Great walking cities

[shortstop14]

A big part of traveling for me is walking. I really enjoy discovering a new city by foot, frequently covering 15 miles a day or more.

So I'm looking for new ideas for places that are great to explore walking. Obviously having visually and culturally interesting neighborhoods is important. Some of the criteria would be either compact enough to be explored by foot over a couple of weeks, or with good public transit to get to the interesting areas. Places with a lot of foot traffic are ideal, so not too much time is spent navigating around highways.

Examples that have worked well for me include Istanbul, London, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Brisbane, Sydney, San Francisco and Chicago. I don't have much experience in South America or Asia, which is something I'd like to change.

So I'm looking for others. Dubrovnik, Cordoba, and Porto are on my list. I tend to like to stay in an area for a few weeks, making day trips to surrounding areas.

 

[JustCurious]

Venice, Italy
Florence, Italy
Savannah, Georgia
Edinburgh, Scotland
Cusco, Peru
New York City
Amsterdam

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Get comfortable sneakers/shoes and come to NYC I think less than half of the people even own cars.
When I was a kid you could play ball on many streets and there were zero cars parked on them.
Now I would say most streets have a few cars on them.
It takes me 45 minutes to get a loaf of Italian bread and the bakery is 3 blocks away. I get tons of visual and cultural stimulation on the walk. I yap to everyone, window shop, and see where the screaming fire engine is going.

 

[imoldernu]

Not sure if this would qualify, but my growin' up hometown in New England is a recap of a century plus 'ago'. In truth, not much has changed.
This link to pictures is a trip into the past, when Textile was king. The streets and the buildings haven't changed much over the past 150 years.

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

https://www.google.com/search?q=pawtucket,+RI&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&imgil=-BREBjaue6TwGM%253A%253BdDgV6jlekv_LcM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FPawtucket%25252C_Rhode_Island&source=iu&pf=m&fir=-BREBjaue6TwGM%253A%252CdDgV6jlekv_LcM%252C_&usg=__9DbodbQ048nJFldXfJI1ksCSnpk%3D&ved=0ahUKEwij2KDe7afWAhWj54MKHQ_mC_YQyjcIeQ&ei=0SC8WeOrLKPPjwSPzK-wDw&biw=1152&bih=628#imgrc=y0l3m202gwxT6M:

 

[RunningBum]

Boston and New York are the most walkable cities in the US I've been to.

In Europe, I'd have trouble thinking of a city that wasn't very walkable, especially when combined with some public transportation, and especially with the distances you're capable of. No experience with other continents.

 

[Nemo2]

Genoa, Kracow, Malaga, Budapest, Thessaloniki, Orense, Ribadavia, Leon, Guimarães........and Porto, which you already mentioned, is probably our favorite.

 

[shortstop14]

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Interesting. My mother grew up in Cranston, but I haven't been there since I was a young kid. Looks like Cranston to Pawtucket is actually a walkable distance.

 

[Meadbh]

Zagreb
Budapest
Salzburg
Dublin

 

[LRDave]

Venice, Italy
Florence, Italy
Savannah, Georgia
Edinburgh, Scotland
Cusco, Peru
New York City
Amsterdam

New Orleans exceeds Savannah IMO......

 

[braumeister]

I've found most European cities to be very walkable.

South America, not so much, mainly because I like to restrict myself to "safe" parts of town.

 

[shortstop14]

Genoa, Kracow, Malaga, Budapest, Thessaloniki, Orense, Ribadavia, Leon, Guimarães........and Porto, which you already mentioned, is probably our favorite.

Ribidavia, Orense - I have a friend who goes to Vigo and Tui, his birthplace, every August. I've been wanting to make that trip with him, Guess I need to do some spring and summer traveling - I tend to stay close to home in those seasons because it's great here, and it's during my baseball season and I hate to miss games.

 

[shortstop14]

I've found most European cities to be very walkable.

South America, not so much, mainly because I like to restrict myself to "safe" parts of town.

That is also a factor - I've wandered into a few places that might have been tooooo residential - not necessarily unsafe, but definitely felt like I was a conspicuous outsider.

Getting some great ideas to add to my already ambitious travel list.

 

[mn54]

paris. both beautiful and very walkable

 

[flyingaway]

Most cities in Asia are good for walk. They have a lot of people and good public transit systems.

 

[savory]

Boston and New York are the most walkable cities in the US I've been to.

In Europe, I'd have trouble thinking of a city that wasn't very walkable, especially when combined with some public transportation, and especially with the distances you're capable of. No experience with other continents.

if you like Chicago, you will love Boston & NYC.

Capetown is OK but many people feel uncomfortable.

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

Quebec City, CN

 

[Nemo2]

Jerusalem

35 years since I was there, but just loved the old city. (I would have added Aleppo, but don't know what's left of it, and the current atmosphere isn't really conducive to walking.)

 

[MRG]

I love walking around London, Edinburgh, and Manchester.

One thing to remember if you are used to right hand traffic and you go somewhere with left hand traffic; look out!

I know we're taught to look both ways. When you get in the middle of a busy intersection, you will be confused. You're probably going to see it incorrectly, or perhaps there are other drivers who are driving on the other side of the road for the first time!

My first day walking around London, I screwed up and stepped out in traffic. After that near miss, I waited till others went ahead of me. Smart right? Then a clown who wasn't used to driving that way round, plowed through an intersection full of pedestrians, the wrong way! We all managed to scatter but it could have been ugly.

Enjoy the walking but be very careful.

 

[shortstop14]

Even though I lived in New York, I've only actually been to the city once. I really ought to spend some time there.

I guess Chicago is my baseline, since I've been there many times. When I was driving in Boston, I really envied those who were on foot.

 

[W2R]

Honolulu

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Even though I lived in New York, I've only actually been to the city once. I really ought to spend some time there.

I guess Chicago is my baseline, since I've been there many times. When I was driving in Boston, I really envied those who were on foot.

Before I retired, I decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. I was assigned to many protests on it and even climbed up the towers to do observations, but never did the leisurely walk over. It was a blast, I drank a large coffee as I people watched and then took in the views as I got higher in elevation.

Full disclosure. Some one picked me up for the return trip.

 

[audreyh1]

We visited several smaller cities in the Netherlands this year like Maastricht, Leiden and The Hague. We really enjoyed walking around the historical old parts.

 

[cathy63]

Bergen, Norway
Helsinki
Tallinn's old city
Copenhagen
Stockholm and Oslo have a lot of walkable areas connected by public transit

 

[Nemo2]

Bergen, Norway

We liked the climb to the top:

 

[gerntz]

Santa Fe, NM
London
DC
Barça
Bruges
Rome
Lucerne
Dubrovnik
Ravenna
Nice
Munich
Vienna
Charleston
Quebec
Montreal
San Antonio
Toledo - as in Espana
Monaco

 

[Ronstar]

I haven't been to many large cities, but I found London, Washington DC, and Chicago to be very walkable. I used to walk as much as 15-20 miles a day working in Chicago. But although walkable, sometimes weather made it unbearable.