Although most of the world’s major cities have extensive public transport networks, walking through streets and neighbourhoods remains the best way to truly discover the local atmosphere, admire the architecture or find little-known corners. With the support of GuruWalk, a platform for “free tours”, tourist and cultural activities, the third edition of the «Best 100 Walking Cities» ranking has been released – a review of the world’s most popular and highly rated cities among travellers who prefer to discover places on foot with experienced local guides.
For the third year in a row, Rome tops the list thanks to its density of monuments, beautiful historic centre and huge choice of guided routes. Second place went to Madrid, which moved up one position compared with last year. In this way, the city strengthened its reputation as an accessible urban destination, complemented by high cultural and gastronomic value.
Top 10 best cities in the world for walking
The full top ten best cities in the world for walking is as follows:
- Rome (Italy)
- Madrid (Spain)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Lisbon (Portugal)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Porto (Portugal)
- Barcelona (Spain)
- London (United Kingdom)
- Berlin (Germany)
How the ranking was compiled
To compile this ranking, real traveller behaviour over the past 12 months (from April 2025 to April 2026) was analysed. From more than 800 cities where the platform operates, 120 of the most popular among travellers were selected for analysis, and more than 467,000 verified reviews of 3,617 different tours were processed.
Spanish cities in the ranking
Spain once again leads the ranking with 19 cities, ahead of France (7), Italy (5) and Germany (4). In addition to Madrid, the list includes Barcelona (8th place), Seville (12), Toledo (17), Santiago de Compostela (22), Malaga (26), Granada (27), Valencia (31), A Coruña (46), Oviedo (58), Cadiz (59), Zaragoza (66), Valladolid (71), San Sebastian (74), Pamplona (79), Bilbao (83), Gijon (87), Salamanca (89) and Santander (95).
