Bryant Park

Bryant Park is a fabulous year-​round park to enjoy that is located very close to Grand Central Station. It can be reached most easily via subway (B-​D-​F-​M). I included some of my highlights of Bryant Park below:
–green space galor: warm weather offers a beautiful large grassy space with ample seating (shade and sun) surrounding the grass. They have many movies and plays (or excerpts of plays) during the warm weather too.
–food and drink: Bryant park grill is the most well-​known place to eat here (it’s fantastic but on the pricier side) and has indoor and outdoor patio seating overlooking the park. They also have a cool bar across the way from Bryant park and numerous grab-​and-​go quick sandwich places to enjoy picnic style. Chipotle across the street is a popular meal people grab to eat in the park.
–books: something pretty unique to Bryant park is their collections of children’s and adult books that you can borrow (for free) while you relax the day away in the park… so cool for book nerds like myself!
–games: the outside loop of the park offers a handful of games (ping pong, etc) to enjoy with friends in the nice weather. They also have social game clubs where you can meet fellow game lovers (check out their website)
–carousel: there’s a beautiful carousel for kids and kids at heart to enjoy here
–ice skating rink in winter months is a great alternative to the chaos of Rockefeller center. I believe skating is free but to rent skates is a small fee. They also set up a white winter themed bar/​restaurant overlooking the rink with indoor and outdoor seating where you can enjoy a bite or drink before or after you skate!
–great place to view the new Macy’s thanksgiving day parade route, which runs along one side of the park
–in December they set up a holiday craft fair which stays there for nearly a month, a great place to find some unique gifts for friends and family and get into the holiday spirit!
–close proximity to other things of interest, particularly grand central station, Times Square, and the nyc library (a must-​see!!)
We have found it to be very crowded during the weekdays (popular with all the business folks who work in this neighborhood) but on weekends there’s plenty of space to enjoy what it has to offer!