Next Saturday, October 12, 2019, at 10:30 am the Rockefeller Center ice-skating rink season is scheduled to open, which is always the earliest and the one that closes later, so the season to practice this sport outdoors in New York can begin.
The best ice skating rinks in New York
There are a lot of ice skating rinks all over New York, but today we’re going to talk about the three favorite rinks of every New Yorker and tourist. In all of them we have spectacular views of Manhattan as we skate, they start to open now and will be closed by mid-April. They are the following ones:
- Rockefeller Center: It is the most famous in New York and has been the favorite winter diversion of New Yorkers for more than 80 years. It will start on October 12, weather permitting, and will remain open until April 14. It is also the most expensive of all, because skating in it depends on the day of the week and the time, but rarely falls below 37.5 dollars (25 dollars for adults in low season, 15 dollars for children under 11 years or over 65 years and 12.5 dollars in all cases the rental of skates at the beginning of the season, the price at Christmas increases 8 dollars) for 90 minutes of ice skating. However, skating on this rink at night is priceless. For those who want to enjoy it, I suggest going skating during the week, because on Fridays and weekends the Rockefeller Center rink becomes impossible.
- Bryant Park: In this iconic park there is a large skating rink next to its Christmas market, which will practically cover the entire main esplanade of the park from 31 October to 1 March, and where you can skate from 8 am to 10 pm. It’s the cheapest of all, because it’s free to skate in Bryant Park if you bring your skates and it costs 20 dollars to rent them.
- Central Park: Although there are several ice skating rinks scattered around Central Park, the best known is Wollman Rink, which is located very close to the E 60th Street entrance and will open on Monday, October 21st to remain in operation until early April. The views of Manhattan are spectacular too, and it is worth going skating during the week, as it costs 22 dollars to skate from Monday to Thursday to an adult (16 dollars for children under 11 and 15 dollars for those over 65) and 29 dollars from Friday to Sunday to an adult (16 dollars for children under 11 and 19 dollars for those over 65), including in all cases the rental of skates, if you go with yours it will cost 10 dollars less. Finally note that in this rink only accept cash payment.
And for those who are a bit clumsy like me, I would suggest that you do not stop going to some of these rinks and enjoy, from the enabled bleachers, the show given by some of the skaters when they are open.
This is a video of the ice skating rinks we talked about, so you can get an idea of what they are like:
For more information
For more information on schedules and fares for the different ice rinks in New York, visit the official website where you will also find schedules and days when the rink will be closed or has a special schedule (generally coincide these special schedules with Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s Day).:
- Official website of Rockefeller Center.
- Official site of pista de hielo de Bryant Park.
- Official website of Wollman Rink.
