Central Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile in the heart of New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year.
The park was designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the architect Calvert Vaux. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks (one of which doubles as a swimming pool in the summer!), the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a reservoir with an encircling running track, and the outdoor Delacorte Theater which hosts the “Shakespeare in the Park” summer festivals.
Since 1908, over 200 films have shot scenes in Central Park, making it the most filmed public park in the world. Several tours from On Location will take you all throughout this wonderful park, including our Central Park TV & Movie Sites Tour.
Along with meadows, pedestrian paths, woodlands, lakes, and lawns, you will see handsome cabs (horse drawn buggies that can be rented by the hour or half hour) trotting along the roads that cut through the park.
No New York Tour would be complete without a visit to Central Park. Led by actors and actresses, this Central Park walking tour highlights locations from Taxi Driver, Wall Street, Crocodile Dundee, The Producers, Godspell, Prisoner of Second Avenue, Independence Day, King of New York, Barefoot in the Park, The Way We Were, New York Stories, The Out of Towners, Little Manhattan, I’m Not Rappaport and many others.
We’ll visit landmarks in the park such as The Carousel, Bow Bridge, Wollman Rink, Gapstow Bridge, The Dairy, Sheep’s Meadow, Cherry Hill, and catch an amazing glimpse of the skyline of the Upper West Side.
As you are traveling through Central Park on our guided tour you will see the stone Gapstow Bridge, which is featured in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. From the bridge you will be able to see the famous 19-story Plaza Hotel, which has been featured in several films including The Way We Were, Barefoot in the Park, Brewster’s Millions, It Could Happen To You, Big Business, Bride Wars, Almost Famous, and many more.
Next, you will be traveling to the Wollman Skating Rink, one of the two ice skating rinks located in the park. However, this rink is famous because it is featured in Gossip Girl, Serendipity, Home Alone 2, Stepmom, The January Man and Love Story.
After visiting the ice skating rink you will be heading to the most known attraction in Central Park, the Carousel. For just $2 you can enjoy the carousel ride where films such as The Producers, The Spanish Prisoner, Ransom, and I’m not Rappaport were filmed. Next you will see a beautiful Victorian gothic building known as the Dairy which is featured in Independence Day and Enchanted.
The Central Park Mall, also known as the Promenade, is the next thing you will be walking through on this guided New York tour. You will definitely be able to tell why this area is so popular for socializing and relaxing. Movies such as Serendipity, Vanilla Sky, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Big Daddy, Trainwreck, The Smurfs, Enchanted and Kramer vs. Kramer all had scenes that were featured in the Promenade.
After a stroll through the Promenade, you will spot the Bethesda Terrace, with the famous Bethesda Fountain located in the middle. As you are making your way through the crowd of people relaxing here you will be in the location where films such as Gossip Girl, Gotham, The Avengers, Ransom, Godspell, Home Alone 2, Green Card, It Could Happen to You, Deconstructing Harry, The Out of Towners, Prisoner of Second Avenue and Stuart Little II were filmed. The Bethesda Terrace is also the location for the final big musical number, “That’s How You Know,” from Enchanted. Giselle (Amy Adams) questions Robert (Patrick Dempsey) on how he displays his affection for Nancy (Idina Menzel) and spontaneously starts the musical production number, with everyone in the park performing with her.
Take a look at the huge twenty-two-acre lake that is Central Park’s largest body of water, not including the Reservoir. On a warm day people will be participating in all kinds of water activities such as row boating. The Manchurian Candidate was featured at this famous lake. Although you won’t have enough time to eat at the Boathouse Restaurant on the walking tour, you can surely stop and grab something to eat afterward. This is the restaurant where films such as When Harry Met Sally, Sex and the City and Little Manhattan were filmed.
At this point of the tour you will be situated mid-park at 74th street and making your way to the Bow Bridge. This cast iron bridge was featured in films such as Autumn in New York, Keeping the Faith, Little Manhattan, The Way We Were and Manhattan. The bridge stretches over the lake and leads you right to Cherry Hill. Here you will notice beautiful cherry trees in the springtime and feel as if you were part of the scene where films such as The Mirror Has Two Faces, Big Daddy, Cruel Intentions and Little Manhattan.
Once you have toured Cherry Hill, our tour guides will take you to the cultural landmark, the Bandshell, featured in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I’m Not Rappaport, Mighty Aphrodite and Hair. You can stand where Martin Luther King and plenty of musicians stood to make speeches or conduct performances at this location.
Next our tour will take you through Strawberry Fields. This area was dedicated to John Lennon in 1985 after his death in 1980. John Lennon’s death affected thousands of people and this small area in Central Park located on the West side between 71st and 74th street serves as a tribute to his life and music. This location was also featured in Little Manhattan.
Next stop on the Central Park Movie Sites tour is the Sheep’s Meadow, a location used in Wall Street, It Could Happen to You, The Fisher King, Antz, and Little Manhattan. Although there are no longer any sheep here, you will be passing my hundreds of people who relax, sunbathe, and play frisbee in this wonderful park. From this location you will be able to see The Dakota Apartments, which made its screen debut in Rosemary’s Baby and Vanilla Sky (and is also the site of John Lennon’s shooting). As you are approaching the end of the guided tour you will reach Tavern on the Green (now closed). This famous restaurant appeared in Ghostbusters, New York Stories, Wall Street, Made, and The Out of Towners. The tour will end at Columbus Circle, where Taxi Driver, Keeping the Faith, Borat, Enchanted and Crocodile Dundee were shot. You will definitely recognize Columbus Circle as the site where the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was first spotted terrorizing the city in Ghostbusters.
On Location Tours makes sure to highlight all of the famous locations in Central Park that are featured in our favorite films. We aren’t just New York sightseeing tours, we’re New York “site-seeing” tours!
* In an effort to stay current, we are constantly updating our tours with new locations and cannot guarantee the presence of locations mentioned on our site. If you have a particular interest in locations from a specific TV show or movie, please let your tour guide know and we will do our best to accommodate your request.