One Of New York's Most Underrated Destinations Is A Stunning Victorian Castle Hidden Away In Central Park

A full-scale Victorian castle probably doesn't make the list of likely encounters for someone strolling along Central Park, yet there it is — a Gothic and Romanesque structure perched like something plucked straight from the European countryside and dropped into Manhattan. Belvedere Castle has been stealing scenes in Central Park since 1872, and somehow it remains one of New York's best-kept secrets.

Central Park had always been that kind of place — a 843-acre bag of surprises that manages to fit everything from a memorial for music lovers to pay tribute to John Lennon at Strawberry Fields to hidden waterfalls and Shakespearean gardens that most visitors never discover. It's exactly the park's ability to house both the everyday and the extraordinary that makes discovering a miniature castle feel less like an impossibility and more like an inevitability. After all, where else would you expect to find a weather station disguised as medieval architecture?

For visitors trying to experience New York City without going completely broke, discovering gems like Belvedere Castle becomes even more valuable. Unlike most Manhattan attractions, the castle costs nothing to visit, and it's within walking distance from the West Side YMCA, one of New York City's most affordable places to stay for its location, at under $200 a night. And while millions of people pass through Central Park each year, most never make it up to Vista Rock's second-highest natural elevation to see what architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould built as their Victorian "folly." Their loss is your gain because this particular folly has stories to tell.

The castle's story began in 1865 when Vaux and Mould designed what was essentially a beautiful building with no real purpose other than to look magnificent against the sky. Constructed from Manhattan schist quarried right from the park, the structure was meant to be pure eye candy, a romantic focal point emerging from the dramatic rock outcropping beneath it. What they couldn't have predicted was how it would eventually become the official weather station for New York City, or how it evolved into one of the park's most fascinating — and surprisingly functional — destinations.

The architects constructed the entire castle from the same Manhattan schist that forms Vista Rock itself, which is why the building appears to grow directly from the stone foundation beneath it. The light-colored trim came from granite shipped down from Massachusetts, creating a contrast that makes the structure pop against Central Park's greenery. The result is a miniature fortress complete with a grand turret, stone façade, and arched windows that would look perfectly at home in a fairy tale.

Originally, the castle had no windows or doors — Vaux and Mould intended it as an open-air lookout tower. The views from the balconies sweep across some of Central Park's most iconic spots: the Great Lawn stretching out to the north, the Ramble unfolding to the south, and Turtle Pond sitting directly below like a moat. During autumn, these vantage points become particularly spectacular. The castle's elevation gives visitors a bird's-eye perspective of the canopy transformations that turn Central Park into one of the city's most stunning natural spectacles each October, rivaling some of Central Park's best spots for fall foliage viewing.