,510	15,423
Management and leasing fees	4,381	4,106
Lease termination fees	411	1,176
Other	13,085	13,558
Total revenues	727,466	726,883
Operating expenses	276,826	286,362
Depreciation and amortization	139,437	129,833
General and administrative	55,890	58,946
Cleveland Medical Mart development project	52,761	38,278
Tenant buy-outs and other acquisition related costs	685	18,270
Total expenses	525,599	531,689
Operating income	201,867	195,194
Income from partially owned entities	136,504	129,228
Income from Real Estate Fund (of which $7,933 and ($74), respectively, are attributable to noncontrolling interests)	11,762	1,080
Interest and other investment (loss) income, net	15,681	117,108
Interest and debt expense (including amortization of deferred financing costs of $5,867 and $4,633, respectively)	(135,169)	(134,710)
Net gain on disposition of wholly owned and partially owned assets	0	6,677
Income loss before income taxes	230,645	314,577
Income tax expense	(7,096)	(6,382)
Income from continuing operations	223,549	308,195
Income from discontinued operations	56,715	137,626
Net income	280,264	445,821
Less (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	(9,597)	(1,350)
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in: Operating Partnership, including unit distributions	(19,145)	(31,808)
Net income (loss) attributable to Vornado	251,522	412,663
Interest and debt expense (2)	193,082	198,848
Depreciation and amortization (2)	191,173	185,848
Income tax expense	51,440	66,828
EBITDA	687,217	864,187
Real Estate Properties Abstract
Square Footage Of Real Estate Property Reclassed	1,000,000
Number Of Real Estate Properties Reclassed	21
Toys R Us [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	116,471	112,944
All Equity Method Investees Excluding Toys [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	20,033	16,284
New York Office [Member]
Property rentals	233,936	233,874
Straight Line Rent Adjustments	17,129	10,098
Amortization of acquired below-market leases, net	7,695	11,669
Total rentals	258,760	255,641
Tenant expense reimbursements	36,712	38,905
Cleveland Medical Mart development project	0	0
Tenant cleaning fees	22,647	22,042
Management and leasing fees	907	769
Lease termination fees	23	65
Other	6,347	5,658
Total revenues	325,396	323,080
Operating expenses	145,672	143,375
Depreciation and amortization	53,759	54,812
General and administrative	8,587	7,534
Cleveland Medical Mart development project	0	0
Tenant buy-outs and other acquisition related costs	0	15,000
Total expenses	208,018	220,721
Operating income	117,378	102,359
Income from partially owned entities	4,386	6,904
Interest and other investment (loss) income, net	1,052	1,072
Interest and debt expense (including amortization of deferred financing costs of $5,867 and $4,633, respectively)	(36,141)	(36,584)
Net gain on disposition of wholly owned and partially owned assets		0
Income loss before income taxes	86,675	73,751
Income tax expense	(601)	(519)
Income from continuing operations	86,074	73,232
Income from discontinued operations	(608)	123
Net income	85,466	73,355
Less (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	(2,176)	(2,271)
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in: Operating Partnership, including unit distributions	0	0
Net income (loss) attributable to Vornado	83,290	71,084
Interest and debt expense (2)	47,058	40,289
Depreciation and amortization (2)	61,911	56,709
Income tax expense	693	467
EBITDA	192,952	168,549
New York Office [Member] | Office properties [Member]
EBITDA	180,137	155,365
New York Office [Member] | Alexander's [Member]
EBITDA	13,371	13,281
New York Office [Member] | Hotel Pennsylvania [Member]
EBITDA	(556)	(97)
New York Office [Member] | Toys R Us [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	0	0
New York Office [Member] | All Equity Method Investees Excluding Toys [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	4,386	6,904
Washington DC Office [Member]
Property rentals	129,607	138,884
Straight Line Rent Adjustments	1,814	(5)
Amortization of acquired below-market leases, net	523	466
Total rentals	131,944	139,345
Tenant expense reimbursements	10,384	9,297
Cleveland Medical Mart development project		0
Tenant cleaning fees		0
Management and leasing fees	2,783	2,885
Lease termination fees		1,111
Other	5,784	5,345
Total revenues	150,895	157,983
Operating expenses	49,003	48,836
Depreciation and amortization	44,153	33,684
General and administrative	6,953	6,537
Cleveland Medical Mart development project		0
Tenant buy-outs and other acquisition related costs		0
Total expenses	100,109	89,057
Operating income	50,786	68,926
Income from partially owned entities	(1,870)	(3,915)
Interest and other investment (loss) income, net	57	32
Interest and debt expense (including amortization of deferred financing costs of $5,867 and $4,633, respectively)	(30,411)	(28,926)
Net gain on disposition of wholly owned and partially owned assets		0
Income loss before income taxes	18,562	36,117
Income tax expense	(490)	(738)
Income from continuing operations	18,072	35,379
Income from discontinued operations		46,466
Net income	18,072	81,845
Less (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		0
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in: Operating Partnership, including unit distributions		0
Net income (loss) attributable to Vornado	18,072	81,845
Interest and debt expense (2)	33,657	32,221
Depreciation and amortization (2)	48,260	41,899
Income tax expense	523	848
EBITDA	100,512	156,813
Washington DC Office [Member] | Toys R Us [Member]
Income from partially owned entities		0
Washington DC Office [Member] | All Equity Method Investees Excluding Toys [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	0	(3,915)
Retail [Member]
Property rentals	79,914	79,811
Straight Line Rent Adjustments	2,029	1,972
Amortization of acquired below-market leases, net	4,230	3,315
Total rentals	86,173	85,098
Tenant expense reimbursements	30,794	34,003
Cleveland Medical Mart development project		0
Tenant cleaning fees		0
Management and leasing fees	664	555
Lease termination fees		0
Other	351	500
Total revenues	117,982	120,156
Operating expenses	45,933	50,134
Depreciation and amortization	21,614	21,412
General and administrative	6,333	7,212
Cleveland Medical Mart development project		0
Tenant buy-outs and other acquisition related costs		0
Total expenses	73,880	78,758
Operating income	44,102	41,398
Income from partially owned entities	576	221
Interest and other investment (loss) income, net	14	8
Interest and debt expense (including amortization of deferred financing costs of $5,867 and $4,633, respectively)	(19,295)	(19,520)
Net gain on disposition of wholly owned and partially owned assets		0
Income loss before income taxes	25,397	22,107
Income tax expense		(5)
Income from continuing operations	25,397	22,102
Income from discontinued operations	2,519	6,339
Net income	27,916	28,441
Less (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	114	155
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in: Operating Partnership, including unit distributions		0
Net income (loss) attributable to Vornado	28,030	28,596
Interest and debt expense (2)	20,438	20,670
Depreciation and amortization (2)	22,275	22,375
Income tax expense	0	5
EBITDA	70,743	71,646
Retail [Member] | Toys R Us [Member]
Income from partially owned entities		0
Retail [Member] | All Equity Method Investees Excluding Toys [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	0	221
Merchandise Mart [Member]
Property rentals	56,086	57,292
Straight Line Rent Adjustments	476	(314)
Amortization of acquired below-market leases, net	(3)	17
Total rentals	56,559	56,995
Tenant expense reimbursements	2,149	3,200
Cleveland Medical Mart development project	55,059	40,699
Tenant cleaning fees		0
Management and leasing fees	45	103
Lease termination fees	388	0
Other	706	2,019
Total revenues	114,906	103,016
Operating expenses	33,553	38,667
Depreciation and amortization	9,365	9,329
General and administrative	6,219	7,545
Cleveland Medical Mart development project	52,761	38,278
Tenant buy-outs and other acquisition related costs		3,040
Total expenses	101,898	96,859
Operating income	13,008	6,157
Income from partially owned entities	156	76
Interest and other investment (loss) income, net	3	9
Interest and debt expense (including amortization of deferred financing costs of $5,867 and $4,633, respectively)	(8,634)	(9,338)
Net gain on disposition of wholly owned and partially owned assets		0
Income loss before income taxes	4,533	(3,096)
Income tax expense	(1,162)	(410)
Income from continuing operations	3,371	(3,506)
Income from discontinued operations	54,804	84,698
Net income	58,175	81,192
Less (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		0
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in: Operating Partnership, including unit distributions		0
Net income (loss) attributable to Vornado	58,175	81,192
Interest and debt expense (2)	8,790	12,907
Depreciation and amortization (2)	9,478	11,175
Income tax expense	1,162	410
EBITDA	77,605	105,684
Merchandise Mart [Member] | Toys R Us [Member]
Income from partially owned entities		0
Merchandise Mart [Member] | All Equity Method Investees Excluding Toys [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	0	76
Toys R Us Segment [Member]
Operating income	0
Income from partially owned entities	116,471	112,944
Interest and other investment (loss) income, net		0
Interest and debt expense (including amortization of deferred financing costs of $5,867 and $4,633, respectively)		0
Net gain on disposition of wholly owned and partially owned assets		0
Income loss before income taxes	116,471	112,944
Income tax expense	0	0
Income from continuing operations	116,471	112,944
Income from discontinued operations	0	0
Net income	116,471	112,944
Less (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests		0
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in: Operating Partnership, including unit distributions		0
Net income (loss) attributable to Vornado	116,471	112,944
Interest and debt expense (2)	31,569	40,135
Depreciation and amortization (2)	34,706	34,673
Income tax expense	43,203	69,018
EBITDA	225,949	256,770
Toys R Us Segment [Member] | Toys R Us [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	116,471	112,944
Toys R Us Segment [Member] | All Equity Method Investees Excluding Toys [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	0	0
Other Segment [Member]
Property rentals	22,249	23,004
Straight Line Rent Adjustments	360	1,030
Amortization of acquired below-market leases, net	1,368	1,139
Total rentals	23,977	25,173
Tenant expense reimbursements	1,568	4,264
Cleveland Medical Mart development project		0
Tenant cleaning fees	(7,137)	(6,619)
Management and leasing fees	(18)	(206)
Lease termination fees		0
Other	(103)	36
Total revenues	18,287	22,648
Operating expenses	2,665	5,350
Depreciation and amortization	10,546	10,596
General and administrative	27,798	30,118
Cleveland Medical Mart development project		0
Tenant buy-outs and other acquisition related costs	685	230
Total expenses	41,694	46,294
Operating income	(23,407)	(23,646)
Income from partially owned entities	16,785	12,998
Income from Real Estate Fund (of which $7,933 and ($74), respectively, are attributable to noncontrolling interests)	11,762	1,080
Interest and other investment (loss) income, net	14,555	115,987
Interest and debt expense (including amortization of deferred financing costs of $5,867 and $4,633, respectively)	(40,688)	(40,342)
Net gain on disposition of wholly owned and partially owned assets		6,677
Income loss before income taxes	(20,993)	72,754
Income tax expense	(4,843)	(4,710)
Income from continuing operations	(25,836)	68,044
Income from discontinued operations		0
Net income	(25,836)	68,044
Less (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	(7,535)	766
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interests in: Operating Partnership, including unit distributions		(31,808)
Net (income) attributable to noncontrolling interests in the Operating Partnership, including unit distributions	(19,145)
Net income (loss) attributable to Vornado	(52,516)	37,002
Interest and debt expense (2)	51,570	52,626
Depreciation and amortization (2)	14,543	19,017
Income tax expense	5,859	(3,920)
EBITDA	19,456	104,725
Other Segment [Member] | Toys R Us [Member]
Income from partially owned entities		0
Other Segment [Member] | All Equity Method Investees Excluding Toys [Member]
Income from partially owned entities	$ 0	$ 12,998