Horse and Carriage Experience Central Park Private Tour

Central Park Carousel

About 250,000 people take a ride on the Central Park Carousel every year. The famous ride has been very popular since 1871 when the original attraction opened.

• Admission Ticket Free

Wollman Rink

Opened in 1949, Wollman Rink has been a favorite attraction of Central Park for decades. Ice skating in fall and winter is one of the most popular things to do among New Yorkers and tourists alike. Glide across the ice under a star-covered sky, while surrounded by the splendor of the Manhattan skyline!

• Admission Ticket Free

Chess & Checkers House was built in 1952 to offer visitors of all ages a space to play games. Surrounding the octagonal brick structure are 24 game tables shaded by a wooden trellis

• Admission Ticket Free

The Dairy Visitor Center and Gift Shop

The Children’s District, home to the Dairy, was originally conceived as an area to meet the needs of children visiting Central Park. Playgrounds as we know them today did not exist until the early 20th century, so the Children’s District, completed in 1872, was the only spot in the Park that was specifically dedicated to its youngest visitors.

• Admission Ticket Free

Central Park's Literary Walk

This wide, straight path lined by two rows of American elm trees was designed by Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as a formal promenade and gathering space. Like many areas of the Park, visitors can experience this landscape in largely the same way they would have in the 19th century: strolling, sitting, people-watching, listening to music, contemplating monuments, and admiring trees.

• Admission Ticket Free

Balto Statue

Balto became famous after a heroic journey across Alaska. In January 1925, an outbreak of diphtheria threatened the population of the town of Nome, Alaska. Weather conditions prevented the transport of vaccines from Anchorage by plane. A relay of dog-sled teams and mushers provided the only alternative. Twenty teams carried the vaccine almost 700 miles in blizzard conditions, a trip that took remarkably only five days and seven hours. They braved minus 30-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, ice floes, and 5,000-foot mountain peaks.

• Admission Ticket Free

While much of Central Park has remained relatively intact since its creation, Rumsey Playfield has undergone many transformations. Located on a hill overlooking the Concert Ground, the site originally featured a restaurant created by Park co-designer Calvert Vaux, which was known as the Casino. (The restaurant did not host any gambling; the name means “little house” in Italian.).

• Admission Ticket Free

Conservatory Water

Its main feature is an ornamental pond, also known as the Model Boat Pond, where children and hobbyists launch and race miniature sailboats and yachts. These are stored and rented at the nearby Kerbs Boathouse, which also houses a cafe.

• Admission Ticket Free

Located on the eastern edge of the Lake, Loeb Boathouse is best known as the launch point for rowboats, offering visitors an ideal way to explore one of the Park’s most significant landscapes.

• Admission Ticket Free

Bethesda Fountain

At the top of the Fountain is the sculpture Angel of the Waters, a bronze figure of a robed angel with raised wings. She delicately steps on a stone which spouts forth water. The water cascades down from the sculpture into two basins and fills a large circular pool.

5 Minutes • Admission Ticket Free

The Cherry Hill Fountain is located at the center of the carriage concourse at the top of Cherry Hill. The ornate fountain is unique, with a largely stone base topped with a finial that combines small saucers for birds to drink out of and a light fixture with eight globes. The water drips down from the saucer, onto a base made of granite and tile before spilling into a bluestone basin

5 Minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Bow Bridge

Created as one of the major entrances to the Ramble, and a connection to a path toward Bethesda Terrace, it’s a prominent spot that offers expansive views of the Lake and surrounding landscapes. It’s one of the most photographed Park features and one of the most romantic, serving as the site of numerous wedding proposals.

• Admission Ticket Free

Daniel Webster Monument

The monument to American lawyer and statesman Daniel Webster (1782–1852) stands along the West Drive near 72nd Street. The bronze figure depicts him gazing into the distance about to give a speech, his right hand tucked into the front of his coat and a stack of books by his feet.

• Admission Ticket Free

Strawberry Fields, John Lennon Memorial

Strawberry Fields is a memorial to the British rock musician and peace activist John Lennon (1940–1980). The memorial consists of a five-acre landscape near the West 72nd Street entrance and includes the Imagine mosaic, where many come to pay tribute to Lennon. The memorial’s name is a reference to the 1967 song Lennon wrote and performed with the Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

3 Minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Tavern on the Green, the restaurant located in the historic building once known as the Sheepfold, has been a destination for fine dining in Central Park since the 1930s.

• Admission Ticket Free

One of Central Park’s most well-known and important landscapes, Sheep Meadow is the upmost expression of the Park’s essential purpose as a retreat from urban life.

• Admission Ticket Free

One of the most distinctive ornamental features in the south end of Central Park, Pinebank Arch is an elegant cast-iron bridge that spans the bridle path.

• Admission Ticket Free

Columbus Circle

Known as shopping area and where every year Macys parade goes through.

• Admission Ticket Free