Discover Central Park, Just Outside our Hotel in New York City     

Jumeirah Essex House, in association with CentralPark.com, is proud to present the Central Park Walking Tours; a combination of audio podcasts, maps and interactive guides designed to direct park visitors to some of the most remarkable and best loved features of Central Park NYC, providing fascinating background information and history. The tours also point out some of the most photogenic sites in the park.     A new collaboration with CentralPark.com, Jumeirah Essex House announces an interactive online photography contest, Central Park Photo Contest.  Please continue reading below to find out more about this exciting new partnership. 

"We are very excited to deepen our partnership with CentralPark.com and share our mutual affection for Central Park with the public through photography – a medium that everyone loves," says Katherine Gass, Curator for Jumeirah Essex House. Gass added, "This initiative is one more articulation of Jumeirah Essex House’s commitment to its community and the hotel’s positioning of being ‘Always in touch with The Park.  Never out of touch with The City."

For more information, visit CentralPark.com

The Family Tour of Central Park contains all of the park's most popular attractions. These include the statue of Balto - the hero sled dog, Conservatory Water - where you can watch miniature sailboats ply the trade winds off Fifth Avenue, and have your picture taken with the nearby statues of Hans Christian Andersen and Alice in Wonderland.

A short stroll east will take you to the historic Loeb Boathouse, where you might be lucky enough to catch sight of a gondolier.

Just around the bend you'll find the very heart of the park at Bethesda Terrace with its beautifully ornate balustrades, and the lovely Bethesda Fountain, topped by the Angel of the Waters statue, created by Emma Stebbins.

From there, you'll walk down through the Mall and its amazing collection of American Elms, past Literary Walk to the Dairy Visitor's Center, where you can discover more about the park through their interactive exhibit as well as browse their collection of books and videos about the park.

Just a few yards east of the Dairy, you'll find the Central Park Carousel - one of the largest and most beautiful in the country, and always a great favorite among the young and old alike. After a 5 minute ride on one of 58 hand carved ponies, you'll walk down to Wollman Rink where, depending on the season, you'll be able to watch the skaters sail around the ice or, in spring and summer, enjoy some of the diversions provided by the Victoria Gardens Amusement Park.

At a little more than an hour and a half, the tour provides a great way to spend a family friendly and informative visit to Central Park.

The Arts & Architecture Tour of Central Park includes all the essential attractions covered by the Family Tour, including the Zoo, Children's Zoo, Balto, Conservatory Water, the Hans Christian Andersen and Alice in Wonderland statues, as well as the Loeb Boathouse, Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, the Mall, the Dairy, the Carousel and Wollman Rink.

It then takes you farther north into the park to discover some of the historic and unique architectural and design elements of the park.

These include the Obelisk - popularly known as Cleoptra's Needle - a 3,500 year old Egyptian monument in the middle of Central Park, Belvedere Castle - a beautifully romantic edifice and working weather station that provides one of the most stunning panoramas of the park, and the Swedish Cottage - a rustically designed marionette theater.

From there, you'll walk around the lake to Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Mosaic - New York's internationally inspired memorial to John Lennon.

A short walk east, past the Statue of Daniel Webster, will bring you to Cherry Hill and it's beautifully ornate fountain, and then down the hill to Bow Bridge - a brilliant example of cast iron design and one of the most photographed and filmed sites in all of Central Park.

The Arts & Architecture Tour is the ideal way to spend a morning or afternoon getting to know the essential features that make Central Park the amazing and inspirational place that is loved by New Yorkers the world over.

CentralPark.com, the complete guide to Central Park, is a website that is informative and useful, as well as insightful and entertaining.

It strives to provide a place for people, New Yorkers, all over the world to visit their park; a place to share photos of their favorite places and memories of past visits. A tool that enables park visitors to take full advantage of the park's many familiar features, as well as introduce them to some of Central Parks lesser known treasures.