The best way to see any city is by foot. Sure, a windy open-top bus tour is fun, but it doesn’t let you get up close and personal with a place’s landmarks or hidden treasures. Only by walking can you see parts of a city that are off the beaten track, inaccessible to cars and public transport and that can reveal centuries of human history. Plus, it gets your steps up and you don’t have to pay a penny.
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GuruWalk is a platform that links visitors up with local experts offering free tours of various cities. Now, it’s curated a list of the world’s 100 more walkable cities. GuruWalk created the ranking based on its data from March 2024 to April 2025. It looked at the number of page views each city had received on the platform and cross-referenced with booking trends.
Two Scottish cities were the only UK metropolises beyond London that made it into the top 100. Maintaining its 2024 position, Edinburgh ranked 19th. Free guided walks available in the Scottish capital include a ghosts and mysteries tour of the Royal Mile, a Mary Queen of Scots tour, a Harry Potter tour and tour through Leith that includes locations from Trainspotting.
GuruWalks said: ‘Edinburgh enchants with its blend of medieval architecture and contemporary atmosphere. From the Castle to the Royal Mile, the city invites you to explore it at a leisurely pace. Every corner here feels magical!’
The only other UK city on the list (outside of London), way down in 91st place, was Glasgow. The company said: ‘Glasgow is renowned for its lively arts, music and cultural scene. Strolling through its streets means discovering impressive Victorian buildings, contemporary galleries and an ever-changing culinary scene that reflects its young and dynamic spirit.’
Here, tourists can book onto free tours that delve into Glasgow’s ‘dark and secret’ past and guide you along the banks of the River Clyde, the old Tollbooth, Glasgow Cathedral, Buchanan Street and more.
It’s not just the free tours that make a city great for exploring on two feet. Time Out’s own list of the world’s most walkable cities (which also includes Edinburgh), ranks cities based on how easy they are to get around without a guide, chosen by the people that actually live there.
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