# What do you consider "walking distance" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 9, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182 "2010-09-09T14:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/81 "2010-09-11T04:30:28Z")
As far as I’m willing to drive the Jeep. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/82 "2010-09-11T05:56:14Z")
Under normal circumstances, I expect I top out at about three miles–more because an hour is about as long as I care to spend walking anywhere than because I couldn’t do longer if the circumstances demanded it. I walked a lot in St. Petersburg, and I imagine that did a great deal to keep me in shape. Double that for New York, where I managed to somehow lose weight despite a lot of good food and alcohol. Looking forward to being in a properly walkable city again. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/83 "2010-09-11T08:21:16Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > > [@Kyla](#): > > > > Nah, it should be easy enough. The Embarcadero is easy to walk on. It’s also flat, which makes it super easy in comparison to most walks in San Francisco. It can be very foggy and chilly in the summer, though. > > GoogleMaps shows it as 7.3 miles and a 2 hour, 39-minute walk. That’s to Candlestick park. The walk to AT&T park is a trifling 1.2 miles. I do that walk all the time when I need to transfer from the Caltrain to the BART and I don’t want to walk through SOMA. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/84 "2010-09-11T08:33:56Z")
I will often walk more than 5km (3 miles), in total there and back, but that’s quite an expedition. I concede that it’s not strictly speaking “walking distance” except for weirdos like me who don’t drive or have a bike. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/85 "2010-09-11T13:25:05Z")
I walk a couple of klicks every day. About 1.5 miles or so is easy walking distance. Longer than that and I might consider a bike or car. Also depends on time pressure. If no particular time, I can walk. No problem. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/86 "2010-09-11T16:29:09Z")
> [@Otara](#): > > Also this poll didnt ask how often people are doing the walking distance in question. Indeed, I think that’s the key. To my way of thinking (that “walking distance” is the one-way range to a destination you would routinely _choose_ to walk to), you can’t call it your standard walking distance unless you’re doing it _at least_ daily (which would be over 14 miles/week for 64% of respondents here, over 21 miles/week for 34%), and very possibly twice that much. I’m guessing some responses have simply meant, “I sometimes walk this distance.” ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/87 "2010-09-11T16:41:45Z")
I originally asked the question to prove a point in another thread, but this has become more interesting than that one anyway. I meant the question in the most general sense, as in: “What is the furthest distance you wouldn’t think twice about walking?” Obviously there a lot of circumstances in which that distance will vary widely, but I wanted to leave interpretation up to each responder. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/88 "2010-09-11T19:31:40Z")
If I’m not carrying anything, if I have no backpack or messenger bag, if all I bring with me is my mp3 player? Then I’d say 5 miles is a good stretch of the legs. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/89 "2010-09-11T20:29:43Z")
For the poll, I voted 1-1.5, but under 2 is probably more accurate. I’ll walk farther than two, but I wouldn’t call a location more than two miles away “walking distance.” > [@DCnDC](#): > > Ah, that leads into my follow-up question: are you willing to walk farther to do/see stuff when on vacation? Absolutely. I lose weight on vacation because I don’t have time to eat and I walk everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/90 "2010-09-11T20:47:21Z")
For a couple of years I lived exactly one mile from work. I walke almost every day in all sorts of weather. It was easy. Right now I live a little over 2 miles. I can walk it, but I talk myself out of it most days. It’s too hot, too cold, or I have too much to carry, or in the winter it’s too dark after work to walk home. I think I could muscle through any of those for one mile, or two miles with sidewalks along the whole route. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/91 "2010-09-11T21:43:04Z")
In Indianapolis, three miles if sidewalks or otherwise pedestrian-friendly facilities exist, and even longer if the area is well maintained; 1.5 miles or less if I’ve got to walk in the road or in a ditch. In NYC I found myself willing to walk 7+ miles to get to a destination, but the city was built for walking, which for me was a novelty. Indianapolis’s half-assed mishmash of walking trails and broken sidewalks means that I’ll would walk 10+ miles for destinations along the Monon Trail, and will traverse downtown on foot if parking is bad, but will drive if I need to go more than a couple of blocks on US 31. My mom couldn’t afford a car during most of my childhood, which has affected how I live even now; walking is the default form of transportation, with cars being a luxury. I choose homes and jobs with walking in mind; I’m within three miles of my job and necessary retailers (grocer, laundry, bookstore/library), and usually only a few blocks away from them. I tend to live in retail areas; currently, I’m across the street from two major malls and a bunch of strip malls. An eyesore, but everything I need is just a few blocks away. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/92 "2010-09-11T22:56:01Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > I tend to live in retail areas; currently, I’m across the street from two major malls and a bunch of strip malls. An eyesore, but everything I need is just a few blocks away. My heart always aches to hear things like this. Not that you rely on walking, that’s great–but that “retail areas” are (often believed to be necessarily) ugly. Those same stores could be built as walkable neighborhoods, with offices and residences above. The more of them _were_ built as neighborhoods, instead of automobile zones, the less need there would _be_ for the acres of parking and multilane access roads. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/93 "2010-09-12T19:55:02Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > > [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > > > I was on honeymoon in San Francisco, staying at Fisherman’s Wharf. I remember asking directions to get to the stadium for a baseball game. The person I asked was aghast at the thought that we wanted to _walk_ there. > > Ah, that leads into my follow-up question: are you willing to walk farther to do/see stuff when on vacation? My husband and I aren’t much of walkers in our every day life (well, I’m a waitress, so I walk all shift), but when we were on our honeymoon in New York City, we walked a lot. We took the subway if our destination was more than two or three subway stops away. (Well, at the end of a long day or walking, we might have hopped the subway for a few blocks.) But yeah, we’ll walk more on vacation than in daily life. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/94 "2010-09-13T00:20:53Z")
I would walk as far as 20 city blocks, which is roughly 2-1/2 miles (blocks here are approximately 1/8 mile. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/95 "2010-09-13T00:47:51Z")
I generally figure about 1.5 miles as walking distance, or about a half hour in each direction. In my last apartment, it was 1.25 miles to the little strip malls, where I could pick up some Chinese and bring it home, or stop and have lunch or buy a lottery ticket or something (basically an excuse to walk there), then walk back. Right now, I’m anywhere from 1.1 miles to Walmart to 1.5 miles to Petsmart, with a lot of choices in between. I’ll generally walk down to Walmart, or over to Rainbow (Groceries, 1.25 miles) and then carry stuff home. I just have to remember not to buy too much to carry. Today I did the 2.2 mile round trip to Walmart and walked home carrying a 20 pound jug of kitty litter and about 10 pounds of groceries. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/96 "2010-09-13T01:21:51Z")
About 1 mile _total_. So anything in a half-mile radius for a round trip. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/97 "2010-09-13T20:46:44Z")
I said “a couple of blocks” but really my thinking is anything up to about a half mile. Beyond that, it takes enough time to get there and back that I’d be tempted to rethink my plans, and skip the outing or drive. Not that I haven’t walked a mile one way on a semi-routine basis - back in college or whatever, and there’s a shopping center with a lot of restaurants exactly a mile from our house, where we often walk if the weather is nice. But if I were looking at a house and it listed “walking distance” to places among its amenities, I’d feel pissed if it were more than half a mile to those amenities. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/98 "2010-09-13T21:44:56Z")
My walk score is 98. A mile and a half is walking distance. So is two miles. I’ve walked farther scores of times. But if it’s over two mile and I’m tired, I’ll take a cab or public transit. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/99 "2010-09-14T03:49:02Z")
10 miles in nice weather and if I have the time – I often walk about that far to the library and back, round trip 14 miles. Probably 2.5-3 miles or so for just running an errand or something, crummy weather, not much time, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182/100 "2010-09-14T05:34:27Z")
~5 mile round trip: It’s tightass Tuesday, let’s see what movies are on. ~10-14 mile round trip: I’ve got something I want to do in the city, and the time to get there. ~20 mile round trip: A one-off to a specific destination, walking there as a personal challenge. I’d consider the 10 mile round trip to be about the limits of what I’d walk regularly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-consider-walking-distance/553182.md?page=6)