Central Park's North Rink: $5 Weekday Ice, $10 Skates Extra

November 1 is a celebration, not a free skating day. The free part is a thirty-minute Learn to Skate group lesson at 11, taught by U.S. Figure Skating–certified coaches and open to any age or level; it comes with rental skates and needs a booking in advance. Bring a helmet, since none are rented out. A surprise guest performs on the ice at 11:50. Then three 80-minute public sessions run from noon to 5 with a live DJ and costumed characters, each booked separately — and because Sunday is peak, adults pay $10 and children $5.

The $5 is adult admission to off-peak ice before rental. Peak covers weekday evenings from 5 to 11, all weekend, and all day on NYC public school holidays and vacation days; Veterans Day on November 11 closes city schools, and so does the Thanksgiving recess on Thursday November 26 and Friday November 27, so both price at peak. The rest of that week, Monday through Wednesday, is a normal school week, so a daytime skate still costs $5. Off-peak is 7 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Skates rent for $10 a session and a lock for $5, so a weekday afternoon starts around $15. Session times move with the date, so read the booking calendar rather than a fixed timetable: Wednesday November 4 lists five sessions, the first at 8:10 am and the last starting at 2:10 pm, all inside the window.

Ride the 2 or 3 to Central Park North–110 Street, then walk about twelve minutes south to the Conservatory Garden's Vanderbilt Gate at 105th Street. See the garden first: in November and December it opens at 8 and closes at 5, and the North Garden's Korean chrysanthemums are the autumn reason to come; treat mid November as the last good window for them and plan a plain walk after that. From the gate it is about six minutes north to the Davis Center, which leaves an early-afternoon session inside the $5 window. Anyone who would rather watch can wait in the free indoor gathering space.