New York City: Home of delicious bagels, excellent pizza, the Statue of Liberty, a lot of people who all walk very fast, and today’s guest post contributor! Jeremy and I visit New York City frequently to see our family, and we’re often overwhelmed by its sheer size. Coming from little San Francisco, where you can literally walk from one side to the other in a day, it’s hard to know where to even start to explore this gigantic city.
So, we asked an expert: Steph from Jet Set Steph, who has lived in New York City for 6 years. Steph recommends tackling just one section of New York at a time. She broke the city into one, manageable, bite-size chunk: Lower Manhattan.
And thus, the self-guided walking tour of Lower Manhattan was born.
Planning a trip to the Big Apple? Take a look at some of our other posts about destinations nearby:
Looking for more places to explore on foot? Take a look at some of our other walking tours to inspire your next trip:
Table of Contents
Hey, want a printable version of this post? We’ve created a printable map of our self-guided Lower Manhattan walking tour! It’s formatted and shortened to fit onto one easy to print page: directions on the front, map on the back. Super handy! Get your FREE New York walking tour printable map by entering your email below:
OK, ready to start your tour?
This self-guided walking tour of NYC covers 4.6 miles and takes you through Tribeca, the Financial District, the South Street Seaport, and a smidge of Chinatown! And because we’re literally never not eating, we also included brunch, dinner, drinks, and even dessert 😉
Your self-guided walking tour of Lower Manhattan will start in Tribeca, an upscale neighborhood where celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Beyonce & JayZ live. But sadly, not Alex Trebek. And the neighborhood isn’t named after him, either. Disappointing.
If I’m being honest, I treat every trip to Tribeca as an excuse to low-key stalk Tswift. If you see her, tell her I said hay girl and that I forgive her for her latest song and her white feminism, because I can tell she’s really trying to do better. By the way, one of my favorite Beyonce music videos, 7/11, was filmed at her apartment in Tribeca. So cool!
I’m kidding, those aren’t actual stops. We haven’t even started the tour yet! So put down your all-black outfit and your paparazzi camera and don’t call the cops on me because I’ve definitely never tried to sneak into a building by putting on my most fashionable outfit and my “I belong” face/lipstick and walking directly behind anyone who enters and giving a quick “Morning” to the security guards like we already know each other. Never.
So let’s start the tour, shall we?
What’s a day in New York without brunch? Begin your day at Two Hands on Church Street in Tribeca with some of the best #basic fancy toast you can find. Fuel up with an avocado toast on sourdough with chile and lime, smashed peas with ricotta, or mushroom toast with cashew cream and arugula pesto. As an important bonus, this is the perfect spot to post your first Instagram photo of the day. (Ps: tag us! @practicalwanderlust 😉 /shameless plug)
From the restaurant, head west until you reach the waterfront of the Hudson River. Take a right on Leonard, a left on Hudson, and a right on Harrison and you’ll hit pier 25.
Running along the west side of the island is a 550-acre riverside park called the Hudson River Park. Spaced throughout the park are piers that offer fun (and often free!) activities, like rock climbing, trapeze, kayaking, or living vicariously through other people’s adorable pets (aka dog parks). Check out this sweet interactive map to explore all of the rad activities in the park, and be sure to check the events calendar to see if there’s a pop-up dance party or free movie playing.
Walking along the river is a great way to enjoy some open spaces and greenery, which helps us New Yorkers sometimes forget we live in a concrete jungle.
Continue south along the river for about 15 minutes, until you hit Vesey Street.
