[throwaway290]

Not to invalidate your experience in any way but I think it is a special case of walking in any big city you have never been before. As long as it is sufficiently dense/walkable and you don't need to fear being robbed, it's magical. Taipei, Seoul, Bangkok, you name it...

[famahar]

I agree. I hated walking in the city I lived in Canada before moving to Tokyo. It wasnt very walkable and you really needed to plan for any type of long walk as you might end up in a place with no food or drink shops anywhere. The way Tokyo is zoned allows for every possible convenience I need within a mile of everywhere I walked. I felt extremely safe at all times too which made things way less stressful and allowed me to be completely in the moment.

[throwaway290]

Agreed about mixed zoning, I should've mentioned that too. It does not necessarily go hand in hand with walkability, you also want to be able to buy eg. water especially if it's hot. But I guess it usually comes together with density

[blululu]

FWIW, I’ve walked across San Francisco many times and the longer I live there the more I enjoy traversing it. The city is beautiful, walkable, filled with nice spots to stop for snack/beverage and nearly half the expanse can be covered by walking through Golden Gate Park down to the ocean. I can’t vouch for most cities, but I suspect that a lot of them are much less pleasant underfoot.

[cdelsolar]

One of my favorite things to do in SF, and I've done it a handful of times, is to rent a bike at the Embarcadero, and bike to Sausalito across the Golden Gate Bridge, have ice cream at Lappert's, wander around, and take the ferry back. Just wonderful days.

[pb7]

Love walking in San Francisco. Feels very European in that regard.