Royal Midtown Lights Tour

About this tour

The Royal Midtown Lights Tour is the one ride in our line-up that is barely a park tour at all. In its 55 minutes it clips the southeast corner of Central Park at Gapstow Bridge, leaves through the gate beside the Plaza Hotel, and spends everything that remains on Fifth Avenue. If lawns, bridges and the Lake are what you came for, one of our Central Park routes will serve you far better. This ride is about lit windows and stone facades.

Departures begin at 8:30 PM, and that is deliberate: the avenue has to be dark for this route to earn its name. You enter the park briefly, cross at Gapstow Bridge with the towers of Central Park South rising behind it, then come back out at the Plaza and turn down Fifth Avenue. From there it is one landmark after another at a walking roll — Saint Thomas Church, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the Rockefeller Center plaza and skating rink, and the marquee of Radio City Music Hall — before the carriage turns back toward the stand at 7th Avenue and Central Park South. Your driver pauses at Saint Patrick's and again at Rockefeller Center; along the rest of the avenue the carriage slows wherever traffic allows rather than stopping. The tour runs January 10 through November 20; from November 21 to January 9 it pauses and our Christmas tours cover the season instead.

What's included

• Private carriage for up to 4 adults — never shared with another party
• 55 minutes, departing after dark from 8:30 PM
• Fifth Avenue landmarks: Saint Thomas Church, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall
• Blankets in the cold months
• Licensed, experienced driver

Tour route & landmarks

1. Depart 7th Ave & Central Park South (180 Central Park South, New York, NY 10019)
2. Enter Central Park
3. Gapstow Bridge
4. Exit Park
5. Plaza Hotel
6. Fifth Avenue
7. Saint Thomas Church
8. Saint Patrick's Cathedral (photo stop)
9. Rockefeller Center (photo stop)
10. Radio City Music Hall
11. Return

Pricing

$194.99 buys the whole carriage, not a seat in one. Each carriage takes up to 4 adults; with children 12 and under the seating can be 3 adults and 2 children, 2 adults and 4 children, or 1 adult and 6 children. There is no late-hour surcharge — the fare is identical on every date this ride runs.

Who this tour is for

Guests who have already done Central Park and want the other half of Manhattan; couples building an evening around a late dinner; visitors staying in Midtown who would rather look at Fifth Avenue than at a meadow. It is the wrong booking if you are travelling with small children who will be asleep by nine, if you want a daytime ride, or if Central Park itself is the reason you wanted a carriage — you are inside the park for only a few minutes of this one.

Frequently asked questions