Bow Bridge
Over the Lake.
Epicgenius — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mariel Machucho — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gzzz — CC BY-SA 3.0 · EcoVictor — CC BY-SA 4.0 · dconvertini — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Another Believer — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Roman Eugeniusz — CC BY-SA 3.0
The world's most famous city park, covering 341 hectares in the heart of Manhattan between the Upper West and Upper East Sides. It was the first landscaped park in the United States and is the country's most visited urban park, with some 42 million visitors a year. It was designed by the landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, whose Greensward Plan won the 1858 design competition, creating a carefully shaped natural world among the skyscrapers, with lakes, rocky outcrops, woods and meadows. Highlights include the cast-iron Bow Bridge over the Lake, the stone Belvedere Castle, the wide Sheep Meadow and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir with its famous running loop, along with rowing boats, fountains and endless paths. Entry is free. The park is huge, so pick one section or rent a bike. New York's famous halal food carts gather around its edges, and spring and autumn, when the trees change colour, are the loveliest seasons.
Over the Lake.
In stone.
And its running loop.
Between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, Manhattan
Metropolitan Museum of ArtOne of the world's greatest art museums, the largest in the Americas and the thi5 minutes walk4.7
Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumAn art museum on Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side whose building is one of th7 minutes walk4.2
American Museum of Natural HistoryOne of the largest natural history museums in the world, on the Upper West Side 9 minutes walk4.5
Islamic Cultural Center of New YorkThe first purpose-built mosque in New York City and still one of its largest, on18 minutes walk4.8Yes, entry is free, and halal food carts gather around the park's edges.