Budget · 3-hour walk · New York City
Central Park end to end in three hours
The Plaza corner, the Pond, the Literary Walk, Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge, Strawberry Fields, Belvedere Castle and the Reservoir.
The Lower Manhattan route is the city's history; this is its back garden. Olmsted and Vaux's park is designed as a sequence of surprises — every turn opens a new view — and this route takes them in order from the south-east corner up to the Reservoir. It is free, it is mostly shaded, and the only difficulty is that the paths curve on purpose, so keep an eye on the lamp posts: the first digits on each tell you the nearest cross street.
The route, stop by stop
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Grand Army Plaza
The park's front door at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, with the Plaza Hotel on one side and the gilded Sherman statue in the middle.
10 min here Walk here → -
The Pond and Gapstow Bridge
The stone bridge over the Pond with the skyline rising behind it — the most photographed view in the park, because it looks like a painting of the park.
15 min here Walk here → -
The Mall and Literary Walk
The only straight line in the park: an avenue of American elms, one of the largest stands left anywhere, with Shakespeare, Burns and Walter Scott in bronze at its southern end.
15 min here Walk here → -
Bethesda Terrace
The arcade beneath the terrace is tiled with Minton encaustic tiles, and the Angel of the Waters of 1873 stands over the fountain in front of the lake.
20 min here Walk here → -
Bow Bridge
A cast-iron bridge of 1862 over the lake, the park's favourite place to propose, with the San Remo's twin towers above the trees.
10 min here Walk here → -
Strawberry Fields
The garden of peace dedicated to John Lennon, with the Imagine mosaic in the path, opposite the Dakota where he lived and was shot.
15 min here Walk here → -
Belvedere Castle
A small Victorian folly of 1869 on the highest rock in the park, the official weather station of the city, looking over Turtle Pond and the Great Lawn.
20 min here Walk here → -
The Reservoir
The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, with its running track and the whole ring of Fifth Avenue and Central Park West reflected in the water.
More in New York City
Every walking route in New York City, or the full New York City guide for where to stay and what a day costs.