In Central Park, between 73rd and 78th Sts, the leafy 38-acre Ramble is a wooded thicket that’s popular with bird-watchers. It's easy to lose your way in the maze of trails.

Until a few years ago, the Ramble was also a legendary gay pick-up spot. Though with the advent of Grindr and similar apps, it has largely lost its appeal to cruisers.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Upper West Side & Central Park attractions

1. Bethesda Fountain

0.2 MILES

This neoclassical fountain is one of New York’s largest. It’s capped by the Angel of the Waters, who is supported by four cherubim. The fountain, created…

2. Bethesda Terrace

0.22 MILES

The arched and frescoed walkways of Bethesda Terrace, crowned by the magnificent Bethesda Fountain, have long been a gathering area for New Yorkers of all…

3. Strawberry Fields

0.25 MILES

Standing inside the park across from the famous Dakota Building, where John Lennon was fatally shot in 1980, is this poignant, tear-shaped garden – a…

4. New-York Historical Society

0.26 MILES

As the antiquated hyphenated name implies, the Historical Society is the city’s oldest museum, founded in 1804 to preserve historical and cultural…

5. Great Lawn

0.31 MILES

Located between 79th and 85th Sts, this massive emerald carpet at the center of Central Park is many a New Yorker's unofficial backyard. Created in 1931…

6. Dakota Building

0.32 MILES

A turreted, gabled building described in 1884 as so far uptown it was in 'the Dakotas,' this sand-colored gem quickly became the epitome of cool, housing…

7. American Museum of Natural History

0.35 MILES

Founded back in 1869, this venerable museum contains a veritable wonderland of more than 34 million objects, specimens and artifacts – including armies of…

8. Metropolitan Museum of Art

0.4 MILES

What started with a handful of paintings brought over from Europe or donated by a coterie of philanthropically minded robber barons in the 19th century…