What is the Central Park self-guided walking tour?
The Central Park self-guided walking tour is a walk you take at your own speed, with audio narration on your phone doing the job a guide would do. Allow about 3 hours: 43 minutes of that is spent walking, the route covers 3.4 km, and at each of the 10 stops you pause to listen. There is no start time to keep and no group to wait for.
Behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art the narration opens with an obelisk carved for Pharaoh Thutmose III around 1450 BC, and with the bronze crabs at its corners, copies of Roman supports. At the Balto statue you hear how a sled dog ran the last stretch of the 1925 diphtheria relay to Nome and stood at his own unveiling that same year. Bethesda Terrace brings Emma Stebbins's Angel of the Waters, the first public sculpture New York commissioned from a woman.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 43 min · 3.4 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the walking tour
Listen
At each stop the narration covers the history of the place, its legends and the details most people walk past. If you would rather read, the same text is on your screen.
Walk on
Google Maps shows the way between stops: 43 minutes on foot over 3.4 km, at whatever speed you like.
Take a break
Stop for a coffee or an hour in a museum, then carry on later the same day or on another one.
Eat and shop
Tips for food and local shops near the route come with the stops, and in the app you can change the first stop and the order.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the walking tour is for
A first visit
One walk connects the park's best-known corners, from the obelisk to the Mall, and tells you what you are looking at.
Anyone who avoids groups
No flag to follow and no fixed departure: stay where something interests you and move on when you are ready.
A morning before the museum
The walk begins right behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so a visit inside fits easily before or after the 3 hours.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The walk stop by stop: Cleopatra's Needle, Belvedere Castle, Strawberry Fields, Bethesda Terrace
10 stops · about 43 min walking · start: Cleopatra's Needle (The Obelisk) · finish: Alice in Wonderland
Cleopatra's Needle, just behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the first stop. The path then climbs to Belvedere Castle on Vista Rock, drops to the Delacorte Theater beside Turtle Pond and passes the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre before crossing west to Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic. Heading south, you pass the Skaters' Circle, reach the Columbus statue at the foot of the Mall and Balto nearby, return north to Bethesda Terrace and end with Alice in Wonderland at Conservatory Water. Another first stop or order can be set in the app, and no stop needs a ticket.
Open the route map ↗
1Cleopatra's Needle (The Obelisk)Start
This granite obelisk was carved in Egypt around 1450 BC for Pharaoh Thutmose III and stood at Heliopolis before the Romans moved it to Alexandria. Egypt gave it to the United States, and it was raised behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1881. Look for the bronze crabs at its corners, copies of Roman supports.
2Belvedere Castle
Calvert Vaux, co-designer of Central Park, created this small stone castle on Vista Rock as a lookout, completed in 1869 and never meant for defence. From its terraces you look over Turtle Pond and the Great Lawn, and since 1919 weather instruments here have recorded Central Park's official readings.
3Delacorte Theater
This open-air theatre beside Turtle Pond opened in 1962 as the home of Shakespeare in the Park, the free summer performances of the Public Theater started by Joseph Papp. Outside the entrance, bronze statues show Romeo and Juliet and characters from The Tempest.
4Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre
This wooden schoolhouse was built in Sweden and shown at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, then moved to Central Park the following year. Its carved timber and steep roof stand out among the park's stone buildings, and today it is home to a marionette theatre with puppet shows for children.
5Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Mosaic
Strawberry Fields is the memorial garden to John Lennon, who lived in the Dakota building across Central Park West and was killed outside it in 1980. Its black-and-white mosaic with the single word Imagine was a gift from the city of Naples, and the garden was dedicated in 1985.
6Skaters' Circle
In this paved circle between Sheep Meadow and the Mall, roller skaters have gathered for decades to dance to music. On warm weekends you may see them spinning and gliding in pairs and lines, a Central Park tradition that grew out of the roller disco era.
7Christopher Columbus Statue
At the southern end of the Mall stands a statue of Christopher Columbus by the Spanish sculptor Jerónimo Suñol, unveiled in 1894. Nearby, the elm-lined Literary Walk is guarded by statues of writers such as William Shakespeare, Robert Burns and Walter Scott.
8Balto Statue
This bronze by Frederick Roth honours Balto, the sled dog who led the final stretch of the 1925 relay that carried diphtheria medicine to Nome in Alaska. The statue was unveiled the same year with Balto himself present, and children climbing on it have polished his back and ears to a shine.
9Bethesda Terrace
Bethesda Terrace, designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, links the Mall to the Lake with grand staircases and an arcade lined with Minton tiles. Its fountain is crowned by the Angel of the Waters by Emma Stebbins, unveiled in 1873 as the first public sculpture commissioned from a woman in New York City.
Read the full story →
10Alice in WonderlandFinish
This bronze by José de Creeft, unveiled in 1959 near Conservatory Water, shows Alice sitting on a giant mushroom with the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat and the Dormouse. The publisher George Delacorte gave it in memory of his wife, and children are welcome to climb all over it.
Read the full story →
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Anonymous (verified owner) –
Very practical and educational
Federica– Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Per chi come me non conosceva Central park questo giro organizzato a tappe ha aiutato ad ottimizzare il tempo vedendo i punti principali. Non ho messo 5 stelle solo perché l’app su cui appoggia il servizio non era così efficiente. Ad ogni modo consiglio! Una buona economica alternativa alla classica cartina cartacea del parco, con alcune informazioni sulle varie tappe!