travel

Study ranks Chicago as most walkable city in America for tourists

NBC Universal, Inc.

With summer on the way and tourism ramping up in Chicago, a recent study shows that there is plenty of reason behind the appeal of traveling to the Windy City.

The study, conducted by Preply, analyzed major U.S. cities and measured how easy it was to navigate each city's most recognizable tourist landmarks on foot.

Compared to European cities that are known for being walkable, the expansive and car-dependent nature of many American cities makes it much more difficult to see what a city has to offer without a vehicle.

The study found that Chicago is the most walkable city for tourists in the U.S. by this metric, with it taking just 28 minutes to explore the city's most famous landmarks, including "The Bean" or "Cloud Gate" and the Magnificent Mile.

The brisk pace in Chicago is miles ahead of Orlando, which the study ranked as the least walkable city for American tourists.

According to Preply, it takes over 11 hours and 65,100 steps to cover Orlando's major landmarks on foot.

The only other cities where major landmarks can be seen within an hour on foot were Nashville and Dallas, taking 33 minutes and 41 minutes, respectively.

Rounding out the top five were Santa Fe and New Orleans, each requiring between 6,000 and 7,000 steps and less than an hour and 15 minutes to see the major attractions.

In addition to The Bean and the Magnificent Mile, Preply included Millennium Park itself, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Architecture Center as the spots that could be seen within 28 minutes of walking.

Outside of Chicago, Milwaukee was the lone U.S. city to crack the top 15, coming in at 15th at 2 hours and 35 minutes of walking and 14,280 steps.

You can see how other major American cities ranked along with more information about the study here.

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