Seattle has a new feather in its cap: the honor of being named the country’s most walkable city. A recent study took a targeted approach to determining U.S. cities’ walkable ranking by focusing on how easy and fast it is to walk between the main attractions. If you’re visiting Seattle for the first time without a car and want to see some of the Emerald City’s top sights, you’re in luck.
Read on for all the details!
The new study is from footwear brand FitFlops. Travel + Leisure reported on the study and highlighted how walkable cities are becoming desirable destinations in the U.S. Their article pointed to a 29 percent increase in Google searches this year for the term “walking vacations.”
The study looked the top five attractions in 30 U.S. cities and calculated the distance, walking time, elevation gain, and step count between each main attraction. It also factored in each city’s Walk Score. After analyzing the data, the study put Seattle at the top for most walkable city.
Here’s what the study considered to be Seattle’s top five attractions:
- Chihuly Garden and Glass
- Space Needle
- Pike Place Market
- Museum of Pop Culture
- Washington State Ferries terminal / Puget Sound
Since all of these attractions are within a 1.4-mile radius, you can technically visit all of them in about 30 minutes (not counting the amount of time it takes to actually experience them, of course). You’ll clock over 3,000 steps in the process. That’s not even including the many recent improvements worth exploring along the Seattle Waterfront near Pike Place Market and the ferry terminal, such as the new Overlook Walk, the new Pier 58, and the addition to the Seattle Aquarium. If you’re in the downtown core you can also easily walk to the Olympic Sculpture Park, the Seattle Art Museum, and Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood.
Travel + Leisure called out several other attractions worth exploring in Seattle, including access to the outdoors, Chinatown, hot tub boats, and Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI). If you need more inspiration, we have helpful guides for both visitors and locals that highlight Seattle’s best hidden gems. Check them out below:
- Five Giant Northwest Trolls Have Made Seattle Their Temporary Home: Here’s Where To Find Them
- 18 Seattle Museums And Gardens That You Can Visit For Free
- The Top 10 Seattle Thrift Stores For Finding The Ultimate Treasure
- The Top 12 Must-Visit Independent Bookstores In Seattle
- These 12 Hidden Gems Are Seattle’s Most Magical Free Attractions
Just one more thing before you lace up your walking shoes: be prepared for Seattle’s hills and steep streets. As walkable as our city can be, it can also give you a workout that you were not expecting. The silver lining is that usually, once you get to the top of a hill you’re rewarded with one of the city’s best views.