New York Prospect Park Drive Circuit and a Harbor Fitness Guest Pass
Updated October 3, 2026
Jog up from Fifth Avenue to Bartel-Pritchard Square and run Prospect Park West to Grand Army Plaza. Then follow the car-free drive clockwise around the lake and finish with the sauna back on Fifth Avenue.
Olmsted and Vaux designed Prospect Park after Central Park, and it opened in 1867; plenty of Brooklynites will tell you it's the better of the two. This route runs the park's straight western edge on Prospect Park West, then follows the rolling drive down the east side and around a sixty acre lake. The loop has been closed to cars since 2018, so on weekend mornings you share it with club races, stroller joggers and cyclists in pace lines. Harbor Fitness on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope has a sauna and free towels and takes paying guests. Its day lockers can hold your bag, but say at check-in that you'll step out and return, in case a guest visit counts once. As of October 2026, Bounce's Brooklyn shops hold a suitcase from $2.90 a day.
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The run: Prospect Park West and park drive loop
Most of it is car-free, the drive is smooth and well marked, and the lone hill comes near the end, with lake views and plenty of fellow runners along the way.
- Distance
- 8.1 km (5.0 mi)
- Start
- Harbor Fitness Park Slope
From the gym, jog east up the slope of the neighborhood to Bartel-Pritchard Square. Then turn north along Prospect Park West, keeping to the sidewalk on the park side rather than the two-way bike lane next to it. At Grand Army Plaza, enter the park and join East Drive heading south, staying in the lane marked for people on foot. The drive drops gently past the zoo to Lakeside, the skating and recreation center on the water, then passes the columned Peristyle near Parkside Avenue and curves west below the lake toward Park Circle. Turn north on West Drive for the one real climb of the run, back up to Bartel-Pritchard Square, and descend the same cross streets to the gym. Runners may go either way in the pedestrian lane, while bikes keep to the center lanes heading counterclockwise, so you can see riders coming.
Open the route mapBeyond the sauna and free towels there's a big weight floor and a cardio deck. Guests must be 18 or older and leave a photo ID at the front desk during the workout.
- Price
- As of October 2026, $25 a visit, and your first guest visit is free
- Showers
- Yes
- Hours
- Weekdays 5 am to 11 pm, Saturday and Sunday 7 am to 9 pm
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