The group started with three people and a slightly vague plan. Sophia had suggested, half seriously, that anyone who fancied a walk should meet by the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park at nine on Saturday morning. Daniel came because a colleague had mentioned it. Priya, a nurse who had just moved from Chicago, came because she had read that walking was the fastest way to learn a city. Nobody knew quite what to expect. Two hours later, they had crossed the park from south to north, eaten pretzels on a bench by the reservoir and agreed to do it again the following week.
That was a year ago. The group now has seven regulars and a rotating cast of newcomers. They have walked almost every famous path in the city and a good many lesser-known ones. And somewhere along the way, without anyone quite noticing, a group of people who met as strangers became friends. This is the story of some of their favourite walks, and why walking turned out to be such a good way to build a friendship.
Why walking works
Walking takes the pressure off. Sitting across a table from someone new can feel like an interview, with every silence stretching a little too long. Walking side by side is different. There is always something to look at, something to point out and somewhere to go next. Conversation comes and goes naturally. Quiet people can listen for a while and join in when they are ready, and nobody feels they have to perform.
Walking also builds repetition into friendship. A route you enjoy is a route you want to walk again, and the same small group walking together every week or two is exactly the kind of regular contact that turns acquaintances into friends. Sophia says the group’s best conversations happened somewhere around the second mile, when everyone had relaxed and stopped thinking about what to say.
There is something else, too. A city seen on foot becomes your city. Every walk the group has taken has left its members with a new corner they now think of as theirs: a bench, a view, a particular bend in a path. For newcomers like Priya, that sense of belonging arrived far sooner than she expected, and it arrived together with the people she shared it with.
Central Park, the classic
Central Park was the group’s first walk and remains its favourite. The park is big enough to feel different every time. On some Saturdays they keep to the south end, around the Pond, the Mall with its long avenue of elms and Bethesda Terrace, where there is nearly always a musician playing under the arches. On others they head north, past the Great Lawn and around the reservoir, whose path gives one of the finest views of the skyline anywhere in the city. The far north of the park, around the Harlem Meer and the Conservatory Garden, feels like another world altogether and is usually much quieter.
The seasons change the park completely. Spring brings blossom along the paths, summer brings long shady walks and crowds on the lawns, autumn turns the trees gold and red, and a crisp winter morning after snow is one of the most beautiful sights in New York. The group has a tradition of walking the full length of the park on the first Saturday of each season. Priya, who brings a camera, has a photograph of the same bench in all four, and she has hung them in the hallway of her small flat like an album of her first year in the city.
The High Line, the city from above
The High Line is a park built on an old elevated railway that runs above the streets on the west side of Manhattan. It is narrower and busier than Central Park, so the group goes early, before the crowds. Walking it from south to north, you pass planted gardens, art installations and long views down the cross streets towards the river. It is one of the best places in the city to talk, because the route is clear and the scenery keeps changing.
Daniel admits he had never walked it before joining the group, despite having lived in New York all his life. Now it is the walk he suggests whenever a newcomer joins, because it shows off the city in a way that is easy to love. At the northern end, the group usually continues to the Hudson River and sits by the water for a while before heading home.
Prospect Park, Brooklyn’s backyard
Several members live in Brooklyn, so Prospect Park became the group’s second home. Designed by the same team that created Central Park, it has a gentler, more local feeling. The Long Meadow is one of the longest open spaces in any city park in the country, and on a sunny Sunday it is full of families, footballers and picnics. The loop road around the park is popular with walkers and runners, and the paths through the woods around the lake feel surprisingly wild for a place in the middle of Brooklyn.
The group likes to finish a Prospect Park walk at Grand Army Plaza, where a farmers’ market runs on Saturday mornings, or to add an hour at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden or the Brooklyn Museum next door. A walk, a market and a museum make a very good Saturday, and they give everyone something to talk about for the following week.
The Hudson River Greenway, the long one
For the more ambitious days, there is the Hudson River Greenway, the path that runs along the west side of Manhattan beside the river. The group has walked sections of it many times and once, on a cool October Saturday, walked most of it in a single day, starting in Battery Park and finishing near the little red lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge. It took most of the day, with plenty of stops, and it is still the walk everyone talks about.
Most of the time, though, they choose a shorter stretch: from Battery Park up past the piers of the West Village, or along Riverside Park on the Upper West Side, where the path runs under the trees with the river on one side. Early evening is the best time, when the light falls across the water and the city behind you turns gold. They always plan to finish before dark, and always somewhere with a subway station close by.
Other walks worth sharing
The group has a long list of other favourites. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge early in the morning, before the crowds, is a New York ritual every newcomer should share with someone. The Staten Island Ferry, which is free, gives the best views of the harbour and the Statue of Liberty, and a walk around Snug Harbor on the far side makes a lovely half day. In the Bronx, the New York Botanical Garden is wonderful in every season. In Queens, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, with its great steel globe, is easy to reach and full of space.
A few habits that make it work
After a year of walking together, the group has learned a few things. Keep the pace comfortable for the slowest walker. Choose busy public routes, keep to daylight and early evening, and pick a clear meeting point that everyone can find. Bring water and comfortable shoes. Everyone makes their own way there and back, so anyone can leave whenever they wish. And always end with something simple, a coffee, a pretzel or a sit on a bench, because that is where the conversation often goes deepest.
Most important of all, keep a regular rhythm. The group meets every other Saturday, whatever the weather, unless it is truly dreadful. That rhythm is what turned a vague plan into a friendship. When someone misses a walk through travel or illness, the others check in with a short message, and when they come back the group is waiting for them at the same meeting point. Those small details, more than any beautiful route, are what make the members feel they belong to something.
Find your own walking group with TruFriend
TruFriend is now open in New York. It is an invite-only platform for friendship only, for grown-ups aged 18 and over, and it is built for exactly this kind of group. The Walkers and runners circle brings together people who love a good walk, the Outdoors circle suits those who want longer days in the parks and beyond, and the Photo walks circle is for people like Priya who never leave home without a camera. Tru, our assistant, learns what you enjoy, which part of the city you live in and when you are usually free, then introduces you to a few compatible people nearby. Groups are small, from three to ten people, and every plan happens in a public place.
Sophia, Daniel and Priya still meet by Columbus Circle every other Saturday. If you would like a walking group of your own in New York, request an invite and we will send you a personal invitation.
Don’t just read about it
Join a circle of people in New York who enjoy the same things. Members already on TruFriend can join from the app or suggest a plan in any chat.
Walkers & runnersA friendship circle for people who like long walks, early runs and park and waterfront paths in New York. Find regular company at your own pace.
Hiking & outdoorsA friendship circle for hikes, nature walks and day trips around New York, especially in autumn.
Photo walksA friendship circle for photographers of every level: explore New York’s streets, bridges, waterfront and skyline together.
