Best Walking Tour of New York City
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New York City Walking Tour is the best way to see the Big Apple. When visiting New York and staying overnight most people tend to stay in the Times Square area, simply because the majority of the city’s hotels are located there. As important as this area is, for the hotels and Broadway theatres, it’s mostly tall buildings with not much sky showing, and huge crowds.
Greenwich Village
To really appreciate New York City I would recommend getting out of Times Square and heading to Greenwich Village. The major difference you’ll see right away is that Greenwich Village is actually a residential neighborhood where New Yorkers live. And that means you can walk the neighborhood without the crowds from up north. These beautiful tree-lined streets can be appreciated without the hordes of bodies brushing past you like speeding taxis.
The community board of Greenwich Village doesn’t like crowds either. The area had a height restriction on new buildings to be under 10 stories but is now being challenged in court. New York University wants to expand its student capacity and build a high rise building of 24 floors in this low-key residential community.
So get your walking shoes ready for great walking in a wonderful neighborhood. As a native New Yorker, I love to walk around the city and find a great spot to eat in.
For your walking and culinary pleasures, I will divulge 4 places; 2 places to eat, and 2 cultural treasures to visit.
First head to Francois Payard for lunch, a French bakery/restaurant owned by a master chef. You can have a salad, sandwich, and dessert here and everything is delicious including the macaroons.
Washington Square Park
Next, we’ll head to Washington Square Park. As you exit the bakery turn right and go right on Sullivan Street, and take this lovely street straight to the park. A great spot to see students from New York University, tourists, and local New Yorkers enjoying a little rest and some really good people watching. Make sure you see the arch from outside the park, it’s a smaller copy of the Arch de Triumph.
Waverly Place
You should be on Waverly Place now, and go in the direction of the motor vehicles to Avenue of the Americas. Turn left and go 4 blocks to Carmine Street. Here you will smell great pizza as you are in front of Joe’s Pizza. I would get a slice if I were you. On the other corner of Carmine Street is Grom, a great place for gelato or sorbet. Take a right here and you should be on Bleecker Street, go for several blocks until you hit Magnolia Bakery on the corner of West 11th Street. This is one of the better cupcake joints in the city and became famous from Sex and the City.
Highline
As you exit Magnolia, turn right and stay on Bleecker Street until it dead ends. Turn right and go north up to West 14th Street, and then go left for 2 avenues, right before 10th Avenue you’ll see a staircase go up to the Highline. A wonderful place to see a bit of history, formerly an elevated railroad that brought meat from all over America to this neighborhood called the Meatpacking District, aptly named for meat wholesalers who called this area home.
New York City food tours are a perfect way to walk around great neighborhoods like the Brooklyn Bridge, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy, and Chinatown and eat in iconic New York shops and restaurants. All tours include a full meal and visit famous historic points of interest.