So you like the idea of walking Manhattan but can’t find the time? Here’s how I did it starting right at the Columbia Gates.

Walking the length of Manhattan has been a bucket list item of mine for as long as I can remember, but it is a time commitment, taking some almost 10 hours. So if you want to walk Manhattan but don’t have that kind of time, I did a more student friendly edition starting from the Columbia gates all the way down. It only took us around 4.5 hours, and ultimately we still felt accomplished some 13 miles later!

My roommate and I conquered the walk on a sunny Saturday in September; while it got warmer as the day went on, I would definitely recommend doing it on a day when the sun is shining because the vibes were high and the city was buzzing. 

First stop: breakfast and coffee! Since we started out at around 9 am, we decided to make breakfast the first item on our agenda. If you walk down Broadway from 116th to around 80th street and then head over to Amsterdam Avenue, you will find a host of the cutest cafes and restaurants. My roomie and I both agree that this is one of our favorite areas in the city! We opted to sit at a cafe called Maman. The coffee was great, and their pastries were incredible as well. It was the perfect beginning to fuel the rest of our walk.

From there we decided to walk alongside the iconic Central Park. We found it extremely easy to navigate around because of the block system. As we reached the end of the park, we found ourselves at Columbus Circle and made the executive decision to avoid the hustle and bustle of Times Square on a Saturday, opting to walk down 6th Avenue instead, where we made our second stop at Rockefeller Center. Top tip: Rockefeller Center is a great place to take an AC and bathroom break, or honestly, just grab a seat outside and people watch by the open space (this turns into the winter ice rink). 

We walked down 6th Avenue for a few more blocks and ultimately passed Radio City Music Hall, which is an awesome photo spot, and of course, an iconic NYC landmark. We really enjoyed 6th Avenue because it was far enough away from the crowds of 5th and 7th Avenues especially in the midtown area and continuing along we, walked through Bryant Park (another spot that turns into a Christmas market and ice rink during the winter!).

The heat had begun to slow us down a bit, which meant it was time for a food stop. L’industrie Pizza has been haunting my For You Page, and with that in mind, we took a bit of a detour into the West Village for a quick lunch (once we made it through the long line). Honestly, while it was an extra bit of walking, I would highly recommend it because the pizza is unfortunately worth the hype and the line! And no good lunch is complete without dessert. We walked over to Culture for some frozen yogurt, another place we had seen all over social media and needed to try. 

This is definitely optional, but we were so close to Soho at this point, which enticed me to do some window shopping because there was no way I was about to carry bags. It was really nice to slow down the pace of our walk, hopping in and out of cute little boutiques.

After strolling through Soho and deciding that we have it so much better than those NYU kids, we made a move to the last area, walking straight down to the financial district. The Wall Street Charging Bull is a classic NYC photo spot, but we were not in the mood for another line just for a pic, so we opted to admire it from afar. And finally, less than ten minutes later, we arrived at Battery Park, ready to take the subway back to campus from the South Ferry Station!

Overall, with all our extra little pit stops, we clocked in at around 13 miles, which is in fact the length of Manhattan, just with our special take on it. 

If I have to say anything about this walk, it would be to plan it around things you want to see or do (in our case, eat) rather than just walking to say you did it; it makes the journey more enjoyable with excitement leading up to each stop.

Image via Bwarchives