New York City Pelham Bay Park

New York City’s largest park, 2700-acre Pelham Bay Park boasts playing fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, well-paved biking trails, golf courses, wildlife sanctuaries, Orchard Beach , and training grounds for the city’s mounted police force. The knowledgeable park rangers lead a variety of history- and nature-oriented walks. From the Pelham Bay Stables, you can take a guided ride around the park on horseback. The Empire/Greek Revival Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum sits within a formal English garden landscaped in 1915. The house’s wonders include a freestanding spiral staircase and a pond, complete with goldfish and a spouting cherub. (In the northeast corner of the Bronx. S 6 to Pelham Bay Park. ☎718-430-1890; www.nycgovparks.org. Open dawn to dusk. STABLES: Shore Rd. at City Island Dr. Take Bx29 from the Pelham Bay Park station. ☎718-885-0551; www.nychorse.com. Open daily 9am-dusk. $30 per hr. 30min. lesson $40; reserve ahead. BARTOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM: 895 Shore Rd., opposite the golf courses. ☎718-885-1461; www.bartowpellmansionmuseum.org. Open W and Sa-Su noon-4pm. $5, students and seniors $3, under 6 free.)