{"id":291984,"date":"2026-07-10T01:16:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T01:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/291984\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T01:16:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T01:16:39","slug":"what-you-discover-when-you-take-absurdly-long-walks-through-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/291984\/","title":{"rendered":"What you discover when you take absurdly long walks through NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

This column originally appeared in Looped In NYC newsletter. Sign up here<\/a>.
If you live in New York City, you already know you don\u2019t need a driver\u2019s license to get around.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a difference between walking to the subway to get somewhere and going on *very* long walks around the five boroughs for the fun of it. I\u2019m talking about 15-20 mile walks.<\/p>\n

Content creator Isabella Carr<\/a> has coined the term \u201cpsychotically long walks\u201d to describe her hourslong strolls through the city, which have helped her gain over 111,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. She\u2019s walked from North Brooklyn to the Rockaways<\/a>, the Met<\/a> and even to New Jersey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you’re walking, you’re not only connecting with yourself, but you\u2019re also forcing yourself to experience and embrace the city around you,\u201d Carr told me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a large issue of major cities, and especially New York, is people come to these cities and they don’t actually know the city that they’re living in, and I think that’s why you get a lot of resentment and angst from native New Yorkers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

I got into \u201cpsychotically long walks\u201d this year after my friend Monet Takeda gathered a group to walk Manhattan\u2019s 32-mile perimeter with her so she could win her job\u2019s step challenge.<\/p>\n

At first, it sounded intimidating. But a few miles in, I started noticing things I hadn\u2019t before \u2014 like how a neighborhood\u2019s vibe and architecture can shift in a span of a few blocks, how beautiful the old-growth forest in Inwood Hill Park is, and how easy it is to forget you\u2019re on an island until you\u2019re walking along its entire edge.<\/p>\n

Soon after, I started looking for reasons to take some long walks of my own. I planned a top-to-bottom walk of Brooklyn with a friend, from Greenpoint to Coney Island. I spent an entire Sunday walking 15 miles through the Bronx and Upper Manhattan with a college friend who works in urban planning and narrated the entire route with facts about the city.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just me who\u2019s enthusiastic about this. There\u2019s a growing appetite for long-distance walking in NYC as a shared, deliberate activity, not just a way to get somewhere.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s even a new app called WalkNYC<\/a> that allows New Yorkers to track each block they\u2019ve ever walked in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI really did one-thousandth of a percent of the work. New York does the rest, right?\u201d said Joe Puccio, who created WalkNYC. \u201cYou\u2019re walking on a block that you’ve walked by a hundred times, but just didn’t take that couple extra steps to go down a different one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aThe hope here is that people will walk more, explore more neighborhoods, and getting people who already love the city to fall a little deeper,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To Carr, one major appeal of her \u201cpsychotically long walks\u201d is that they\u2019re *free* at a time of increased living costs and seemingly endless commodification of everyday life.<\/p>\n

Sofia Sulikowski, who hosts long-distance group walks<\/a> in NYC and works in tech, said another appeal might be a desire to connect with others and be outside as technology appears to be taking an even bigger role in our day-to-day lives.<\/p>\n

And walking in NYC is a rich experience that can\u2019t be easily replicated in other American cities, Sulikowski said.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aIt’s hard to run out of places to walk in New York,\u201d she said. \u201cEven within the same neighborhood, there are stores that are underground, things that are maybe tucked behind an alley or a little park that you missed because you were on the opposite side of the street, and then when you rewalk it, your view from the opposite side of the sidewalk is completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to start taking your own long walks in NYC, here are some tips from the walking experts I talked with:<\/p>\n

How do I plan a route?<\/p>\n

Carr says she picks a destination that she either hasn\u2019t been to before or hasn\u2019t been to often, then loosely charts it out on Google Maps. But she chooses her own route, depending on specific places she wants to visit. And the most popular areas aren’t necessarily where you\u2019ll learn something new, she said.<\/p>\n

If you get stuck on the highway or find yourself on a long stretch of industrial landscape, it might suck for a bit, but it\u2019s all part of the journey. \u201cYou have to know that there’s gonna be lows and highs, and to appreciate the highs, you need to accept the lows,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n

Sulikowski says she looks for streets with bike lanes and tree covers for a more pleasant walking route. And she prefers smaller streets over wide avenues, which typically have a lot of vehicle traffic.<\/p>\n

How do I keep myself entertained?<\/p>\n

Carr likes to walk in silence and solve her life problems on her long walks. She\u2019ll also call loved ones and sometimes listen to music.<\/p>\n

Sulikowski encourages walkers to avoid their headphones and put their \u201cphotographer glasses on\u201d instead. \u201cWalking moves you through at a speed where you’re really able to notice, like, \u2018Wow, that lamp post is in front of this really beautiful tree,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sulikowski said walking also helps her to think more creatively. (A Stanford University study<\/a> found people are 60% more creative when they’re walking than when they\u2019re sitting.)<\/p>\n

What essentials should I bring?<\/p>\n

Carr suggests bringing lip balm, wired headphones, coconut water, sunscreen to reapply during the walk, a lip liner and perfume in case you have plans afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aOthers might say a portable charger and hand sanitizer. Not for me. My phone will die. It’s OK, and my hands will get dirty,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sulikowski also brings a hat, an emergency snack, bandages and a phone charger.<\/p>\n

How do I deal with fatigue from walking that long?<\/p>\n

First of all, not everyone needs to do a \u201cpsychotically long walk,\u201d to get into walking for fun, Carr said.<\/p>\n

You can start anywhere. \u200aGo on a 20-minute walk, and add 5 minutes more everyday. Or instead of taking the train somewhere, walk halfway, because why not?<\/p>\n

Increasing the time you spend on your feet will make long walks easier, like working at a standing desk, Sulikowski said. You can also plan more sitting breaks throughout your long walk and add fun drink or pastry stops to keep you going, Sofia said.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t constantly check how many miles you\u2019ve walked because that can really trip you up, said Pam Cress, the president of Shorewalkers, which organizes the annual 32-mile urban hike around Manhattan\u2019s perimeter. Instead, she suggests just listening to your body.<\/p>\n

And bring along a friend! It\u2019s easier to take long walks with other people because conversation can keep the time moving, Cress said.<\/p>\n

You can listen to the radio conversation here<\/a>!<\/p>\n