If you enjoy walking around cities and dislike anything that requires you to use a vehicle, taxi, or a complicated transportation map, Athens could be your ideal vacation spot.
Now we’ll go back in time, sideways, and tell the story in a more imaginative way.
Walking Is The Focus
Athens is an excellent location to visit if you want to walk and enjoy your surroundings. The city has recently built its reputation as a top destination for those who like to walk rather than use a vehicle. Travellers can walk from ancient ruins to bustling cafés without needing to take a vehicle at all!
As a matter of interest, this isn’t just the opinion of a travel blogger.
Impressive Perfect Score
Athens has just received a perfect score of twenty out of twenty as the world’s most walkable tourist city. This is quite an accomplishment considering that Athens is a modern-day metropolis with millions of residents and millions of visitors each year.
This ranking was created as a result of a travel wellness research study that asked how comfortable and satisfied the traveller was when taking a vacation. Walking distance to many of the attractions was one of the primary reasons for this ranking, and Athens did extremely well in this area.
Walking in Athens – A Unique Experience
You will discover when you walk through Athens that many major sites (places) are much closer together than most people think; you can walk from the Acropolis to the Panathenaic Stadium, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, The Ancient Agora and The Temple of Hephaestus within about 30 minutes (some cases even less). This means that walking between major sites does not require rushing, making it possible to spend time truly enjoying the thousands of years of history when walking from one site to another.
Streets Which Are Fun to Walk On
Walking through Athens is more than just visiting the ruins and museums; the streets themselves add to the experience. Numerous small cafés are spilling out onto the street, people are socializing with each other at coffee tables, and pedestrian-only streets create an atmosphere making it a pleasure to wander aimlessly.
To Experience The City As It Lives And Breathes
Unlike most tourist destinations people visit, walking through neighbourhoods such as Plaka or the Historic Centre of Athens does not feel like “sightseeing”, but is a way of casually experiencing Athens as it exists today.
Fitness and Enjoyment Go Hand-In-Hand
It should be noted, walking in Athens is not always the easiest way to explore the city (remember to pack comfortable shoes); In the summer months, heat can be oppressive, and there are several areas of the city which are steep. Anafiotika (neighbourhood) has very narrow streets and steep uphill climbs.
As you round a bend, the view may suddenly change from a sea of historical monuments to breathtaking views of the sparkling Aegean Sea. It makes you feel as if all that sweating was well worth it.
How it Works Well
Athens has many walkable routes as well as a well-developed public transportation system, allowing you to get to your destination effortlessly once your feet have had enough. And with abundant sunshine, many parks and public areas, excellent cuisine, and plenty of opportunities to be active, Athens provides visitors with an environment conducive to happy, healthy travel experiences.
Athens is Not Alone, But It is Number One
While there are other cities on the list, such as Helsinki, New York, Zurich, Prague, Rome, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Brussels, Athens leads the way by combining short distances, longstanding cultural heritage, and vibrant street life into a seamless whole.
Athens demonstrates that it doesn’t take a highly-developed transportation infrastructure to be an attractive tourist destination; sometimes having an area where you can walk to everything is all it takes, along with all the interesting things you pass on your journey there.
