Bryant Park can be found between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is one of the most well known parks in Midtown, just a short distance away from Times Square and just behind the beaux-arts New York Public Library building,.
This beautiful park is surrounded by skyscrapers and landmarks, making it one of Manhattan’s most visited areas.
Around the sunny central lawn at Bryant Park, tall London plane trees cast shadows over formal flower beds, stone terraces, gravel pathways, and a scattering of kiosks offering everything from Belgian waffles to cappuccinos.
Bryant Park has been called New York City’s Town Square and it is a hive of activity throughout the year. Here are some of the things that you can do at Bryant Park, NYC.
What to Do at Bryant Park
Take a Seat and Watch the World Go By
With coffee kiosks and the open-air Bryant Park Cafe, you can grab a beverage and sit down to enjoy the drink while people watching from one of the garden tables scattered around the park.
Shops that offer year-round eats at Bryant Park include the Breads Bakery, Wafels & Dinges Grill and Joe Coffee Company. These all offer food that you can “grab and go” to enjoy in the park.
If you want to have a sit down meal, there are other food options at Bryant Park too. Try the Bryant Park Grill, Le Pain Quotiden or L’OR Porch.
The Lawn is also popular spot where people just stop and hang out.
Bryant Park Carousel
A vintage carousel with imaginative rabbits and frogs in place of horses, as well as storytelling and magic shows, is located on the park’s southern edge. Take a ride on the French-inspired, Brooklyn-made Le Carrousel for an interesting perspective on the midtown Manhattan park. It is an especially fun spot to visit with kids.
Bryant Park Summer Film Festival
Bryant Park offers free outdoor Monday-night screenings of vintage Hollywood films from mid-June to mid-August. The events begin after dusk but be sure to arrive early to reserve your spot.
Quirky Activities at Bryant Park
Would you like to enrol in a painting workshop, go on a birdwatching tour, take a yoga or juggling class, or learn the basics of Italian language? There are free daily activities that you can join at Bryant Park. It is an interesting way to experience the park and park life.
Skating Rink & Winter Village at Bryant Park
Come late October to Bryant Park and you experience the artificial frozen “pond” which is rolled out from October to March. Admission to the rink is technically free but if you need to, you can rent skate rentals to enjoy ice-skating or just bring your own.
Around the ice rink are the Christmas-market stalls of Bryant Park Winter Village, which sells handcrafted goods and all sorts of festive goodies for the holidays.
Monuments at Bryant Park
If you are into history, there are plenty of monuments and statues around Bryant Park to pique your interest.
Start at the Upper Terrace, at the rear of the New York Public Library, where you you will find the The William Cullen Bryant Memorial is located here. Bryant (1794–1878) led the effort to establish Central Park and was a newspaper editor as well as one of the most well-known poets in America. Bryant Park is named after him.
Directly west of the Bryant Memorial is a bronze bust of American author, poet, dramatist, and art collector Gertrude Stein. She was renowned for hosting literary and artistic gatherings at her Paris salon, where luminaries such as Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald convened.
William Earl Dodge (1805–1833), a businessman and philanthropist who founded Phelps, Dodge & Company, leaders in the copper trade, is depicted in a bronze statue located on the park’s north side.
Dedicated in 1912, the pink granite Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain sits at the park’s western entrance. This was New York City’s first public memorial honouring a woman in the city. Lowell (1843–1905) founded the New York Consumers League and started a number of nonprofit institutions, such as the Woman’s Municipal League, and the New York Charity Organisation.
Toilets at Bryant Park
You may also be interested to know that the public toilets at Bryant Park have regularly been voted as one of the best restrooms in New York City. The Bryant Park toilet have Italian tiles and come with fixtures and even piped in music. Best of all, they are free but you may have to line up to make use of them since everyone else will want to do so too.
You can keep up with the latest things to do in Bryant Park here. You may also enjoy visiting the New York Public Library main building next to Bryant Park.
You may also be interested in these other NYC waterfront parks.
