Eight hundred and forty-three acres, twenty named gates and no cars since 2018. Here's everything worth knowing before you arrive — how to get in, where the restrooms are, what to eat, what the rules are, and who to call.
Open daily
Always, no ticket
Public restrooms
Six practical guides written by people who walk this park every week — the entrance that saves you twenty-five minutes, the restrooms that close in winter, and the rules visitors get caught out by.
Twenty named gates around the edge, and picking the right one can save you more than twenty-five minutes of walking.
Twenty named gates around the edge, and picking the right one can save you more than twenty-five minutes of walking.
Over fifty carts and kiosks, five cafés and two sit-down restaurants — plus the lawns where a picnic beats all of them.
America's first landscaped public park — chosen by competition in 1857 and built by hand over sixteen years.
Open 6am to 1am, free to enter, and policed by its own NYPD precinct mid-park at 86th Street.
Every number worth having in one place — emergency lines, permits, attractions and all four visitor centres.
The park is free and open to everyone, but a handful of rules are enforced — and these are the ones people find out about the hard way.
The park closes overnight. Entry is free at every gate, at every hour it's open — there is no ticket and never has been.
The drives have been closed to traffic since 2018. Park in a garage or on the street outside, then walk in through the nearest gate.
Open flames and grills are banned everywhere in the park, and drinking alcohol in public areas is prohibited. Licensed restaurants inside serve normally.
Any organised gathering of twenty or more people needs an NYC Parks permit, and approval takes 21 to 30 days. Casual visits never do.
The questions we're asked most at the gates and on the phone.
The park itself is free at every entrance, every day of the year, and always has been. It's open from 6am until 1am and closes overnight. Individual attractions inside — the Zoo, Wollman Rink, the Carousel — charge their own admission, but walking, sitting, running and picnicking cost nothing.
No. The park drives have been closed to cars since 2018, and there is no parking anywhere inside. Use a garage on one of the four sides — pre-booking gets you a cheaper rate and a guaranteed space — or metered street parking, or free spaces on residential side streets where alternate-side rules allow.
It depends which end you want. The A, B, C, D and 1 all serve Columbus Circle at the south-west corner; the N, R and W reach Fifth Avenue at 59th for the south-east; and the 4, 5 and 6 run the length of the east side. Crosstown buses cross at 66th, 79th, 86th and 96th. From most of the theatre district, the southern gates are a ten-minute walk.
Picnics yes — Sheep Meadow and the Great Lawn are made for it, and food from a deli outside the park is cheaper and better than most of what's sold inside. Alcohol no: drinking in public areas is prohibited, though licensed restaurants inside the park serve normally. Barbecues and open flames are banned everywhere in Central Park, with no exceptions.
Largely, yes. The main drives and the 1.58-mile Reservoir path are paved and level, and nineteen of the twenty-one public restrooms are step-free — the Ramble and Wollman Rink are the two that aren't. The Ramble and North Woods are unpaved, narrow and hilly by design, so plan around them.
Use the lampposts. There are around 1,600 of them, each with a number stamped on the base: the first two or three digits give the nearest cross street, and the last digit tells you which side of the park you're on — even numbers east, odd numbers west. Emergency services know the system, so reading out that number places you exactly.
