Prospect Park

This grand urban oasis was built in the 1860s, the project of landscaping visionaries Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also created Central Park. The 585-acre Prospect Park is truly Brooklyn’s backyard; in fair weather, locals can be found blissing out on Long Meadow’s grassy knolls, getting lost in the wilderness of the Ravine, and tossing Frisbees in the Nethermead. City planner Robert Moses also put his stamp in the diamond-shaped green space, adding the Prospect Park Bandshell (where the wonderful summer concert series Celebrate Brooklyn! takes place) and kid-friendly Prospect Park Zoo. The park’s latest architectural marvel is the Lakeside complex, a $74 million redevelopment three years in the making that opened in 2013. Families should not miss its two multiuse skating rinks, comprised of an ice rink for hockey and skating in the winter and a water playground and roller-rink in the summer.