spazieren gehen

This is a separable-style construction in practice. When you conjugate it, gehen does the heavy lifting. You say Ich gehe spazieren. If you want to add a location, use im Park or am See. It’s simple, effective, and very common. You can use it in almost any tense. Just remember that spazieren stays at the end in a basic sentence.

Use it when you want to clear your head. It’s perfect for Sunday afternoons. Germans love a Sonntagsspaziergang. Use it to invite a date for a low-pressure meeting. Use it when you need to talk about something serious. It’s easier to talk when you aren't looking someone in the eye. It’s also the standard way to talk about walking the dog.

Don't use it if you are hiking up a mountain. That is wandern. Don't use it if you are running late. If you are walking to the supermarket to buy milk, just use gehen. Spazieren gehen implies you have nowhere important to be. Using it while sprinting to a meeting will make people very confused.

Walking is a German national pastime. It’s deeply rooted in the Romantic era. Think of poets wandering through forests. Today, it’s a social pillar. Families go out together after a heavy lunch. It’s a way to stay healthy without needing a gym membership. In Germany, 'fresh air' is considered a cure for almost everything. Feeling sick? Go spazieren gehen. Stressed? Go spazieren gehen.

If you want to sound more casual, try einen Spaziergang machen. It means the same thing. For a very short walk, you might say eine Runde drehen. That literally means 'turning a round'. If you are just wandering aimlessly, you could use bummeln. That’s more for looking at shop windows. But spazieren gehen remains the king of all walking phrases.