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The most beautiful U.S. cities for urban hikers
15
items Hiking isn't something most of us think of doing when we venture off to the city for a weekend or a more extended holiday. But cities offer much more than dining, shopping, and entertainment. From Maine to Arizona, America's metro areas contain multi...
Sections
3
EAST COAST
MIDWEST
WEST COAST
EAST COAST
Coastal Maine's most cosmopolitan city is broadly known as an oceanside town, but the Portland ecosystem is much more diverse than many visitors realize. From salt marshes and natural cascades, to chirping forests that stretch across the metro area, ...
Portland, Maine
Boston has been called “America's Walking City” thanks to its abundance of walkable streets and parks, but what makes the city even more alluring for hikers is its diverse range of urban trails that cover naturalistic and historic ground. The Freedom...
Boston, Massachusetts
The public park as we know it was born in New York during the 19th Century, when Central Park took shape. Hundreds followed, in many shapes and sizes. This wealth of urban green space, paired with New York's famously extensive subway and bus system (...
New York, New York
What many people who've never visited Pittsburgh don't realize about the city is that it's surrounded by steep, wooded hills. And hidden within these hills are over 700 long staircases that were originally built to make it easier for steel workers to...
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
It's not just the heavenly beaches, waters, and coastal parks of Miami that make it a special place to go for a city hike. The dramatic weather patterns of Miami imbue local hiking with surprising thrills (there's nothing quite like an afternoon thun...
Miami, Florida
MIDWEST
The Windy City is flanked by two gorgeous realms that contain some of the finest urban hiking paths in the Midwest. On the shores of Lake Michigan, to the east, you'll find throngs of wayfinders savoring waterside oases like Lincoln Park and Lakefron...
Chicago, Illinois
In recent years, the City of St. Louis has been hard at work turning tons of derelict space into a network of walkable and bikeable greenways that bridge St. Louis communities and entertainment districts. Not only do these greenways offer surprising ...
St. Louis, Missouri
Being one of the largest coastal cities in Texas, Houston benefits from a collision of environments that you can visit via the trails of Buffalo Bayou Park or Lake Houston Wilderness Park. But it's not just the flora and arbors of Houston that leave ...
Houston, Texas
Of course “the Mile High City” was going to make this list. From flowering meadows and forests, to gusty mountaintops that can be accessed from trails beginning well within the city limits, hiking is in Denver's DNA. In fact, the abidance of trails a...
Denver, Colorado
Flanked by towering mountains in multiple directions, and the titular salt lake itself to the east, Salt Lake City seems to have been predestined to develop a strong urban hiking culture. Whether you're going for a ramble one of the many trails conne...
Salt Lake City, Utah
WEST COAST
The minute you enter Seattle, via the airport or the freeway, the immensity of the towering evergreen trees and the not-so-distant peaks hints at the grandeur of green space within the city. From its network of fern-festooned Olmsted parks such as Vo...
Seattle, Washington
Like its next-door neighbor in Washington, Portland is imbued with majestic forests and hills which contain some of the most inviting urban trails in American cities. But here, one trail goes even further. The 4T Trail, created by a local father and ...
Portland, Oregon
When roly-poly green hills meet the seascape, you tend to get spectacular natural spaces and hiking trails as a result. That's the San Francisco baseline. And in recent years, a group of local urban hikers has curated a series of cross-city trails th...
San Francisco, California
LA's reputation as a car-centric city (which is not entirely untrue) overshadows the happier reality that this city contains some of the most immense and resplendent urban hiking territory in the U.S. You can climb a series of switchback trails to th...
Los Angeles, California
The looming mountains and mixed forest and desert environments that envelop Flagstaff can make the city feel like an extra large and colorful basecamp for local expeditions. Standalone hiking destinations like the Mars Hill Loop Trail and Observatory...
Flagstaff, Arizona