Enjoy the beauty of the north end of Central park called the North Woods:

Transcript:

They call this area North Woods. Olmsted designed it. It's a small replica of Adirondack mountain upstate New York. You see the chipmunk? Yes, we've got chipmunks, racoons, Virginia opossums and more than 200 different kind of birds. The best bird-watching area in New York is North Woods. We are still in the middle of Manhattan. You cannot say that over here. The call this river 'Loch river' after Loch Ness and those are openings for the bird-watchers over the river. You can stop on those and take pictures of the birds. This water comes from the Reservoir of Jackie Onassis. So we've created the whole place. Only this rock here is the natural stuff. In 2016 they did a full renovation of this place and now it's a beautiful area at the end of Central park for hiking. Not too many people know about it so from the statistics of Central park this is the least visited place - North Woods. The most visited is out first stop - Bethesda fountain, that's where we were. Oh, it's very peaceful. Yes, and you see we've got the openings over there. Those are all new. You also don't see the buildings. Here everything is green. Nice and quiet, no noise. Where does it run to after it comes from the Reservoir? The water in the Reservoir? Yeah, where does it go to. Oh, this one it comes from one lake to another lake at the end of the park. And the water in the lakes also comes from the Reservoir. The water in the Reservoir comes from a river over Bronx - Croton River. That was the first aqueduct system they build and it was a Roman style aqueduct crossing Bronx and crossing the first bridge in New York on 175 Street nowadays - High Bridge. It's a historical landmark bridge. You can walk on it and see the history of the first aqueduct. It was 1840s when they built it. We are going to walk that way. We'll go see the lake where the river starts. We take this walk on the private tours because on the group tours when we have, like 15 people, we cannot go here. There was a rare duck last year. They've spotted it in the south end of the park - Mandarin Duck, very rare to see in this area. Excuse us, can we pass? So you see on the map where we are. The small lake down there, that's where we are going now. We are going to see it now across this tunnel. You see the turtles on the rock?  Yeah, chilling. There is always turtles sunning here.

Enjoy the commentary of our tour guide:

 Transcript:

The rocks are the only natural thing. And then the trees are planted. About 20 000 trees they planted back in the days. The soil, even, came from New Jersey. When they started, they've drained the water from the swamps. They blasted away the rocks to form the design. And then they brought 500 000 cubic feet of soil from New Jersey and covered the park. That's why this park is unique, because it's been built from scratch. At the moment we've got around 24 000 trees, 36 bridges and arches and 21 playgrounds for kids. There was a question in the TV show 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' - What is 9000 in this park? The right answer is the benches. We've got 9000 benches, if you put them next to each other, it's going to form 7 miles of benches. And they are part of the donation program. You can purchase one. So it's like a dedication? Yes, it costs $7500 for a bench. It's a lifetime donation for Central park. And you can put your name or a memory of yours on the bench. The park collect 65 million dollars per year, that's the budget nowadays. To your left is the Summerstage. This is where we do the summer show 'Good morning America'. In the summer they come and they do those free concerts every Friday morning. Backstreet Boys were here last year and The Chainsmokers. We've got someone famous every year. It's free, yeah, free entrance. But you've got to be here early otherwise you might not get inside. It was very crowded for Justin Bieber and Celena Gomez. Even One Direction have been here. That's the backstage here. You wait here for the autograph. We'll make a stop here. Alright, our turn. You can park here. So we are standing next to Bethesda fountain and terrace. This is the most visited place in Central park. It was designed for the grand opening back in 1873. This is when they officially opened Central park and this is where all the TV shows, the movies are filmed. This is where all the weddings come for pictures and ceremonies and it's next to the Lake. The name of this lake is 'The Lake', that's how they called it. And to the right you see the famous Boathouse restaurant. This restaurant is in the movie 27 dresses, the wedding. And also 'Sex and the City' - Carrie and Mr. Big get drunk and fall in the lake, that was filmed there. You rent those boats from there and go in The Lake or you can hire a gondola. There is a gondolier with you that will sing Italian songs...with Brooklyn accent. Very authentic. Usually the people flip a coin inside and make a wish and then you can see the homeless guys looking for the quarters inside the water. The Angel on top of the fountain is holding a lillie, a symbol of purity, and with the other hand is pointing down, blessing the water in the pool of Bethesda. This Angel, they are talking about him in the Bible, chapter five the Gospel of John. It comes down the sky and blesses thw water in the pools of Bethesda. There is a tunnel underneath, a beutiful tunnel with a nice ceiling. When you walk through the tunnel taka a look up to see the ceiling. Those are all Minton tiles from England. In 1860 they brought 16 000 Minton tiles abnd put them on the ceiling. It's the only place in the world they did that - Minton tiles on the ceiling, they are usually on the floor. They give nice acoustics, there is always someone singing down there or playing musical instruments. And we also standing next to this metal plaque here. This symbolises the center of the island. Not the park, the whole island (Manhattan). That's why they named the park 'Central'. Because we've got the geographical middle of Manhattan. The thing is that this is not the exact one, this is approximate. The real center is somewhere on the other side of The Lake. From here we are about 6 miles from the north, 5-5.5 miles to the south and approximately 1-1.1 miles to the west and 1.1 miles to the east. And on the other side - The Mall shows you exactly the directions. Further down is south, the other way is north. More than two hundered movies are filmed on the Mall - 'When Harry met Sally', 'You've got Mail', 'Maid in Manhattan' Jennifer Lopez, 'Big Daddy' Adam Sandler 'Kramer vs Kramer' Dustin Hoffman - he is training his boy how to ride a bicycle. That ws done here. The movie 'A night in the Museum' - the dinasours chasing the small guys and John Lewis Keanu Reeves - in the second chapter he ran with his dog through The Mall. That was filmed here. Across the street you see this brownish sign. Those are the names og the designers Olmsted & Vaux way. frederick law olmsted and Calvert Vaux. They designed Central park, they designed Morningside Park next and two parks in Brooklyn - Fort Greene Park and Prospect Park were desined by the same designers. Also, Olmsted designed Golden Gate Park, the Niagra Falls park, the Capitol building landscape in Washington DC and even the parks in Canada - Ontario and Montreal.

Riding a Segway is a great way of transportation in the busy city areas and has become especially trendy these days. It is quite manoeuvrable and can be very quick if the driver knows how to operate it safely. You can see a lot of people in Manhattan and New York City using Segways to move from point A to point B.

What is a Segway?

Resembling a scooter, the Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing device that run up to 12.5 miles per hour (20km per hour). It was originally invented by Dean Kamen back in 2001 and has become a favorite device for busy New York City workers. The name of the machine derives from the word "segue" which comes from Italian and means "follows". The person riding the Segway is controlling it by leaning onto a handlebar and directing the machine to move in different directions.

How to ride a Segway?

The Segway detects the movement of your body and if you lean towards certain direction it does take it into consideration. Leaning forward will mean that the Segway will proceed straight on. Leaning backwords is the equivalent of pushing the breaks. Leaning towards left and right gives the operator the control of making left and right turns. The handlebar is especially useful and gives the rider the stability and control over the device. You need to have both of your feet on the Segway platform and be balanced enough in order to keep it under control.

Segways are considered motored vehicles in many countries so all the road rules that apply to cars are also applicable to Segway hoverboards. Riding a Segway can be a dangerous thing if you do not know what you are doing. We have put together a few tips on safely controlling your Segway hoverboard.

10 tips on riding a Segway

1. Have both feet stable on the Segway platform
2. Hold the handlebar firmly and never with one hand only
3. Do not carry baggage in your arms while navigating your Segway
4. Do not turn the Segway too fast because you can lose control over it
5. Do not start or stop the Segway too abruptly because you can lose balance and fall off the hoverboard
6. Don’t ride your Segway on rough ground. They are designed for smooth surfaces
7. Don’t ride backwards because Segways are not designed for this
8. Don’t ride on roads- Segways are not road vehicles
9. Don’t run over obstacles because you will trip off and fall down
10. Don’t ride your Segway on a steep downhill because you can lose balance due to the high speeding

Can I ride a Segway in Central park?

Unfortunately, Segways are not allowed on the territory of Central park. They are forbidden due to safety reasons and you won’t be able to find a company around Central park that will rent Segways out. If you have a Segway of your own make sure you do not operate it inside the park because you will be stopped by the Central park rangers and it is very likely to receive a ticket. Central park Segway tours are not available for that same reason – operating a Segway hoverboard in Central park is not allowed by the Central park rules and NYPD authorities.

What is the alternative to Central park Segway tours?

If your plan is to discover Central park and its hidden paths and lanes you can rent a bike that can take you through most of the small pathways or rent a pedicab with a professional tour guide. You can also choose from a variety of Central park tours, the most popular of which is the guided bike tour of Central park. Whatever your choice is, if it is your first time in Central park, make sure you try the guided talking head tours because there is more history behind Central park’s highlights than you may think.

We're having fun on our tours. This amazing French group was excited about the France victory in the World Cup.

Well deserved break in the company of our brilliant tour guide Sergio:

Enjoy Central park from the air - this is a helicopter tour above Central park New York.

In the video you can see the Empire State Building, midtown Manhattan, Central park South, the newest skyscraper next to Central park called The Needle, the Reservoir, the north side of the park and Harlem neighborhood.

Central Park Bikes has been awarded with Tripadvisor Centrificate of Excellence for best Central park tours in 2017. We are winning this precious award for 4th consecutive year and it is a great honor to announce it again.

We've hit our 100th review on Tripadvisor averaging 5 stars and allowing us to win the Certificate of Excellence for a third year in a row:

Touring Central Park in New York City on a bike lets you drink in the unrivalled beauty of the park and enjoy nature. But what if there was something that could make the tour even more exhilarating? Tandems are one of those innovations which let us double the enjoyment of a bike ride.

We are introducing our new guided bike tour designed specifically for couples, families and special occasions - the VIP bike tour. 

The last few years have witnessed some rapid changes in consumer interests concerning the popular Friends Show sitcom that has continued to provide absolute entertainment to millions of fans worldwide. One of the famous achievements has seen a successful establishment of a real Central Perk at the heart of New York City.