Measure the “walkability” of your neighborhood

My home address (in New York, not in Prague) scored 92 on the Walk Score site: A walker’s paradise.

I am not surprised. When I’m there, I walk everywhere: I walk to get my coffee, I walk to get my groceries, I walk to the post office and to the library. I don’t have a car, so I am not even tempted to drive. I am pretty sure I would suffocate in a place where you have to drive everywhere. I have tried it before and I quickly realized it was not for me. As much as I love a good road trip, “commuting” doesn’t really do it for me.

Americans don’t score well when it comes to walking. According to this Market Watch article, fewer than 6% of all trips are by foot. Fewer than 13% of students travel by foot. Some three-fourths of all short trips Americans take — less than a mile — are made by car. One-fourth of all car trips made are less than a mile. That is a frightening statistic if you ask me.

How walkable is your neighborhood? Plug in your address here and the walkability of your hood will be revealed.

How walkable is your vacation?

When I’m choosing a hotel or hostel, location is important. I tend to pick places that are close to everything, or at least close enough that I can walk to the places I want to go. If I have to take a bus or two, that’s fine but I like being able to walk to restaurants and shops. That’s why I live where I do, near downtown in a big city, close to all the action.

If you’re a walker too, here’s a handy tool that you can use to plan your trip — Walkscore.com. Basically, you type in the address of where you’re staying, and it gives you a score between 1 and 100 of how walkable that location is by taking into account the how far away things are, including shops, restaurants and activities.

It’s not perfect — some of the places that they list as being near my house are either somewhat dodgy or incorrectly mapped — so it’s always a good idea to do a bit of extra research too.