Walk This Way: The Seven Best Strolls In and Around New York City

Walk This Way: The Seven Best Strolls In and Around New York City



Pounding
the pavements is the best way to get a feel for a city.
Don’t hail that yellow cab; amble about New
York
like an old-school flâneur instead. These routes will take
you from warehouse art galleries, through thickets of cherry
blossom to open-air pools and back again.

Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park and the Bronx: NYC’s best
sightseeing routes by foot


Whitney Museum of American Art to Hudson Yards

Start at the Whitney, a gallery of 20th-century and contemporary
American art, and meander onto the High Line (a disused railway
track transformed into an elevated linear park) by taking the
entrance on West 14th Street. Stroll through Chelsea’s glut of
galleries before being deposited at Hudson Yards, a hub of cultural
institutions and home to that crisscrossing “stairway to nowhere”
you’ve probably seen on Instagram. Stop for
brunch
in the Meatpacking District halfway.

This image is on holiday

Hudson River Greenway

Walking this paved waterside path’s full 21km would take you
about four and a half hours. It’s separated from traffic (a dream
for cyclists) and cuts through a handful of the city’s parks en
route – Riverside Park erupts into a riot of candy-floss-pink
cherry blossom each spring. The most scenic expanse stretches from
Inwood Hill down to West 59th Street, after which point it becomes
a little busier with commuters and general city hustle.


Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo

The Brooklyn Bridge? Yawn. But hear us out. Once you’ve scaled
the length of this iconic river crossing whose views out over
Manhattan
really shouldn’t be snubbed, you can potter about New York’s Dumbo
neighbourhood where old warehouses have been colonised by
independent boutiques, cafés and pop-up art spaces.


Van Cortlandt Park

Hop on the 1 train and ride it to 242nd Street Station in the
Bronx – its northernmost stop. Here you’ll find Van Cortlandt Park,
named after the Dutch plantation owners who once called this
1,000-acre park home. Follow the rickety train tracks of the old
New York and Putnam Railroad for a few kilometres, pop into the Van
Cortlandt’s carefully preserved colonial-style home or take a
cooling dip in the park’s open-air (and free) public pool.


Soho to Nolita

You’ll begin this sweeping L-shaped walk amid the bright lights
of Soho at Canal Street station. Find the top of Grand Street and
head east. Cut across Broadway and you’ll eventually end up at the
Old Police Headquarters – a landmark which signifies the start of
Little Italy. See-saw from deli to deli as you meander through this
grid of inter-cultural blocks on the cusp of Chinatown. Take Mott
Street and head north into Nolita, where a flurry of interiors
stores await.

This image is on holiday

West Village to Washington Square Park

Start at the very tip of Bleecker Street – you’ll know it’s the
right place when you spot Marc Jacobs’s eponymous book shop,
Bookmarc – and continue south until you hit the intersection with
Christopher Street. At this point, you can either turn left for a
pit-stop at The Stonewall Inn or head onwards. It’s a short walk
from Bleeker Street to Washington Square Park, but one that will
take time if you stop off at the area’s buffet of stylish clothing
stores and famous pizzerias as you go.


Central Park

It’s an obvious one, but it’s a goodie. We suggest starting with
brunch at Flora Bar in the brutalist shell of The Met Breuer.
Having fueled your appetite, pootle into the park via its East 72nd
Street entrance. Skirt Pilgrim Hill (beset by sledders come
winter), pass the motorised playboats of Conservatory Water and the
monument to Hans Christian Andersen before refilling on coffee at
The Loeb Boathouse.