Sign up | Log in

Yeah, it includes a sunset. (You won't be making fun when you get lucky.)

Starting subway: A, C, E to 14th St; L to Eighth Ave

Ending subway: E to World Trade Center

Distance: 3.5 miles

Time: 4 hours

Calories burned: 350

1. New York may have a reputation for filth and grit, but there's no finer city for a romantic encounter. Grab your love interest, turn off your BlackBerry and set out for a day full of the old kind of PDA. Head west on Horatio Street, letting its Belgian blocks and quiet shops lull your harried New York mind-set. Turn south on Greenwich and stroll under the blossoms of the Callery pear trees that line this block, stopping to enjoy one another--and the reds, blues and yellows of the street's old townhouses.

2. Take Charles Street east to Bleecker and walk south to Grove. You'll arrive at Café Angelique (317 Bleecker St at Grove St, 212-414-1400), a tiny spot whose fresh-baked chocolate croissants ($2.25) go nicely with café au lait ($1.85) and a kiss (you can't smell coffee-breath if you've both been drinking it).

3. Continue south on Bleecker--which, incidentally, was named for Anthony Bleecker, the punny poet whose farm the street ran through--and then west on Commerce Street. Take a moment to stage a theatrical smooch in front of the quaint facade of the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York's oldest Off Broadway venue.

4. Cross Hudson Street and pass through an iron gate into the garden at Saint Luke's (Barrow St at Hudson St), a hidden sanctuary bursting with pink rhododendrons, yellow daffodils and magnificent perennials that will inspire spring fever in even the most staunchly unsentimental types. The garden was founded in 1842 with the planting of a tiny slip taken from England's famous Glastonbury Thorn (which survived until 1990, when it tragically succumbed to a freak windstorm). Sit on a wooden bench under the knobby cherry tree in the center and resist (or not) the temptation to scandalize churchgoers nearby.

5. Walk west on Barrow Street to the Hudson River, where a wide, grassy pier veers into the water (there are public bathrooms if you need them). A stroll to the tip yields a view of the Statue of Liberty and a chance to bask in the sun--and each other's starry-eyed gazes--before heading south along the river.

6. At Chambers Street, the pathway juts west. You'll
find yourself at Nelson A. Rockefeller Park, where the
soft-looking lawn and expansive view of the water beckon. Roll in the grass, rest your feet and whet your appetite for more bucolic frolicking ahead.

7. Follow the promenade to North Cove and snag an outdoor table at Southwest (2 World Financial Center at Liberty St, 212-945-0528). You can watch the sailboats bob while you feed each other from a plate of nachos ($9.75). It won't sound as corny after a few margaritas ($8.50 apiece).

8. Take your tequila buzz to the southeast corner of the cove, where a small maze of tulip-fringed hedges leads to the Oval Lawn: a dreamy expanse of grass encircled by trees. Lie in the grass, gazing up through the blossoms while the setting sun casts a rosy glow across the river. This is how babies are made. --Kate Lowenstein

From the Time Out New York Walks feature, May 2007