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Bryant Park is a rectangle of lawn behind the New York Public Library that changes personality with the seasons: lawn games and outdoor films in summer, and each winter a Winter Village of market stalls around a free ice rink. It is one of Midtown's few genuinely calm spaces, and most of what it puts on is free.
We at Travelmyth, the hotel search engine that ranks stays by your interests and needs across 60 stay categories, put this short guide together because Bryant Park rewards knowing what season you have caught it in. Here is what to do in winter, what to do in summer, and how it fits with the sights around it. It is a companion to our wider guide to things to do in New York City.
Each winter, Bryant Park becomes the Winter Village: rows of holiday market stalls wrapped around an ice rink. The market grew from the Holiday Shops introduced in 2002, and in 2005 a free-admission ice-skating rink was added. Admission to the rink is free, though you need to reserve a skating time and pay for skate rental if you do not bring your own. It is one of the most atmospheric corners of the city at Christmas, and booking an off-peak slot can reduce the rental cost and may make for a less hectic visit.
In the warm months the park flips to a green Midtown commons. Bryant Park Movie Nights, running since the early 1990s, fill the lawn on Monday evenings in summer. Arrive early with a blanket for a spot. The rest of the week the park lays on free activities: a staffed games area with board games, a staffed chess area, ping pong on two tables with paddles and balls provided, Petanque on gravel courts by the 42nd Street corner, an Art Cart and the Reading Room, plus scheduled free classes and activities including yoga, tai chi and juggling. Most of it costs nothing, which is the whole point of the place.
Le Carrousel, the park's carousel, has spun in the southern section since 2002 and is the year-round fixture. The central lawn defines the park during the warmer months. In winter, the grass is removed and recycled because it cannot survive beneath the rink. Fresh sod is laid after the winter season. In the warmer months, an hour on the lawn or at a game table is one of the easier pleasures in Midtown.
Bryant Park sits directly behind one of the city's landmarks. Immediately east of the park stands the New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, which is worth stepping inside. Times Square is a short walk west, at the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, so the park makes a good calm counterpoint before or after the noise. The three together, library, park and square, are an easy, walkable Midtown afternoon.
Bryant Park is a 30-to-60-minute stop for most of the year, long enough for a coffee, a game and a wander. In Winter Village season, give it an evening: the market and the rink reward a slower visit, especially after dark when the lights are on. The Holiday Shops and the rink do not always run to the same dates, so check the current season's opening and closing days before you plan around them.
Staying in Midtown around Bryant Park puts the park, the library, Times Square and the shops within a short walk. On Travelmyth you can filter New York stays by the features that matter to you, such as a boutique-style property, a stay in a skyscraper or accommodation in a historic building, and combine two of those filters at once to narrow the long list to the handful that fit how you travel.