Real Estate Fund Investments (Narratives) (Details) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) Investments	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Investment Holdings [Line Items]
Aggregate fair value of Real Estate Fund investments (in US Dollars)	$ 519,386	$ 574,761
Co Venture [Member] \| Crowne Plaza Time Square Hotel [Member]
Investment Holdings [Line Items]
Equity method ownership percentage	24.70%
Real Estate Fund [Member]
Investment Holdings [Line Items]
Aggregate fair value of Real Estate Fund investments (in US Dollars)	$ 519,386
Term of the Fund, years	8 years
Investment period for commitments of the Fund, years	3 years
Number Of Investments Held By Fund \| Investments	6
Excess of fair value over cost	$ 210,451
Unfunded Commitments Of Real Estate Investments	117,907
Vornado Realty Trust [Member]
Investment Holdings [Line Items]
Unfunded Commitments Of Real Estate Investments	$ 34,422

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6382943&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentHoldingsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Equity Commitment Fund Term, in years

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vno_EquityCommitmentFundTerm
Namespace Prefix:	vno_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of excess fair value of investments over it's cost.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vno_InvestmentOwnedUnrecognizedUnrealizedAppreciationValue
Namespace Prefix:	vno_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Investment Period Fund

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vno_InvestmentPeriodFund
Namespace Prefix:	vno_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number Of Investments Held By Fund during the year.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vno_NumberOfInvestmentsHeldByFund
Namespace Prefix:	vno_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This element represents the real estate assets related to the fund

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vno_RealEstateFundNondepreciableRealEstate
Namespace Prefix:	vno_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Unfunded Commitments Of the Fund

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vno_UnfundedCommitmentsOfFund
Namespace Prefix:	vno_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	dei_LegalEntityAxis=us-gaap_CoVenturerMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=vno_CrownePlazaTimeSquareHotelMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentTypeAxis=us-gaap_RealEstateFundsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_InvestmentTypeAxis=vno_VornadoRealtyTrustMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: