Great Lawn

Located between 79th and 86th Sts, this massive emerald carpet was created in 1931 by filling in a former reservoir. It hosts outdoor concerts – this is where Paul Simon played his famous comeback show, and also where you can catch the New York Philharmonic Orchestra each summer – and there are eight softball fields, basketball courts and a canopy of London plane trees. Not far from the actual lawn are several other big sites: the Delacorte Theater, which is home to the annual Shakespeare in the Park festival, and its lush Shakespeare Garden; the panoramic Belvedere Castle(the leafy Ramble(the epicenter of both birding and gay-male cruising); and the Loeb Boathouse, where you can rent rowboats for a romantic float in the middle of this urban paradise.