This Ancient European City Was Just Named the Most Walkable Tourist Destination on Earth

Leave it to Greece, the country that gave the world everything from philosophy to democracy to the Olympic Games, to offer the modern world something else extremely valuable today: the most walkable tourist destination in the world. According to BookRetreats.com Greece’s capital, Athens, has been named the most walkable tourist destination in the world.

The honorific was the determined conclusion from a study done by the booking platform in collaboration with Dr. Natalie Dattilo-Ryan, a Harvard-affiliated clinical psychologist and holistic happiness expert. As part of BookRetreats.com’s larger Holiday Happiness Index study, the study looked at nearly 50 cities throughout the world and ranked them for five “feel good” considerations including what they offered in terms of sunlight, quality sleep, a healthy diet, time in nature, and physical exercise. A city’s walkability was determined by measuring using factors such as the walking distance between key monuments and other tourist attractions, with shorter walking times earning higher scores.

The Greek capital, which is home to over three million residents and welcomes upwards of seven million tourists a year, received a perfect score of 20 out of 20 from the study.

Within Athen’s historic center, visitors can walk from monumental sites like the Acropolis to other epic destinations like Panathenaic Stadium, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Ancient Agora, and the Temple of Hephaestus just to name a few within 30 minutes or less.

As any visitor to Athens knows, the close proximity of its monuments that makes the city so appealing, it’s the atmosphere. With a lively street-life and many dedicated pedestrian-only paths and zones throughout the historic center, walking is the best way to experience the ancient city. And although the hot climate and famously steep streets and hilly neighborhoods like Anafiotika and Plaka can make walking beyond the historic center something of a challenge, sweeping views of the marble monuments and the glittering Aegean Sea, are more than enough of a reward for uphill climbs.

Other cities to make BookRetreats.com list of the most walkable tourist destinations in the world include Helsinki, Finland; New York City; Zurich; Prague; Rome; Copenhagen; Santiago, Chile; Amsterdam; and Brussels.