We absolutely love strolling around Chicago—and we have a feeling plenty of tourists will soon be joining us, thanks to a new ranking by Time Out highlighting the most walkable cities in the world.
We surveyed 18,500 people across global cities with one simple question: how easy is it to get around your hometown on foot? While Abu Dhabi claimed the top spot (it is mostly flat, after all), the U.S. held its own in the top 20, with five American cities making the list—including Boston at number two and New York at number four.
Chicago landed in fifth place, tying with the Spanish city of Bilbao. In both cases, 86% of local respondents gave high marks for walkability.
In terms of U.S. cities, San Francisco also made the ranking at position number nine, followed by Washington D.C at number 18 (a tie with Lyon in France and London in the UK).
In case we got you in the mood to take in the Windy City by food, check out our lists of best walking trails for a scenic stroll in Chicago and the six best tours and walks in town.
These are the world’s 20 most walkable cities
1. Abu Dhabi, UAE, 91 percent
2. Boston, US, 89 percent
3. Brighton, UK, 88 percent
4. New York, US, 87 percent
5. Bilbao, Spain, 86 percent
= Chicago, US, 86 percent
7. Edinburgh, UK, 85 percent
= Marrakech, Morocco, 85 percent
9. San Francisco, US, 83 percent
10. Cardiff, UK, 82 percent
= Shanghai, China, 82 percent
= Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 82 percent
= Paris, France, 82 percent
14. Oslo, Norway, 81 percent
= Stockholm, Sweden, 81 percent
16. Singapore, Singapore, 80 percent
= Melbourne, Australia, 80 percent
18. London, UK, 79 percent
= Lyon, France, 79 percent
= Washington DC, US, 79 percent