Best Central Park Carriage Rides

Central Park is one of the many places you must visit if you are traveling in New York. It is full of history and dreamy corners that you can reach in a picturesque carriage. While you listen to the sound of the galloping horses and wheels, the driver will be your guide and will tell you the history of the park, its main places and will stop to take pictures at the established photo stops.

This experience is planned to show you those sites of the park that you cannot miss from the comfort of the carriage and you will be able to choose the tour that best suits your needs. There is an option of longer rides that will allow you to see several places in the park and the city, another shorter option that will show you the main attractions and you can also take the opportunity to celebrate special dates with a more romantic option and even ask for marriage!

New York is full of places that will make you fall in love with the city and many of them, you will be able to see them with a panoramic view from the carriage.

In just under an hour, you will stroll through the park and discover many historical monuments towards the Rockefeller area.

Following the lights you will come to be dazzled by Times Square, with its unstoppable festive atmosphere at all hours of the day.

You can choose this option to tour the city both during the day and at night and both are truly amazing. Central Park has no schedule, it's amazing all day long, and at night it takes on an absolutely magical feel. The choice is yours.

Plus, the carriage makes the whole experience seem timeless and contrasts with the chaos of the city.

Details of interest

• Price: You can enjoy this tour for a price starting at 263 € per carriage, not per person.
• Duration: 50 minutes.
• Maximum number of passengers: This carriage has a capacity of up to 4 people.
• Advantages of this tour: Not only will you tour the iconic Central Park, the experience also includes epic places of the city that you will fall in love with.

This carriage ride is the perfect way to get to know the park and its most emblematic sites.

Central Park will undoubtedly dazzle you and from the carriage you will appreciate its magic to the rhythm of the galloping horses, as if you were immersed in the New York scenery of a movie, but knowing all kinds of curious facts about the history of the park.

Throughout the tour you will have the opportunity to take pictures to take the best memories of Central Park and its beautiful views on the horizon, where the skyscrapers of the city blend with the green of the park.

This experience is ideal to escape the crowds that fill the city at all hours and immerse yourself in the tranquility of the park. It is a short, relaxing and very fun excursion, a great plan!

Details of interest

• Price: You can enjoy this tour for a price from 87 € per carriage, not per person.
• Duration: 20 minutes.
• Maximum number of passengers: This carriage has a capacity of up to 4 people.
• Advantages of this tour: In a short time you will get to know the most emblematic places of the park, immersed in an atmosphere of tranquility, with an expert guide.

Central Park is a place to fall in love by itself, but if you add the carriage, a glass of champagne and a bouquet of roses, the experience will have an unparalleled romanticism and will be perfect for a walk as a couple or to celebrate a special date and get to know the park in depth.

In addition to its longer duration, about 50 minutes, this tour usually includes a bottle of champagne, a bouquet of roses and the possibility of having your picture taken so you will never forget the ride.

Many couples choose Central Park to consecrate their love and make a movie marriage proposal. This walk is the ideal opportunity.

If you plan to make that marriage proposal, within the tour you will have many places to do it, but I want to recommend two that are the most traditional and appropriate for the occasion:

• Bow Bridge: It is the most romantic bridge in New York, so chosen by New Yorkers in 2010. And undoubtedly one of the best places to take pictures in Central Park and the right place to make the best marriage proposal in your carriage.
• Bethesda Fontaine: It is one of the most visited and best known places in Central Park, and is located on Bethesda Terrace. The mythical Bethesda Fountain is one of the most famous fountains in the world and another ideal place for your proposal.

Details of interest

• Price: You can enjoy this tour for a price from 349 € per carriage, not per person.
• Duration: 50 minutes.
• Maximum number of passengers: This carriage has a capacity of up to 4 people.
• Advantages of this tour: The experience is very complete, includes a bottle of champagne and a bucket of roses, creating a very special moment.

The duration will depend on the type of ride you choose. But keep in mind that the shortest ride lasts approximately 20 minutes and the longer rides last about 50 minutes.

As this excursion will not last more than an hour, you will be able to complement this horseback ride with many other activities you can do and see in Central Park.

Please note that all prices are per carriage, with a maximum capacity of 4 people. Having clarified this, I tell you that this type of ride has an approximate price of between 87 and 350 euros, but it will depend mainly on the experiences and attractions included. The duration will also be a determining factor.

Touring the park is one of the activities you must do if you are in New York, but it is so extensive that you may not know where to start, you may not be able to optimize your time and you may miss many key attractions.

That's why carriage rides are perfect to visit the most emblematic sites, learn a little more about its history thanks to the guide who will accompany you and enjoy a unique, different and original experience.

In addition, it is a plan that adapts to several situations, as it is ideal for touring the park if you are with your family (in fact, it is perfect to include it in the activities to do with children in New York), with friends or to share a special moment with your partner.

When NOT to take a carriage ride in Central Park?

If you plan to visit the city alone and want to see Central Park, a carriage ride may not be your best option for two reasons.

First of all, the price is stipulated per carriage and it can be up to 4 people, I don't think it makes much sense to pay it if you go alone. On the other hand, you may not be able to get enough out of it, since it is a fun activity to share in groups or couples and it is designed for that.

It will be very important that you pay attention to the weather for this tour. New York City mandates that carriage rides are suspended on days with temperatures below -7° C, temperatures over 32° C or in case of heavy snowfall or rain.

In addition, I recommend that you wear clothing appropriate to the weather for the time of year you will be taking this tour. Keep in mind that in New York in summer temperatures are usually very high and in winter you will need extra warm clothes, as temperatures can drop below freezing.

Finally, remember to always bring sunscreen and insect repellent, because this is an outdoor excursion and you will definitely need these two allies.

While it is almost impossible to guess the weather conditions on any particular day, I can tell you the best months to visit New York and, therefore, Central Park.

Generally, the best weather for these types of tours is in the months of May, June, September and October. At these times of the year, temperatures are pleasant and not too extreme.

I recommend that if you can, schedule your trip to New York for May or October when the late spring and early fall temperatures are very pleasant to tour the city and have the best scenery.

Here is a guide of what to do in New York in these months: New York in October: the best of the city and New York in May.

Central Park is huge. To give you a sense of its size, it measures 320 hectares, twice the size of Monaco and 8 times the size of Vatican City.

That is why taking a guided tour will allow you not only to walk through the main and most emblematic points of the park, but also to get valuable information from the guide*.

Due to its size, it is very easy to get lost and end up wasting the day because you can't organize yourself to see those essential places and learn the history behind many of them. In addition, you will have an extra for not having to walk, live a special moment and enjoy the unique experience that these picturesque carriages offer.*

Anyway, it is also a good option to walk it on your own, I even recommend you to do it if you plan to visit Central Park alone or as a couple, without any special date in between.

But there is something you should take into consideration: you would be missing a fundamental spice, which is precisely what is behind each of its corners and almost everything you see on your way.

Therefore, I recommend that if you choose to tour Central Park on your own, make a list of all the places you want to see and organize your tour in order to optimize your time and not miss anything.

Central Park offers a variety of dreamy landscapes and places full of history and many of them will be included in your carriage ride. Of course it all depends on the route you choose and the type of ride you want to do. Here is a guide to the most emblematic places you will visit:

• Literary Walk: it is the only straight line walk in the entire park and there you will find several statues of poets and writers of the English language escorting the path such as Fitz-Greene Halleck, Walter Scott, Robert Burns and, of course, William Shakespeare. If you can, be sure to read the plaques and be prepared to take the best pictures of these sculptures.
• The Children's District: in this part of the tour, you will see historic sites such as the Dairy, a cottage that was originally the place where children and their caregivers enjoyed fresh milk and food, Chess and Checkers House, a charming house surrounded by a rustic pergola and chess tables, Heckscher Playground, the largest and oldest playground in Central Park and the Carousel, with its 57 magnificent horses, which were once real horses.
• Cherry Hill: is a natural wonderland, a hill filled with pink and white cherry blossoms that paint the landscape in spring and one of the best views of the lake. At its top is the Cherry Hill fountain which was a drinking fountain for horses, located in a place designed for riders to stop, rest and enjoy the views of the lake.
• The lake: is the second largest lake in the park and the first Central Park landscape to open to the public, in the winter of 1858. It has an imposing presence, surrounded by colorful trees and the impressive Manhattan skyline.
• Strawberry Fields: This monument was built to commemorate the musician John Lennon and is named in honor of The Beatles' song: Strawberry Fields Forever. It is a very popular attraction for tourists and you can even find an artist singing songs of Lennon or The Beatles around it.
• Sheep Meadow: it is one of the most famous and impressive landscapes of Central Park, with an amazing contrast between the green of its vegetation and the Manhattan skyline full of huge skyscrapers. An interesting curiosity about this park is the origin of its name: it is because a flock of sheep grazed there, maintaining the country aesthetics of the park and the well-kept lawn.
• Dakota Building: a few meters from the memorial of John Lennon, you will find this building where he lived the last years of his life and where Yoko Ono still lives. It is a really impressive building, surrounded by history and myths that the driver will surely tell you when you pass by.
• The Plaza: this is the most iconic hotel in New York, the scene of movies such as Home Alone 2, Bride Wars and The Great Gatsby, among others that were filmed in this legendary hotel. The Plaza was founded in 1907, has a total of 19 floors, is one of the most recognized skyscrapers in the city and is considered one of the most elegant hotels in the world.
• Columbus Circle: this emblematic traffic circle is recognizable by the Christopher Columbus monument in its center, which gave rise to its name.

Now you have all the information you need about this novel option to tour the emblematic Central Park in a different way, from the comfort of the carriage, touring its main attractions and learning about its history in depth.