Central Park walking tours, from the Metropolitan Museum's side of the park
Nineteen walks, most of them two hours long and €40 to €50, most of them starting at 59th Street. The obelisk, Belvedere and Bow Bridge are closer to the Met.
Nineteen walks through Central Park are listed here, and most of them start in the same place: the south end, between 58th and 60th Street, by the gilded Sherman statue or at Columbus Circle. The Metropolitan Museum is 23 blocks further north, on the park's east side. If you are coming from the museum, that is worth knowing before you book, because the obelisk, Belvedere Castle and Bow Bridge are closer to the Met's back wall than to any of those meeting points.
The prices spread widely. A tips-based free tour and two app-led walks at €13.41 sit at one end; a night photography tour at €134.18 sits at the other. Most of what is in between is a two-hour guided walk in English for around €40 to €50. Having a guide to yourself costs more: the private film-location walk is €118.07 for two hours.
The park is big enough that the choice of walk matters more than the choice of operator. It covers 843 acres, and the Central Park Conservancy counts 42 million visits a year. A two-hour tour covers the southern half at a comfortable pace, and only one tour here goes north of the Reservoir. Where a walk ends matters too. Many loop back to their start at 59th Street, and several of the classic walks finish on the west side at Strawberry Fields or the Dakota, which puts the whole width of the park between you and the Met. From Strawberry Fields back to the museum's steps is about twenty minutes on foot, by our estimate. The sections below go through the stops, the kinds of tour, and the months when walking here is pleasant rather than a test of endurance.
Two numbers are worth checking on every listing before the price: group size and cancellation. The most-reviewed walk is also one of the plainest, two hours with a named guide, at most twelve people, €39.54, and it meets just inside the park at Seventh Avenue and 59th Street. The film-location walk that comes next by reviews, 510 at 4.6 for €40.25, takes groups of up to 35 and cannot be refunded once booked. Sixteen of the nineteen can be cancelled free of charge; the other three, the free tour among them, cannot.
None of them is run by the Central Park Conservancy, the non-profit that manages the park. It sells its own tours, with guides it calls the only official Central Park tour guides, on its own site.
Central Park and Upper East Side Morning Walk with a Native New Yorker
A native New Yorker leads a 2-3 hour morning walk from Grand Army Plaza to Bethesda Terrace, Belvedere Castle and the townhouses of the Upper East Side.
Central Park Birdwatching Walk for Beginners with That Quirky Bird Girl
Steph of That Quirky Bird Girl teaches beginners to spot cardinals, jays and thrushes in the Ramble and to ID songs with the Merlin app. Binoculars on request.
Central Park Film and TV Locations Walking Tour
Actor guides from On Location Tours hold up film stills at more than 30 Central Park locations, from Bow Bridge to Wollman Rink. Two hours, English commentary.
Central Park Free Walking Tour: Bethesda Terrace to Strawberry Fields
Tip-based walk in English from the Maine Monument: Balto, the Mall, Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge, the Ramble and Belvedere Castle. No groups over six people.
Central Park Guided Walk in English or Spanish: Landmarks and Quiet Corners
A shared walk in English or Spanish from the Maine Monument to the Dakota, via Gapstow Bridge, Bethesda Terrace and Belvedere Castle. Wheelchair accessible.
Central Park Night Photography Tour with a Professional Photographer
Two hours with an NYC Photo Safari photographer shooting Gapstow Bridge, the skyline and long exposures of Bethesda Fountain after dark. Bring a tripod; 18+.
Central Park Photography Tour and Workshop with a Local Photographer
A 2.5-hour photo walk from Bethesda Fountain with a professional local photographer who shows you how to scout a shot and edit it. Any level, 4 per booking.
Central Park Running Tour: 4.6 Miles Past the Park's Landmarks
Run 4.6 miles at a 9:30 to 10 minute-mile pace with photo and story stops at Bethesda Terrace, Belvedere Castle and the Reservoir. Daily, ages 14 and up.
Central Park Scavenger Hunt: Self-Guided App Game by Let's Roam
Let's Roam's phone game sends up to 6 players around Central Park with trivia and role-based challenges. Self-guided, about 90 minutes, start whenever you like.
Central Park Self-Guided Audio Tour: 4-Mile App Route to the Reservoir
Over 40 GPS-triggered stories on a 4-mile route from Grand Army Plaza to the Reservoir and Columbus Circle. Works offline, no expiry, one password per phone.
Central Park Sunrise Power Walk with Yoga Stretches
A 90-minute power walk at dawn with standing yoga flows at the park's landmarks, using benches and bridges as props. No mat needed; ages 14 and up.
Central Park to Grand Central: 3-Hour Walking Tour via Fifth Avenue
A licensed guide walks you from Strawberry Fields and Bethesda Fountain down Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center and the Grand Central concourse in three hours.
Central Park Walking Tour in French with New York in French
French-speaking guides who have lived in New York for years walk you past Bethesda Fountain, Belvedere Castle and quieter corners. Wheelchair accessible.
Central Park Walking Tour with Guide Michael Hunt
Two hours on foot with Michael Hunt, a guide with more than 800 park tours behind him: history, trees, wildlife, statues and film spots, for adults and kids.
Home Alone 2 and Elf Filming Locations Tour in Central Park
One hour with a guide at the Plaza Hotel, the pigeon lady's bridge, Wollman Rink and the Hobbs' building from Elf, with photo stops. English, French or Spanish.
Private Central Park Film and TV Locations Walking Tour, 2 Hours
An actor guide from On Location Tours takes your own party to more than 30 film and TV spots in two hours, with stills from each scene. Up to 15 per booking.
Private Central Park Walking Tour: Bethesda, Bow Bridge and Strawberry Fields
A private 10am walk for your own group of 2 to 12, from the Sherman statue to the Dakota, with historic photos of Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge and the Mall.
Private or Semi-Private Central Park Walking Tour, 2.5 Hours
Book a guide for your own party or join a semi-private group of up to 12 for 2.5 hours past Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge, the Great Lawn and the Dakota.
Secret Places of Central Park: North Woods, Forts and Conservatory Garden
A historian leads a 3.25-mile walk through the park above 100th Street: the Ravine, a grotto waterfall, War of 1812 fort sites and the Conservatory Garden.
Ratings collected by Viator, Tripadvisor and Civitatis
The stops, measured from the Metropolitan Museum
Most itineraries in this category are variations on the same sequence: Grand Army Plaza, the Pond and Gapstow Bridge, the Mall, Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge, Strawberry Fields, and out at the Dakota on 72nd Street. The table turns that sequence round and measures it from the museum's steps. The walking times are our own estimates, calculated from straight-line distances with a margin for the curving paths; the facts in the last column are the Central Park Conservancy's.
| Stop | Where | From the Met (estimate) | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleopatra's Needle | Greywacke Knoll, behind the museum | 4–5 min | Carved around 1425 BCE; the oldest outdoor monument in New York City |
| Belvedere Castle | Vista Rock, above Turtle Pond | 9–10 min | Completed in 1872 as a lookout; restored in 2019 |
| Conservatory Water | East side, south of the Met | 10–11 min | The pond with the Alice in Wonderland and Hans Christian Andersen statues |
| Bow Bridge | Mid-park at 74th Street | 14–15 min | One of 27 bridges and arches built 1859–1866, all designed by Calvert Vaux |
| Bethesda Terrace and Fountain | Mid-park at 72nd Street | About 15 min | Angel of the Waters by Emma Stebbins, dedicated in 1873 |
| Strawberry Fields | West side, near the 72nd Street entrance | 19–20 min | Five acres with the Imagine mosaic, dedicated on 9 October 1985 |
Read the table from the bottom up and you have the standard tour. Read it from the top down and you have the same walk started from the museum, about 3 km as a loop back to Fifth Avenue by our estimate, a little longer than the 1.3 miles the Conservancy's own 90-minute tour covers. The difference is that the obelisk, which almost every commercial walk skips, becomes the first stop instead of the one you never reach. Of the nineteen tours here, only the self-guided audio walk lists it.
Behind the Metropolitan Museum
Cleopatra's Needle, the stop most tours miss
The obelisk stands on Greywacke Knoll, across from the museum and between the Great Lawn and the Met's west wall. It was made around 1425 BCE at Heliopolis for Pharaoh Thutmose III, weighs about 220 tons, and was a gift to the United States from the Khedive Ismail Pasha to mark the opening of the Suez Canal. It was installed here in January 1881. That makes it the oldest outdoor monument in the city, and it was a gift, not a purchase, whatever some walking guides say.
The Conservancy began a three-year conservation of the stone in 2011 and brought in specialists that included staff from the Metropolitan Museum. From the museum's steps it is about five minutes away.
What kind of Central Park walk to book
The type of walk decides the experience more than the price does. Prices below are the lowest per person in each group.
| Format | Tours | From | Length | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic guided walk | 5 | €34.89 | 2–3.5 hours | The southern half, Bethesda to Strawberry Fields; one runs in French |
| Film and TV locations | 3 | €40.25 | 1–2 hours | Home Alone 2, Elf and dozens of other sets, on foot |
| Free tour | 1 | Tips | About 2 hours 45 min | From Columbus Circle to the Dakota, groups of up to six |
| Self-guided | 2 | €13.41 | 60–90 min | An audio walk and a scavenger hunt, both run from a phone app |
| Photography | 2 | €89.45 | 2–2.5 hours | With a local photographer; one by night, adults only |
| Nature and fitness | 3 | €43.83 | 75–110 min | Birdwatching with loan binoculars, a sunrise walk, a 4.6-mile run |
| Park and neighbourhood | 2 | €35.78 | 2.5–3 hours | The park plus the Upper East Side, or plus Midtown to Grand Central |
| The north end | 1 | €47.36 | 2.5 hours | North Woods, the Loch, Harlem Meer; about 3.25 miles on rough ground |
Free tours, and what free means
The free tour here has 372 reviews at 4.6 and runs about two hours and 45 minutes, from the Maine Monument at Columbus Circle to the Dakota. The guide is paid in tips, so it is free to book rather than free to take. It caps groups at six people even when bookings are made separately, which is smaller than the groups on most of the paid walks.
Walks that leave the park
Two walks here combine the park with the streets around it. One is a morning walk of about two and a half hours from the Sherman statue through the park, with stops outside the Met and at Belvedere Castle, ending on Madison Avenue around 76th Street. The other starts on the west side at 72nd Street, crosses the park and carries on south through Midtown to Grand Central, three hours in all.
Everything on this page is done on foot, including these two.
Mid-park at 72nd Street
Bethesda Terrace, where almost every walk stops
Calvert Vaux designed the terrace with his assistant Jacob Wrey Mould, who drew the carvings. The arcade beneath it has a ceiling of Minton tiles that were removed in 1983 and put back between 2002 and 2007, after the Conservancy raised $7 million for the work.
The fountain's statue, Angel of the Waters, is by Emma Stebbins and was dedicated in 1873. Stebbins was the first woman to receive a public art commission in New York City, and the angel is the only artwork in the park that its designers and administrators commissioned: everything else was donated. The fountain marks the Croton Aqueduct, which first brought fresh water to the city in 1842. You may also know it from the screen: the Conservancy lists John Wick, Enchanted, Home Alone 2 and The Avengers among the films shot here.
Angel of the Waters is the only artwork in Central Park's collection that was commissioned by the Park's designers and administrators.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
The grid marks May, June, September and October as the best months because average highs sit between about 64°F and 80°F and very hot days are rare. July and August are good but hot: July averages 7.4 days above 90°F, and the Conservancy shortens or cancels its own tours when the heat index goes over 90. December to March is hard going, with average highs of 50°F or less and, in January, about twenty nights below freezing. Rain is spread evenly through the year, about six days a month with a tenth of an inch or more, so there is no rainy season to plan around.
Autumn colour is the obvious draw, and the hardest to date. The Conservancy says the park often turns later than the rest of the region and that the best week is hard to predict; its arborists keep a live foliage map instead, which beats any fixed date.
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation | Days above 90°F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39.5°F (4.2°C) | 27.9°F (−2.3°C) | 3.64 in | 0 |
| February | 42.2°F (5.7°C) | 29.5°F (−1.4°C) | 3.19 in | 0 |
| March | 49.9°F (9.9°C) | 35.8°F (2.1°C) | 4.29 in | 0 |
| April | 61.8°F (16.6°C) | 45.5°F (7.5°C) | 4.09 in | 0.2 |
| May | 71.4°F (21.9°C) | 55.0°F (12.8°C) | 3.96 in | 1.0 |
| June | 79.7°F (26.5°C) | 64.4°F (18.0°C) | 4.54 in | 2.8 |
| July | 84.9°F (29.4°C) | 70.1°F (21.2°C) | 4.60 in | 7.4 |
| August | 83.3°F (28.5°C) | 68.9°F (20.5°C) | 4.56 in | 4.9 |
| September | 76.2°F (24.6°C) | 62.3°F (16.8°C) | 4.31 in | 1.1 |
| October | 64.5°F (18.1°C) | 51.4°F (10.8°C) | 4.38 in | 0 |
| November | 54.0°F (12.2°C) | 42.0°F (5.6°C) | 3.58 in | 0 |
| December | 44.3°F (6.8°C) | 33.8°F (1.0°C) | 4.38 in | 0 |
How Central Park was built
Dates from the Central Park Conservancy and the NYC Department of Records.
The origins
October 1857
A design competition
A new Board of Commissioners announces a formal competition for the park's design.
1858
Greensward wins, work begins
Olmsted and Vaux's entry number 33 wins on 28 April; the Lake is the first section to open.
1859–1866
27 bridges and arches
All designed by Calvert Vaux, some with Jacob Wrey Mould. The park has 30 today.
1863
The park reaches 110th Street
The disputes over the extra 65 acres at the north end are settled.
The growth
1872
Belvedere completed
The castle on Vista Rock is finished as a place to take in the views.
1873
Angel of the Waters
Emma Stebbins's statue is dedicated at Bethesda Fountain.
1919
A weather station at Belvedere
The U.S. Weather Bureau converts the castle into a weather station.
1963
National Historic Landmark
The park is designated; the city adds its own scenic designation in 1974.
Today
1980
The Conservancy is founded
New Yorkers set out to bring the park back from years of neglect.
9 October 1985
Strawberry Fields
Dedicated on what would have been John Lennon's 45th birthday.
2019
Belvedere restored
A full restoration of the building and its terraces is completed.
Central Park walking tours: questions before you book
Are there free walking tours of Central Park?
One, paid in tips: about two hours and 45 minutes from Columbus Circle to the Dakota. The cheapest paid options are two app-led walks at €13.41.
How long does it take to walk through Central Park?
A guided walk of the southern half takes about two hours. The Conservancy's own highlights tour covers 1.3 miles in 90 minutes. The park runs 51 blocks, from 59th to 110th Street, so walking all of it is a separate outing.
Can I start a Central Park tour from the Metropolitan Museum?
Not with the tours listed here: none of the nineteen meets near the museum, and most start at 58th to 60th Street. From the Met you can walk the classic stops on your own, starting at the obelisk behind the building, in about the same distance.
What is the best time of year for a walking tour?
May, June, September and October, on the climate record. July and August are hot, with about five to seven days a month above 90°F, and winter highs stay below 45°F from December to February.
Are there tours in languages other than English?
One classic walk runs entirely in French. Among the others, the birdwatching walk offers Italian and Spanish, one landmarks walk offers Spanish, a Home Alone 2 and Elf walk offers French and Spanish, and the TV and movie walk has app translations in German, French and Spanish.
The other walk from the museum: Fifth Avenue's Gilded Age houses
Across the avenue from the park, the mansions that survived, the ones that did not, and which of them you can still walk into.
Data verified on. Park facts: Central Park Conservancy. Climate: NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Central Park. Walking times from the Met are our estimates.