But how walkable is it?
Walkscore.com is a fun interactive tool that allows you to view the ‘walkability’ of a neighborhood: the density of shops, restaurants, and other points of interest. Walkability is a big factor for me when choosing a new neighborhood. I love being able to step outside and be somewhere interesting (rather than in the middle of suburbia or urban sprawl). If I can people-watch from my living room window, even better.
Our apartment in Zurich (walkscore of 48 out of 100) was a little too far into suburbia for my tastes, even though most of the basics (grocery stores, public transport, restaurants) were less than a 10-minute walk away, and the city center was about a 20-minute walk away. It also had the benefit of being a 15-minute walk from hiking trails, forest, and a gorgeous view of the city and the lake, features which don’t earn it any points the way that the walkscore is calculated.
The neighborhood of our Munich apartment will be a move in the right direction, with a walkscore of 72. Ideally it would be even higher (and we did view a couple apartments in more happening neighborhoods), but this place was a good compromise when we considered apartment size, proximity to the city center, transportation options, and other factors that are important to us.
Our address in Milan had a glowing walkscore of 88, and it was definitely my favorite neighborhood I’ve ever lived in to date. But I’ll try to keep an open mind and let our new Munich neighborhood (where we will be taking up residence in January) grow on me.
The walkscore technology is far from perfect (making mistakes such as categorizing hotels as grocery stores, for example), but it seems to do a good job on the relative walkability of all the neighborhoods I entered into it.
What’s your neighborhood’s walkscore?
