An Art Lover's Walking Tour of New York City

Follow this itinerary through the Meatpacking District and Chelsea — and sample great gluten-free food along the way

Since I started writing crime novels full-time, the thing I’m teased about the most is the fact that I used to be the honeymoon columnist for Martha Stewart Weddings. But it was a terrific job, and I enjoyed it! (Was I secretly plotting to murder fictional characters at romantic getaway spots? Yes!) Less tease-worthy is the fact that I wrote 17 travel guides for Frommer’s in the early 2000’s. That wasn’t a glamorous job. But while guidebooks are grueling to put together, writing them taught me an incredible amount about certain destinations — and the best way to see them. I’ve never forgotten those lessons.

Putting together walking tours was always my favorite part of writing any guidebook (well, that and the restaurant reviews). Personally, I love exploring a city — any city — on foot. New York City, where I live, is exceptional on that front. This town is made to be appreciated as a pedestrian.

Still, creating a walking tour is a complicated business. I want people to see as much as possible, but I don’t want to walk them off their feet. (Or do I? It’s a fair question.) It’s important to schedule meal breaks — and snacks! You need fuel for all that exploring. Since autumn is my favorite season, and New York is a glorious place to be in the fall, it seemed like a great time to put together a new walking tour, one that explores some of New York’s most interesting modern and contemporary art. This tour is meant for a day without rain, ideally, since there’s no indoor option for the High Line.

This walking tour should take at least three hours — longer if you want to explore every stop and take your time at the Whitney Museum. I strongly recommend wearing comfortable walking shoes. The best days to take this tour are Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, when all the attractions listed here are open. (Sundays and Mondays are perfectly fine too, if you don’t mind missing White Columns.) Since opening times can change, I recommend double-checking them before you start. There are walking directions in the text below, but click here for the Google Map I created. Using it will make it easier to follow the tour, and to spot other attractions or shops you might want to make a detour for.

Are you ready? Let’s begin!

Start with breakfast at Modern Bread and Bagel (139 West 14th Street; opens at 8am) — depending on your schedule, you can eat at a table inside or grab your order to go. This is a dedicated 100% gluten-free spot, so let your desire for carbs go wild. You can’t go wrong with their Ancient Grains Everything Bagel with cream cheese, but my personal favorite is the Sugarfish — salmon cured in brown sugar with tomato, radish, dill, and horseradish cream. I’m not going to suggest starting your day with the coconut French toast sticks served with coffee caramel sauce and coconut vanilla custard, but I would advise picking up an order for later.

Walk west along 14th Street to Eighth Avenue and turn left, passing the triangular Jackson Square, one of New York’s oldest parks. Turn right onto Horatio Street and head west, turning right at Washington Street and walking one block north.

Visit the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort Street; opens at 10am; closed on Tuesdays). If you were in New York a decade ago, you might remember the Whitney’s home base on the Upper East Side. It moved into this stunning modern building by the Hudson River — designed by architect Renzo Piano — in 2015. Its new(ish) home is a more expansive place, with approximately 50,000 square feet of indoor galleries and 13,000 square feet of outdoor exhibition areas. Much of the space is devoted to temporary exhibits: This summer, it was the Whitney Biennial (dedicated to the work of emerging artists); at the moment, there’s a terrific exhibit called “Edges of Ailey,” which is the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate the life, dances, influences, and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey.

Scenes from the Whitney Museum of American Art

The Whitney has a tremendous permanent collection that includes more than 26,000 works, but only a small portion is on view at any particular time. As I write this, artworks by Edward Hopper, Man Ray, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Alexander Calder are currently on display on Floor 7. (If you’d like to see which works from the permanent collection are on view before you go, click here.) Whatever you choose to see, be sure to take in the terrific views of Lower Manhattan and the Hudson River from the terraces.

After you leave the Whitney, retrace your steps south on Washington Street to Horatio Street.

If you’re interested in young artists on the cutting edge, be sure to visit White Columns (91 Horatio Street; opens at 11am; closed on Sundays and Mondays). Founded in Soho in 1970, this is New York’s oldest alternative art space, featuring artists not represented at other galleries. (As the gallery puts it: “White Columns provides support to artists who have yet to benefit from wider critical, curatorial or commercial attention.”) Among the hundreds of artists they’ve supported over the years are Gordon Matta-Clark, Louise Bourgeois, Jene Highstein, Barry Le Va, Alice Aycock, Susan Rothenberg, Kiki Smith, Harmony Hammond, William Wegman, and Sonic Youth, to name a few. In other words, they’ve got good taste.

Walk back to the Whitney; the entrance to the High Line is at Gansevoort Street and Washington Street.

Walk along the High Line. New York’s most famous park is still Central Park, but the High Line is its most innovative. This public park was actually built on a historic elevated freight rail line that used to run above the streets of Manhattan’s West Side. While the old elevated subway lines in Manhattan were torn down, this one was saved from demolition by preservationists and reimagined in a brilliant way. The High Line opened in 2009 as a hybrid public space where visitors experience nature, art, and design. It’s free to all and open until 10pm every day.