Why the Best Way to Explore a Town Is on Foot

Guest Post | The good old-fashioned staycation is a short-holiday mainstay. It is an inexpensive and highly accessible opportunity to strike out and find something new. You can get some fresh perspective and feel reinvigorated accordingly. Though, what if you are staycationing wrong?

It is all too easy to bundle everything into a car, set off for a new city, and drive from attraction to attraction. Just as our day-to-day life is often dictated by our car, so too is the fundamental reality of our domestic holidays. The car is a device of detachment as much as it is of convenience. However, exploring a new town on foot could be the best thing you do for your holiday and for yourself. Why is this the case?

1. Walking Slows You Down and Reveals Hidden Details

The most apparent reason why walking is the better method of exploring a city is, of course, that you simply see more of it. By walking, you put yourself in touch with architecture that you would not otherwise see by car, let alone be able to touch, interrogate, or contemplate. Walking also slows you down, creating a pace at which it is possible for you to properly engage with the world around you.

2. Pedestrian-Friendly Towns Create Stronger Local Connections

Walking is an opportunity to see more of a town, but it is also an opportunity to feel more of a connection to a space – not through architecture, but through people. Well-designed pedestrian-friendly towns and cities put you toe-to-toe with local businesses, who would not receive your patronage otherwise. Walkable environments do not just support local economies, but they also encourage spontaneous interactions and new relationships with one’s surroundings.

In cities with less pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, the risk of suffering a road traffic accident as a pedestrian is far higher – an unfortunate reality that echoes the tension between the joys of experiencing a town on foot and the dangers of a world predicated on private transport. This danger is also another demonstration of just how powerful pedestrian-first town-planning can be – for personal safety, and for the fostering of deeper connections to the land, the self, and the locals.

3. Walking Improves Wellbeing

It is impossible to talk about walking as a method of mindful travel without acknowledging the many benefits that surround walking in general. Regardless of how you personally feel about walking, it is a form of exercise – and one which brings a myriad of physical health benefits, too. Wrapped up in all those physical benefits, though, are a number of mental health benefits that go hand-in-hand with bringing joy out of an urban holiday.

The endorphins released by walking for extended periods of time are instrumental in helping you engage with your environment, as is the mindful element of walking. Altogether, you are presented with the right conditions for a meaningful, life-improving way of seeing the world.