Foot traffic enthusiasts, take note: San Antonio has been named one of the most walkable cities in the nation. A study from the online language learning marketplace Preply positions the Texan city at No. 11 amongst America's pedestrian-friendly urban landscapes. Beating out the iconic streets of New York, this finding has people taking sides in a fierce online debate.
In a revelation that has some New Yorkers stepping back in surprise, the study suggests that San Antonio offers a walking experience that outpaces the Big Apple. Fox San Antonio reports the response from social media has been vibrant, with one user claiming, "The haters and losers don't want to admit that tourists in San Antonio can walk 8 miles round trip downtown and never cross a single street." However, this ranking has its share of skeptics, with detractors questioning the study's results, asserting that "Ya'll really think San Antonio is more walkable than New York?? I love San Antonio but the only walkable part is Riverwalk, and maybe, The Pearl".
The study, released by Preply on April 5, looked at the top 30 most-visited cities and examined the walkability based on the proximity of each city's five most popular attractions, per TripAdvisor listings. Walking distances, times, and the number of steps required to see the sights were all factored into these rankings. In this race, Chicago prevailed as the leader, while Nashville and Dallas were hot on its heels for the top spots.
Intriguingly, while being declared the eleventh most walkable city in the country, it was calculated that one would only need to take a modest 12,180 steps to roam San Antonio's top attractions. According to a MySanAntonio report, it would take a pedestrian merely two hours and 10 minutes to saunter through the landmarks in the Alamo City. In a surprising twist, Texas claimed the mantle as the most walkable state for tourists, with California cities such as Los Angeles requiring a leg-numbing trek of over 30,000 steps to hit their landmark hotspots.
This urban stride analysis places a spotlight on the accessibility of city attractions and might encourage travelers to lace up their walking shoes for their next visit to San Antonio. Whether the findings will change the pace of tourism or simply add fuel to the fire of city rivalries is yet to be seen, but it's clear that the path to being a walkable city is one that many are willing to tread, step by contested step.
