Central Park Self-Guided Audio Tour: 4-Mile App Route to the Reservoir

Doris C Freedman Pl, New York

Suggested start: the corner of 60th Street and Fifth Avenue in Doris C. Freedman Plaza, with three stone sculptures on your left and the General Sherman monument behind you. The operator is not affiliated with nearby businesses. The audio starts automatically; your access details arrive by email or text.

Your tour of Central Park begins in the Grand Army Plaza on…

The tour starts at Grand Army Plaza, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, and runs to the reservoir and back past the park's best-known spots. NOTE: the route is over 4 miles with more than 40 audio stories; the operator estimates one to two hours. Access never expires, so you can replay it on any trip.

Central Park Zoo

The Central Park Zoo covers 6.5 acres and keeps rare and endangered animals, among them Antarctic penguins and a snow leopard. Admission is extra.

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This clock isn't just for telling time! It's decorated with…

This clock does more than tell the time: it is decorated with animals playing instruments, from a bear with a tambourine to a kangaroo with a horn.

Balto Statue

The statue of Balto, the husky who helped carry diphtheria medicine to a remote Alaskan town through blizzards and subzero cold. Balto himself was at the unveiling.

One of the most picturesque spots in Central Park

The Mall is a long, shaded promenade lined with statues of historical figures, Shakespeare and Christopher Columbus among them. The audio explains who they are and how they ended up here.

This striking bandshell was built in 1923 and has since…

The Naumburg Bandshell went up in 1923 and has hosted plenty of well-known speakers, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fidel Castro among them. It is still in use, often for free classical and jazz concerts.

Bethesda Terrace

This Italianate terrace sits at the center of the park and was central to its original design. It has an upper and a lower level, joined by wide staircases.

Bethesda Fountain

Bethesda Fountain is 26 feet tall and almost 100 feet across, topped by the Angel of the Waters, the only statue in the park's original plan. Here the audio also covers the park's long run as a film set.

The Loeb Boathouse is a fine dining establishment which…

The Loeb Boathouse combines a restaurant with a working boathouse for time on the lake. Scenes from When Harry Met Sally and The Manchurian Candidate were filmed here.

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This bronze statue honors Hans Christian Andersen

A bronze statue of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish author of The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling. In warm weather you may see model sailboats on the water nearby.

Alice in Wonderland Statue

Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit, from Lewis Carroll's book. The statue was made to be climbed on, and the bronze has been polished to a shine by years of children doing exactly that.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met holds 5,000 years of art from around the world, from European painters such as Monet to objects from ancient Egypt. Admission is not included, and the museum is closed on Wednesdays.

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This huge Egyptian obelisk was moved here in 1881

Cleopatra's Needle, a real Egyptian obelisk brought here in 1881. The 220-ton monument is about 3,500 years old and was made for a pharaoh to celebrate his reign.

Alexander Hamilton may have been popularized by the…

Hamilton was on this pedestal long before the Broadway musical. He was one of the Founding Fathers and served as George Washington's right-hand man during the American Revolution.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir

The reservoir holds about a billion gallons of water and was once part of the city's water supply. Today it is a good place to stop and look at the skyline across the water.

Arthur Ross Pinetum

The Arthur Ross Pinetum was planted to keep the park green through the winter. After the other trees have dropped their leaves, it is a welcome change of scenery.

This 55-acre green space once hosted huge concerts…

The Great Lawn covers 55 acres and once hosted huge concerts, Elton John among the headliners. The crowds turned it into what some called the Great Dustbowl; it has since recovered and is a good spot for a picnic.

Delacorte Theater

The open-air Delacorte Theater is home to the Public Theater's Shakespeare productions and other classics. Tickets are free; you just have to wait in line for them.

Belvedere Castle

Belvedere Castle looks out over the park and the city around it, and adds a touch of storybook architecture.

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Shakespeare Garden

The garden grows only plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poems, meant to recall the English countryside he knew.

Strawberry Fields

The memorial to John Lennon. Instead of another statue, it is a mosaic, unlike anything else in the park.

Sheep Meadow is a lovely green expanse that perfectly…

Sheep Meadow is the park's original idea in its plainest form: open grass where locals and visitors can lie down and forget the city for a while.

Umpire Rock is by far the oldest thing you'll see in…

Umpire Rock is bedrock hundreds of millions of years old, too big to remove when the land was cleared for the park, and now a landmark of its own.

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Columbus Circle

The tour ends at Columbus Circle, at Eighth Avenue and 59th Street, on the edge of a lively neighborhood worth exploring.