Central Park: Film Locations & Celebrity Homes Pedicab Tour

4.95

(168 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect to laugh this much on a Central Park pedicab tour. Our guide—his name was Sam, with this easy New York accent—knew every shortcut and story. Right away, he pointed out the spot from “Home Alone 2” (I’d never noticed it before), then swung us past the zoo where apparently Alex the lion would’ve escaped if cartoons were real. The air smelled like wet grass and roasted nuts from a cart nearby. I kept thinking: how is this all in the middle of Manhattan?

We stopped at Bethesda Fountain and Sam told us about the films shot there—he even did a quick impression of a scene from “Enchanted,” which got a couple walking by to grin at us. At Bow Bridge, he insisted we take photos (“Trust me, you’ll want these later!”). The skyline over Billionaire’s Row looked almost fake in the afternoon light; I tried to capture it but my phone couldn’t do it justice. We rolled past Strawberry Fields and he lowered his voice for Lennon’s memorial—people left flowers that morning. It felt quiet there, even with distant taxi horns.

I lost count of how many celebrity homes Sam pointed out along the Upper West Side (he winked when he said one belonged to someone “who definitely wouldn’t wave back”). We passed Belvedere Castle and I realized I’d never actually seen it up close before—kind of whimsical, honestly. There was this moment near the reservoir where everything went still for a second, just wind in the trees and some joggers passing by. I still think about that view sometimes.