Visitors to New York are often overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the big city, and face a multiplicity of dilemmas as to where to maximise their time. However, regardless of whether you choose to spend your visit to New York marvelling the sights atop the Empire State Building or indulging in the glamour and romance of Broadway, you'll certainly need to find time to relax and enjoy New York's more calming sights. This is part of the reason that Central Park is so popular with both residents and visitors: its 843 acres (or 3.41 km sq) offer space for solitude and landscape appreciation, a haven from the hectic atmosphere of the city centre.
Tourists to New York might be surprised to find out that, while Central Park looks entirely natural, it's actually almost completely landscaped - a testament to the architectural prowess of its designers, Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux. The park itself is home to several artificial lakes, various extensive tracks for avid walkers to enjoy, a wildlife sanctuary and numerous vast areas of grass which can be used for sporting pursuits. The park space is particularly popular after 7pm every evening, when automobile traffic is banned and the park is flooded with cyclists, joggers and roller skaters. Furthermore, Central Park is a haven for birdwatchers in New York, as it attracts many migratory birds, as well as local East Coast bird life.
The history of Central Park is also especially interesting. In fact, the plans for the park reach as far back as 1811. Between 1820 and 1850, the population of New York City quadrupled, and people flocked to open spaces in order to get away from the chaotic nature of city life. Andrew Jackson Downing, the USA's first landscape architect, first began to popularise the idea of a park for New York City in 1844, one that was similar to London's Hyde Park or the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. The State eventually appointed a Central Park Commission to oversee the park's development, and in 1857 held a landscape design contest in order to find the best design for the scheme. The eventual winners, Olmstead and Vaux have since gone down in history as the designers of one of the world's most famous parks.
If you're interested in enjoying a relaxing break in New York and absorbing as much of Central Park's atmosphere as possible, why not choose to stay in one of the many
luxury hotels in Manhattan? You'll be able to indulge in the sights and sounds of one of the most spectacular urban parks in America without ever having to leave the big city.
