I put 1-1.5; I’ll happily walk to the store or train station from my house (a little more than a mile) even if I’m in a hurry or the weather isn’t perfect. Much longer than that, though, and it’s not worth the time unless I feel like going for a walk.
Before I moved to San Francisco, anything under six blocks was walking distance – I was that reliant on a car for even the simplest things (groceries).
Knowing that the entire city of San Francisco is only six miles from end-to-end, I have a new appreciation of how close things are to one another.
My first two year in the city were with a guy who cabbed every where and I never really had a perspective on how close things were until we broke up and I realized some places we took taxis to were less than a ten-minute walk!
Now I map out my destinations and if I can walk there within an hour or so and have the time to do so, I will forego public transportation or taxi cabs.
When I visited my friends in New York, they were shocked that I walked from one end of Manhattan to the other; after the giant hills of San Francisco, New York was a <ahem> walk in the park…
And when I looked at is, I thought there was not just a maximum walking distance, but a minimum one. “If I choose 1 - 1.5 mi,” I mused, “how do I cover distances under 1 mi? Reach?”
Before I lived in the Himalayas, anything under 3 miles.
After, anything under about 28km.
I won’t reach very far either. I just use one of those ‘grabber’ things.
Up to a mile (20 minutes) I don’t consider it a “long walk.” I walk further than that all the time, but I do consider it a “long walk.” I live in NYC. I’ve lived other places where people looked at me like I was insane for walking even 10 minutes to get somewhere.
Varies per weather conditions, obviously. In my hometown’s heat and with my admittedly eroded physical condition, the mile mark would do it as my benchmark for “routine” walking distance. But I have done 3+miles in cool weather with no second thought while visiting cooler climates.
Depends on the weather, but generally 10 miles or so. If the weather’s nice, I might up that to 15 miles. It’s not unusual for me to walk 5 miles or so just to get a coke or visit a friend.
A mile is “easy walking distance.” I’d consider up to two miles to be “walkable.”
The church is near, but the road is icy. The tavern is far, but I will walk carefully.
Obviously I need to take a nap every 50 miles or so, but anything less is walking distance. Not that I really walk all that much normally… except to buy groceries (I get exercise, and I avoid buying stuff I don’t really need).
1 mile to 1.5 miles
Over 1.5 miles includes infinity, so I didn’t choose that.
I don’t drive, and I don’t have a bike currently. I’ll walk up to 2 hours to get somewhere I need to go.
The longest I’ve walked to a place without specifically doing it for exercise, and not involving hiking, is about 8 miles and back, but that’s only when I plan on imbibing and am too cheap for a cab.
But if I were to describe something to someone else as “walking distance”, if they aren’t physically handicapped in some way I’d stick to around a mile or so.
In addition to what others are saying about weather, I would also add that time pressure, what I am wearing, and anything I am carrying factor into the equation in a major way. Walking distance to the movie theater can be two miles, but if the movie is starting in 20 minutes, I’ll drive. Am I dressed in a business suit or a t-shirt and shorts? The latter will get me to walk a lot farther, particularly if I am on vacation and everything is ‘new’ and not just a boring street I’ve walked down a thousand times. Money factors in as well. Is it free parking two miles away, but $10 if I park in the lot next to the event? Yep, I’m walking. In fact, I’ve been hassled by friends for parking outside of a concert venue to save money in the past. Except that these same people sing my praises when the parking lot turns into a clusterfuck after the event is over and 10,000 cars are all trying to get out the two lane entrance and taking well over an hour to do so, but meanwhile we can walk to our car in 15 minutes and be right on the road going home.
“Walking distance” means a distance that you would readily walk even when other transport options are available. Obviously pretty much everybody is able to walk much longer distances in extremis.
Typically, I’d say about 1.5 miles. When it’s butt cold in winter, “walking distance” is something like three blocks. On a beautiful day, I’d gladly go for a half hour walk (however many miles that adds up to), but generally a mile, mile and a half, is what I’d call “walking distance.”
I didn’t overcomplicate the question; I read it as asking what I would call “walking distance” if giving directions to a stranger, not what would be my personal preference depending on the time of year, or what kind of mood I’m in.
That should be a great recreational walk–two and a half miles or so each way, entirely along the waterfront. But I wonder how much fun it actually is, how well the cityscape actually supports it; I see some spots in the streetviews where it’s not clear where pedestrians are supposed or able to be, relative to the Embarcadero Freeway.
ETA: Unless you were there in the days of Candlestick Park. That would be something of a trek.
Generally a mile to a mile and 1/2 - BUT.
I live in Atlanta and the muggy heat makes walking very uncomfortable for much of the summer.
There are many streets with no sidewalks and dodging trucks and cars isn’t fun.
Anything up to one mile