Updated November 3, 2026 · by the Stride Stories team · every fact checked against a source
Running the Brooklyn Bridge is a classic New York run. You climb onto a promenade raised above the traffic, pass through two stone towers, and cross the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn. The problem is getting back. Turning around and running the same bridge again works, but there's a better loop: out over the Brooklyn Bridge, through DUMBO, and home over the Manhattan Bridge.
That's the route of our tour Two Bridges, a 3.55-mile run that starts in City Hall Park and finishes at the Manhattan Bridge's great stone arch, about half a mile from where you began.
Practical tips for a Brooklyn Bridge run
- The promenade is for people on foot. The Brooklyn Bridge's raised promenade runs between the two roadways, 18 feet above the cars. Since September 2021 cyclists have had their own two-way protected path on the Manhattan-bound roadway, and bikes are no longer allowed on the upper promenade.
- Expect crowds and pinch points. The path is generally 10 to 17 feet wide, but it narrows to 10 feet where the main cables come down to the promenade, and those pinch points are some of the most popular places to take pictures. Even after the bike path opened, the walkway was still often overcrowded, and the city banned vendors from the bridge in January 2024.
- Go early if you can. Our tip: run it early in the morning, before most sightseers are out. If you're there at a busy time, slow down through the pinch points and enjoy the view.
- Getting on. In Manhattan, you reach the walkway from the crosswalks where the bridge meets Centre Street, or by a staircase to Park Row. Both are a short jog from City Hall Park.
- Coming home on the Manhattan Bridge. This bridge has a separate walkway and bikeway on opposite sides, and subway trains run on the lower level, so expect some rumbling as you cross.
The route, stop by stop
Mile 0: City Hall Park
You start in what's left of colonial New York's Commons, the town's village green. Look for the tall flagpole near Broadway. Put up in 1921, it commemorates the liberty poles that New Yorkers raised here in the years before the Revolution. On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read to Continental troops on the Commons, with George Washington present.
Mile 0.5: The Manhattan tower
Ahead is the first of the bridge's two stone towers, with its pointed arches. It stands on a giant box, a caisson, that workers sank about 78 feet by digging out the riverbed beneath it. The bridge's designer, John Roebling, died in 1869 after an accident while fixing the position of the Brooklyn tower. His son Washington took over, and caisson disease later left him running the work from his room.
Mile 0.8: The cables
Look at the four main cables sweeping down to the deck. The bridge was meant to be six to eight times as strong as needed. Then a contractor supplied inferior wire. Roebling judged the bridge would now be only four times as strong as necessary, left the bad wire in, and added 150 extra wires to each cable. When the bridge opened on May 24, 1883, it was the first fixed crossing of the East River, and the next year P. T. Barnum's elephant Jumbo led a parade of 21 elephants across it.
Mile 1.5: Emily Warren Roebling
On the Brooklyn tower, on the side facing Manhattan, find the plaque. It honors Emily Warren Roebling. With her husband bedridden, she carried his instructions to the engineers and mastered the engineering herself. Officially, she was the first person to cross the bridge, and the story goes that before the opening she rode across by carriage carrying a rooster as a sign of victory.
Mile 1.8: Washington Street, DUMBO
Off the bridge, look north down Washington Street. Between the old brick factories, the Manhattan Bridge's stone tower fills the frame. The name DUMBO stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. It took hold in the late 1970s, when artists moved into the empty factories.
Mile 1.9: The Manhattan Bridge Archway
You pass under the bridge through the Archway, cut through its Brooklyn anchorage, about 45 feet high and 152 feet long. The bridge above was designed by Leon Moisseiff. The uneven weight of subway trains made it tilt to one side, and fixing that took a reconstruction from 1982 to 2004.
Mile 3.5: The Manhattan Bridge Arch and Colonnade
After crossing back over the Manhattan Bridge, you finish at a white granite arch with a curving sweep of columns. The firm of Carrère & Hastings, who also designed the New York Public Library, modeled the arch on the Porte Saint-Denis in Paris. The colonnade was inspired by Bernini's colonnade at St. Peter's in Rome. In 1913 the New York Times hailed it as the most artistic bridge entrance on the continent.
Hear the stories as you cross
You can run this route with nothing but this page. But it's better with the stories in your ears. In the Stride Stories app, Two Bridges plays seven stories as you reach each place, timed to your pace, while your music ducks under the narrator and comes back after. There's an optional soundtrack too.
© OpenStreetMapLooking for a longer run? Try our Central Park loop guide. Or slow down with a free self-guided walking tour of Lower Manhattan, which also passes City Hall Park.
Can you run across the Brooklyn Bridge?
Yes. The raised promenade is for people on foot. Cyclists have used a separate protected path on the roadway since September 2021.
How long is the Brooklyn Bridge?
Including its approaches, the bridge is 6,016 feet long, measured between the curbs at Park Row in Manhattan and Sands Street in Brooklyn.
How far is a Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge run?
Our Two Bridges route, from City Hall Park over both bridges, is 3.55 miles.
When is the Brooklyn Bridge least crowded?
The walkway is often crowded, especially at the photo spots by the cables. Our general advice is to go early in the morning, before most sightseers are out.
Hear the stories as you pass them
Stride Stories plays each place's story as you reach it, timed to your pace, and lowers your music while it talks. Tours download to your phone and work without a connection.