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Top 10 Safest, Most Walkable US Cities for Solo Travel (2026) · Roam Alone

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, welcome back to Rome Alone.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Teresa Stevens, and today we're doing something a little different.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is a ranked list episode.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've ever sat there with like 15 tabs open trying to figure out which US city is actually walkable, which one has decent transit, especially for a first-time visitor, and one that actually feels safe to be out in at night by yourself, this episode is that research done for you.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I have some of the websites I used in my research tagged in the show notes if you want to take a look for yourself.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I looked at walkability data, transit scores, and neighborhood level safety patterns across dozens of U.S.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: cities, and narrowed it down to the 10 that come out on top when you weigh all three together.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these will be obvious, a couple may surprise you.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, let's get into it.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I do want to emphasize that these results are genuinely neighborhood specific rather than citywide as far as safety goes.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Any big city in America will carry with it a level of risk.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So please always be aware of your surroundings when you're out, whether day or not.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Don't walk around with your eyes turned down to your phone.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Always have a general idea of which direction you're going in.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would recommend having the GPS on your phone giving you directions with one AirPod in, not two.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with number 10 and make our way down to number one.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Number 10, Nashville.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Nashville has a highly walkable downtown, and Nashville's downtown Broadway corridor is one of the most heavily patrolled and visitor-safe urban environments in the country.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: A good nightlife safety anchor is perfect to start our list on.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I do have, unfortunately, I do have a very good walkable Nashville story for you that I was all alone for.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest, I did all the wrong things, except for one.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I did right is I pretended to know what I was doing.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you gotta fake it till you make it home safe.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: How about that?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I went to see Ed Sheeran at Nissan Stadium in July 2026.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I drove there from Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville that Saturday afternoon, checked into a hotel.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was the courtyard Vanderbilt, which is about two and a half miles from Nissan Stadium.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And everything was going according to plan.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was at the concert.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was absolutely amazing.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Highly recommend seeing Ed Sheeran if you have not before.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I highly recommend you go and buy yourself if you need to.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to, if you don't want to spend money on a second ticket, go by yourself.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, flash forward to 80% through the concert.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're about, you know, maybe 20 minutes away from the end of the show.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I look down and noticed through all my videos and posting and pictures that I've got maybe 5% phone charge left.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Incredibly stupid.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have a teeny tiny little bag for my concert going, so no, I don't have a power bank or anything.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's not enough power to do a whole Uber ride home.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I should have just caught a taxi.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: What did I do instead?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I made the decision to screenshot my walking back to the hotel.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, I'm not going to have anything running.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: I won't have GPS running in the background.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that should save me a little battery charge.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I took photos.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, my phone died, and I tried to walk home or walk to the hotel by memory.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mostly made it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Let me say that.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mostly made it.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Should have taken me an hour and 15 minutes.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I took a few wrong right turns, and it took me about, oh, let's say two and a half hours to get home.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the streets that I walked were like, there's like nobody around.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a little scary.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I totally admit, was it the wrong decision?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Did I ever see a cab in these less frequented places?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, I didn't.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, what did I do?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I faked it.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I held my head up, I looked around, but not too obvious, not scared.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: I walked confidently and I made my way home.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And never did I have anybody approach me.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody said anything, nobody yelled from a car, no strange shadows appearing out of nowhere.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I made it back to my hotel, two and a half miles from Nissan Stadium, with my two feet two and a half hours later, and it was absolutely fine.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do I recommend taking that route?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, I do not.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Was Nashville a wonderful place to roam alone?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So let's move on to Savannah, Savannah, Georgia.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Savannah's historic district comes in at number nine.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: It is among the safest solo travel destinations in the U.S.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: for 2026.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is one of the most walkable historic cores in the South, a strong, no-car needed nightlife pick.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I went there a couple of different times over the years, almost always with friends or family.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we did a late night ghost tour.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like I say, late night, it started about 10 p.m.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: We are drinking in bars, we're walking through the squares, we're getting these ghost stories told to us at night by wonderful guides.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it was an absolute blast.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Absolute blast.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Safety never felt any issues as far as safety is concerned.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we had such a good time.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a gorgeous, gorgeous city.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I do have a friend, Wendy Newell.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: She lives in Savannah.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I reached out to her to see what her thoughts were as far as solo visitors for the first time going to Savannah.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And she commented on east side of Savannah versus West Side.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So residents of Savannah generally split the city using Bull Street as the central dividing line within this historical footprint.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So first and foremost, the primary takeaway is the east side generally offers a more predictable residential, pocket-by-pocket, safer environment with high walkability.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: The west side features a stark split between premium walkable tourist hubs and higher crime industrial or residential neighborhoods.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with safety.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: The east side is largely considered a working-class to affluent residential area, low violent crime.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Neighborhoods like the East Victorian District and the residential zone south of Victory Drive see low rates of violent crime.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now there is a state streets caveat.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: As you push further east toward the state streets like Maryland and Delaware, past Waters Avenue, the area becomes a little bit more economically depressed.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: On the west side, that has more socioeconomic contrasts.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So the safety profile is very volatile depending on what streets you're on.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a tourism safe zone.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is the immediate northwest section.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: It features Plant Riverside District.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's heavy hotel, dense, highly policed, and very safe for visitors.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: There is a MLK boundary.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: The local consensus strongly advises against wandering west of Martin Luther King Jr.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Boulevard into the West Victorian Starland boundaries after dark.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: The walkability comparison, East Side, Historic Walkability.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Within the East Historic District, walking is exceptional.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's characterized by those beautiful canopy trees, the manicured park squares.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: On the west side, which is east of MLK, there is a pedestrian paradise.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: The west side holds some of Savannah's most walkable commercial assets, including City Market and the Riverfront.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: They also have a free dot shuttle system that makes navigating this side without a car incredibly easy.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of local tips for navigating both sides.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ditch the heels.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wear something comfortable because whether you're on the east or the west side, Savannah's historic streets feature ballast stones, cobblestones, uneven bricks, so sturdy footwear is a necessity.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: One thing to avoid is the cut-through parks like Wells Park on the west or Forsyth Park after midnight.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Stick to well-traveled, highly lit corridors like Bull Street or Bay Street.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, lock your vehicle if you do come by car.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Property crime, smash and grabs are prevalent across the entirety of downtown Savannah.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Never leave valuables visible in your car.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's move on to number eight, Charleston, South Carolina.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Charleston delivers one of the most naturally solo friendly environments in the country.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: The historic peninsula is compact enough to walk corner to corner, and the King Street restaurant corridor has a strong solo dining culture at the bar.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're like me and you go to a restaurant alone and you really don't want to sit at a table by yourself, but you love sitting at a bar by yourself, this is the place to go.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Head to King Street, choose any one of the main restaurants, sit at the bar and enjoy some amazing fresh seafood.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: As far as the transit, you're not going to need it.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can walk this city on foot and it's amazing to experience.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven on the list I have not been to myself.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I have it on my increasingly long list of cities to visit, and that is Portland, Oregon.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: It has walkable central neighborhoods, reliable public transit, a strong cafe culture, which I'll always love, and Portland consistently scores perfectly on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipality Equality Index.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I've never visited the city or even the state of Oregon itself.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been, if you live there, if you know it well, please respond back with a comment or an email and tell me what you like about the city.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to know and share it with the audience.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, number six is a city I have only visited once, and it was brief and it was like 20 years ago.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: But on the list is San Diego, California, one of the best first solo trips in the US, according to research.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's warm, it's walkable, it's laid back, easy transit, plenty of things to do.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: San Diego's gas lamp quarter is among the safest solo travel destinations in the US for 2026, for nightlife specifically.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I visited it with my former husband like literally 20 something years ago, and I have not laid eyes on it since myself.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you live there, if you visited before and you know it well, please send me a message, an email, comment on the podcast, and let me know what you think about it and some neighborhoods that you would recommend.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Number five is a city I do know very well.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is my favorite city to drive to coming from Kentucky, and that is Chicago, Illinois.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a five-hour drive from Louisville, so I have visited many, many times over the years.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: It has excellent transit, great bike infrastructure, a walkable loop and lakefront, a very good pick if you're looking for a solid Midwest city to visit.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of, my very first solo trip, and I mentioned this on one of the early podcasts, my very first solo trip all by myself, and I was not young.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was 52 at the time before I ever decided to really go on these solo trips all alone, not joining a group, not with anybody else.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it was to Chicago for a birthday weekend.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was just a couple of years back.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: I walked everywhere over that weekend.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I arrived on a Friday, I left Sunday afternoon, and I literally walked those 48 hours nonstop from the Bean to the Art Institute of Chicago, all of the lovely shops along the magnificent mile, restaurants to and from the hotel in the evening.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: I never felt unsafe.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was never alone on the streets.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: That city is happening day and night.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely love it.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite, favorite Midwest city.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Coming in at number four, we've got Washington, D.C., consistently ranking high with walkable central neighborhoods, reliable public transit, a strong cafe culture where solo women routinely work and dine alone without drawing attention.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: It also scores near the top of Walk Scores transit rankings.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you're going by bus, you're walking around to see all the sites, and you're all by yourself, Washington, D.C.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: is one of the best cities to visit for solo travel.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Coming in at number three, we've got Boston, Massachusetts.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: They have a walk score of 83.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: It ranks as the third most walkable city in America.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Its comprehensive T-subway system provides seamless transit connections.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: It has a compact peninsula layout, and it makes it so easy to stay oriented at night.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, San Francisco, California has the country's best walking infrastructure with a walk score in the high 70s to 80 range.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is also good for nightlife too, since central neighborhoods stay busy and walkable well into the evening.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: I went to San Francisco only once in my life, and again, it was like, well, at this point, it's probably 30 years ago.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: My brother Mark lived there for many, many years, and I visited him just out of college.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: But my good friend Tracy Yackel, who's been on the show in the past, she does live in San Francisco or in the outskirts, and she had a lot of advice to pass along.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm going to quote her here.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: She says, Union Square has a lot going on day and night.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Chinatown is interesting for walking around.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: The Mission has a lot of good restaurants and etc.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to be aware of your surroundings.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: The marina and Pier 39 are beautiful during the day.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Fillmore Street is fantastic to walk around.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: She says a lot of the neighborhoods are pretty small, so you go there for a specific thing like a restaurant, but then you kind of wander around a little bit in the area.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: She did point out a few places to avoid.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: She says, avoid the tenderloin and south of market.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Here is something I do want to point out that Tracy said to me.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: These are, and I'm quoting here, these are all places I've been, even at night by myself, but I don't walk like a victim.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I asked her, what do you mean by that?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what she said.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Eyes up, not on your phone, walk with purpose.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't make eye contact with random people that look dicey.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Be aware of your surroundings, know where you're going.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you do need to check your app for directions, look, then put it away.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And she says, I know this makes it sound like I'm stomping around, glaring at everyone, but it isn't really the case.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's just about being confident and not inviting trouble.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And she says, and this is important to remember, if trouble arrives, it is not your fault.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And she says, and I echo this, the fact that we still have to discuss these things pisses me off.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: She says, I've had so many people act like I shouldn't go out by myself or think they should walk me somewhere.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, sometimes it's necessary, but if you stay in busy, fairly well-lit places, 99% of the time you will be fine.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I echo that.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned, my ill-formed decisions to walk back from Nissan Stadium to the courtyard Vanderbilt, two and a half miles away, was probably not my smartest decision, but I followed a lot of the same things that Tracy says here.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't stare down at your phone, look up, look confident, don't make eye contact with dicey people, and fake confidence, even if you don't feel it.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Always good things to mention.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go to the number one spot on the list.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: The transit backbone of the list.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that is New York City, New York.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at transit specifically, it is the backbone of the list with a transit score of 81.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, New York City belongs in that same no-car needed tier.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's efficient public transit system, walkable streets, wide variety of solo-friendly activities offer unmatched opportunities for exploration.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I went to New York City way back in 2014 all alone for an audition with Audible.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I did not stop walking for two days straight.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I went again with my young son in 2021, never once felt unsafe.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I do have one little fun tip, and this is just something that I did on that very first trip in 2014 when I went to New York City alone.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many iconic attractions.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And there were a couple of places I specifically wanted to get like tickets to, like the Eiffel Tower, and some things I definitely wanted to do at a specific time.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing that I did, and I found it so much fun to do this, is I walked out of my hotel, I opened up GPS on my phone, and I saw where I was, where my blue dot was, and I widened the view to where I can see, you know, how the landmarks around you are grayed out.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started looking which one is close enough to me, you know, the Eiffel Tower, Central Park, Times Square.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I literally chose one that was closest to me, and I set my walking directions to that particular landmark.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I walked there and I walked around and saw whatever it was, whether it was Central Park or Times Square, and I looked around and I had a great time.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, okay, where to next?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked at the closest grayed-out landmark to me on the GPS, and then I walked there.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there, I walked to the next one that was closest to me.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I know this was a haphazard kind of way of exploring the city, but I got miles and miles in and saw a whole lot of the city in a short amount of time.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was a fun thing to do.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was a fun way to approach visiting the city.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was totally haphazard.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you can't do that in a whole lot of cities, but a place like New York City, when there is literally something amazing and famous and iconic every other block, this kind of approach is fun and unconventional.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a great time doing it.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've been to New York City maybe four times now throughout my life and cannot wait to go again.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Highly, highly recommend the city.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never been, don't be overwhelmed by the size of it.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a thing coming from like a smaller Midwestern city like Louisville, and you think about New York and how big it is, don't be overwhelmed.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Take it neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street, and you will not regret seeing this city.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that's it.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's the list.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: 10 cities where you can leave the rental car behind, actually use your feet or a transit card.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Feel good about being out after dark.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Quick caveat before you go: safety on this list is about citywide conditions, transit access, walkability, lighting, foot traffic.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a guarantee for every single block.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Even in the safest cities, safety is neighborhood specific, so do your normal homework on where you're staying.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you've traveled solo to any of these cities, I'd love to hear about it.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: DM me on Instagram.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me if this list matches your experience or if I'm missing a city that deserves a spot.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: You can email me as well.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Email is in the show notes.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to do a follow up show based on your feedback.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Roam Alone, and I'll catch you next episode.