New York is celebrating the new year in style with discounted museum tickets, Broadway shows, and more to make a trip to the Big Apple truly memorable.
12.12.2024 - 18:53 / lonelyplanet.com
Dec 12, 2024 • 11 min read
The first public park in the nation and a national historic landmark, Central Park is still where New Yorkers go to get a breath of fresh air and recharge. They’re not alone: thanks to its varied terrain – lush meadows, exposed bedrock, wild woodlands, lakes, gardens and a reservoir – the 843-acre park bursts with biodiversity, including rare flora and fauna. Much like the city that surrounds it, the park hums with history, culture and endless attractions that any traveler will want to see, especially first-time visitors. With so much to explore, it can be overwhelming to decide what to see and do.
Hours: Central Park is open from 6am to 1am daily, so there’s lots of time if you want to use it.
Cost: While there’s no fee for the park itself, activities may have separate costs.
Trails: There are 58 miles of hiking trails in Central Park; the longest loop is 6.1 miles.
Where to enter: There are numerous entry points to the park along Fifth Avenue and Central Park West.
If you’ve spent time on Museum Mile, such as at the Museum of Natural History and want to pop into the park, the best way is the entrance right across Fifth Avenue.
The most photo-worthy entrances are at Columbus Circle or Grand Army Plaza on the south end and Duke Ellington Circle or Frederick Douglass Circle on the north side. These make excellent starting points for exploring on foot.
Transportation: Bikes can be rented from Bike Rent NYC at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street or Central Park South and Central Park West. If bicycles aren’t your thing, electric scooters are also available for rent and can be reserved online in advance.
Accessibility: Many of the trails and paths throughout Central Park have been upgraded to be accessible for those with limited mobility. There are also pedicabs for on-demand hire throughout the park area.
It’s impossible to see the whole park, even with an entire day to explore. Our Central Park guide helps you create a custom itinerary based on your interests and the time you have available.
Located mid-park at 72nd Street, the famed Bethesda Fountain and Bethesda Terrace is an iconic meeting and people-watching spot. Commemorating the first aqueduct to bring fresh water to NYC, the fountain was designed by Emma Stebbins, the first woman to receive a public art commission from the city of New York. Sit, relax, and enjoy the beautiful view. Once you’ve taken it all in, head to Bow Bridge, which is just west of Bethesda Terrace. Famous for appearing in a plethora of Hollywood films, the bridge’s wood deck was replaced in January 2024 to better withstand high levels of foot traffic. It remains a popular spot for marriage proposals, photo shoots and other moments that call for picturesque
New York is celebrating the new year in style with discounted museum tickets, Broadway shows, and more to make a trip to the Big Apple truly memorable.
It's no secret among Philadelphia locals that Fishtown is one of the city's buzziest neighborhoods these days. What started as a small fishing village in the 1700s — hence the name — became a working-class hub of the commercial shad-fishing industry over the next two centuries.
For those looking to ring in the New Year in style, you may be wondering where to find the best festive bang for your buck.
Korean Air is among the last airlines still flying the iconic Boeing 747, but it's scheduled to pull the jet from a particularly long US route in 2025.
Early every holiday season, I make a cup of hot cocoa and watch one of the "Home Alone" movies.
Two years ago, I spent Christmas in Paris, and I've been longing to find the same festive charm in my home city of New York ever since.
In the children’s section of Albertine, copies of “Le Petit Prince,” stories of Tintin and Babar and other much-loved French classics are for sale beneath a sapphire-colored ceiling gilded with hand-painted constellations. What’s arguably New York’s most enchanting bookstore opened a decade ago inside the palatial Payne Whitney House, an early 1900s landmark built by the architect Stanford White on the southeast corner of East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue that’s served as the headquarters of the French Embassy’s cultural and educational activities in the United States for the past 72 years.
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When Helga Crane, the main character in Nella Larsen’s novel “Quicksand,” walked through the streets of Copenhagen, people were amazed. “Her dark, alien appearance was to most people an astonishment,” wrote Larsen, an acclaimed Harlem Renaissance author. “Some stared surreptitiously, some openly, and some stopped dead in front of her in order more fully to profit by their stares.”
The first-ever Sky Club at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT) officially opened today, Dec. 18, Delta Air Lines shared with T+L. This new space, measuring over 14,000 square feet, is located in the newly expanded Concourse A on the mezzanine level.
Dec 18, 2024 • 8 min read
Spend a few days in Siargao, the fig-shaped Filipino island in the country’s southeast, and locals will tell you, with a mix of anxiety and excitement, that the coconut tree-covered enclave is what Bali was in the 1970s. Or they might say, as the documentarian and trans-rights activist Queenmelo Esguerra told me last month, that laid-back hotels and cafes that’ve opened this decade (like Siago), “feel inspired by Tulum, no?”