America’s Best Walking Cities

Exploring a city on foot opens a traveler up to sights, sounds and secret scenes that may never been seen from a bus or rental car. Rather than schlepping from place to place via taxi, tram or subway, consider hitting the pavement to traverse these cities while doing your body (and your wallet) a favor.

New York City
The concrete jungle is the most obvious inclusion in this list as walking among sights is often faster than relying on the city’s yellow cabs and subway system. Stroll from downtown to uptown with periodic pauses to marvel at the sky-scraping architecture and thought-provoking street art.

Boston
The capital of Massachusetts is so walkable, the city even has a self-guided tour, the Freedom Trail, painted on the roads and sidewalks, which leads walkers through Boston’s most historic sites. The compact nature of Boston also makes it easy and quick to meander from one side to the other.

Washington, D.C.
With traffic circles, lettered streets and state-named diagonal roads that crisscross the city, it is less complicated to navigate the nation’s capital on foot. Neighborhoods like Capitol Hill and Georgetown are seemingly designed for pedestrians, while the central National Mall, surrounded by monuments and museums, is a walker’s paradise.

Portland, Ore.
Millennials flock to this Oregon city for the bohemian lifestyle and the ability to get back to basics. Portland’s walking efficiency is its pride and joy, and is most evident in the neighborhood of the Pearl where street art and cafés provide plentiful places to stop for a break.