Spring is such a lovely time! Sunlight is in abundance, the air is fresh, and it’s high time to get outside and take a walk!

What Is National Take a Walk in the Park Day?

Many of us understand that walking is beneficial in many ways and produces a therapeutic effect on our health; however, we also forget to do it often because we lack time, the weather is bad, and we have a dozen of other reasons. Yet, now that National Take a Walk in the Park Day is approaching, we’ve decided to remind you about it in advance so that you can plan at least a short walk in the park or, if you have a day off, maybe an entire outdoor adventure.

The History of National Take a Walk in the Park Day

Celebrated every year on March 30th, the holiday was founded to help people reconnect with nature by reminding them that a walk in the park is a wonderful, fulfilling, and inspiring activity. 

Why You Should Take a Walk during National Take a Walk in the Park Day?

Even if you don’t work in the office and are generally very active during the day, we encourage you to take a walk on March 30th. Take a stroll through the neighboring park and enjoy nature in its waking moment. 

Numerous studies have shown that walking is an extremely effective way to stay healthy and happy. That’s right, and it’s so simple! A daily walk is a perfect cardio and meditative exercise. You don’t even need to run: just take a steady pace, walk, and breathe. 

If you prefer to make a useful activity also a pleasurable one, you can listen to music, an audiobook, or a podcast in the process.

How to Celebrate National Take a Walk in the Park Day

• Check what day it is (this year, it’s Wednesday) and whether you’ll be able to have all day to yourself or just an hour during lunch or in the evening.
• Choose a park or the nearest forest for your walk.
• Decide upon the trail. If you have the entire day, you can even plan to have a small picnic in the woods. 
• Invite your family and friends; alternatively, you can take a solo trip.
• Take your dog with you.
• Make sure you wear comfortable shoes not to suffer in the middle of the walk. 
• Enjoy!

Best Podcasts to Take a Walk and Listen to

When you are surrounded by nature, it’s definitely best if you can get immersed into it completely; however, combining your walk with another activity (e.g., listening to music or a podcast) is also great. 

In this article, we’ve decided to compile a list of the most interesting podcasts that we’d like you to listen to while you are taking a stroll along the park. We’ve highlighted some of the podcasts that are both entertaining and informative, and we’ve picked the ones that cover different topics—from mindfulness to space exploration—so that you can pick something for your taste. So let’s start.

A Nature Podcast

National Park Adventure Walk

We’ll start with a fantastic nature podcast, National Park Nature Walks, from Scientific American. This series of 10 episodes will take you on “an acoustic journey into some of the unique places in the country.” Every episode is an amazing immersive listening experience that recreates a visit to one of the U.S. national parks. Want to listen to how the world sounds from over 250 feet above the ground amidst the sequoia crowns in the Sequoia National Park? Or how birds sing during late morning in the wilderness of the Voyageurs National Park? Then this podcast is for you. Created during the pandemic when it was impossible to experience any of these sounds first-hand, it is a great podcast to listen to during a walk. Surely, listening to the sounds of nature around you is the best, but if the only place you have is a park full of other people, you can consider taking this acoustic journey. 

A Mindful Podcast

Untangle

Untangle is the next thing we suggest you listen to during your walk in the park. It’s a weekly podcast featuring various experts and storytellers who share their experience of practicing mindfulness and how it changed their lives. The episodes are short, so you can pick one of them for your walk after lunch. In the podcast, people are sharing their stories about how they’ve found their way to feel less stressed and more content. Perhaps, you’ll find some of their revelations to be useful and instructive. 

Happiness Spells

Happiness Spells is a meditative podcast. Its five-minute episodes are full of calming and soothing experience recollections, happy moments that we frequently miss being as busy as we are. You can start with any episode—all of them are absolutely gorgeous—be it #109: Spending Time in the Garden, #112: Everyone’s Rooting Just for You, or any other from the list of 144 currently available. Turn your headphones on and listen to Amanda Meyncke’s relaxing voice. Not only will your walk in the park be more enjoyable, but you will have these five minutes to focus on everyday moments and sensations you are usually too busy to pay attention to and appreciate. Perhaps, these quiet moments of self-reflection will also help you remember that happiness is as simple as this.

A Crime Podcast

Casefile True Crime

If you never miss any detective series, CaseFile is something you must listen to. This podcast is full of true crime stories, from serial killer investigations to arson cases, both solved and unsolved. If you have time and are planning a long walk, we recommend one of Casefile’s episodes (by the way, Case 178: The Woman without a Face is our favorite). The authors cover only true stories and put a great deal of effort into research and preparation (just take a look at the list of resources they use for each episode), so you’ll be hearing a lot of interesting facts. If you have always wanted to be a detective, here is your chance. As we’ve already mentioned, many unsolved crimes are also featured in the podcast; you can try your luck!

A Financial Podcast 

Planet Money

Not interested in crime? How about something finance-related? Planet Money is described as “the economy explained” podcast that will help you navigate through the world of finance and economy by explaining the rules in simple terms. This NPR podcast is extremely popular because, despite the complexity of the topics discussed, it is never dull. So if you’d like to know whether inflation is going to get worse, whether a Stradivarius is just an example of perfect branding, or what’s the destiny of returned goods, listen to this podcast. After several episodes, you’ll be able to share financial knowledge with your friends and family and even surprise them with some bits of entirely unexpected information (e.g., insights into the truffle smuggling market). We strongly recommend giving this podcast a try.

How I Built This

Another NPR podcast that you may find interesting in this category is How I Built This. Basically, it’s a collection of stories from regular people who reveal how they have been building their businesses. We are positive that you know this already: almost everyone has to start small. Pretty often, a company you know well (e.g., Goodreads) was at some point just a startup or someone’s hobby, located at someone’s apartment, and had no business plan and staff whatsoever. Many of the podcast storytellers had to overcome challenges on their way. We do love this podcast because it reveals sincere stories that guide and inspire. If you have a business idea that you wish to pursue but don’t know where to start or are in doubt whether it’s going to work, just listen to some of these stories while you are taking a walk.

A Design and Architecture Podcast 

99% Invisible

From architecture and infrastructure to history and technology, 99% Invisible podcast will tell you stories that will both intrigue you with their titles (e.g., Smell of Concrete after Rain, a story of our love-and-hate relationship with concrete buildings), fascinate and surprise you probably because you’ve never thought some things were even possible (e.g., The House that Came in the Mail, a story of “kit houses” and mail-order homes from the Sears Modern Homes Catalog), and educate you (e.g., Answering the Call: the Architect behind Brazil’s Iconic Big Ear Phone Shelters). We’ve already listened to some of the podcast’s episodes and are positive that you’re going to be as much entertained as we were.

An Art Podcast

Dr. Janina Ramirez—Art Detective

To get “bite-sized insights into the world of Art History,” listen to Dr. Janina Ramirez—Art Detective, the podcast that will take you to every corner of art history. Dr. Janina Ramirez is a professor at Oxford and a host of numerous BBC documentaries. In this podcast, she invites scholars and experts to discuss famous images from different perspectives. She’s so knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and witty that even if you are not that into art, you will enjoy every episode. 

An Engineering Podcast

Bridge Boys: The Podcast about Bridges

If you’ve always been fascinated by bridges, big and small, this podcast is for you. If you’ve never paid attention to any bridges and never thought that there was actually something to pay attention to, we strongly recommend listening to Jeremy and Andreas from Bridge Boys. In every episode, they cover one particular bridge (both in the U.S. and abroad) from engineering, historical, and social-economic perspectives. What you’ll get is a lot of technical information explained in the most comprehensive way so that even if structural engineering sounds like a foreign language to you, you won’t be struggling. Besides, you’ll learn so much about different aspects of bridge designing, building, and maintenance that you will never be able to cross another bridge and just take it for granted. Besides, the hosts are such fun to listen to!

A Space Podcast

Houston We Have a Podcast

Finally, we’ve thought you may be interested in the podcast with the most fantastic name ever, Houston We Have a Podcast. As you may have already guessed, it is the official podcast of NASA. Though the topics covered in it are complicated, you don’t necessarily have to be a space expert to understand what the host Gary Jordan talks about with his guests, official NASA scientists, and astronauts. If you want to know how artificial gravity works, what kind of tires are used on the Moon and Mars, and so much more, turn one of the podcasts episodes on during your walk in the park.

The Bottom Line

We hope you will have time for a walk on this National Take a Walk in the Park Day! We also hope that you’ll enjoy our carefully selected podcasts and will learn something useful. If you have an entire day off during this day and are planning a long walk or even a hiking trip, we recommend mixing meditational and topical podcasts to enjoy yourself and learn something new along the way.