Central Park is the great public work of New York City — 843 acres in the middle of Manhattan, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the 1850s as a democratic space for all New Yorkers at a time when the city was dense, dirty, and industrialising rapidly. The park is almost entirely artificial: the lakes, meadows, rocky outcrops, and woodland were all constructed to a plan, with two million cubic yards of stone blasted and removed.
The park rewards different approaches. The Ramble, a wooded area in the middle, is one of the best urban birdwatching spots in the world — over 200 species pass through on migration. Bethesda Fountain and Terrace are the park's architectural centrepiece. The reservoir loop is the New Yorker's daily run. In summer, Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theatre (free tickets, very popular) is one of the city's great institutions. In winter, skating at Wollman Rink. The park's edges — the Upper West Side along the west, the Upper East Side's Museum Mile along the east — offer days of additional exploring.