A Belgian city has been ranked among the most walkable in Europe as all of its main attractions are easy to explore on foot, according to a new study.
Europe's 50 most populous cities have been ranked according to how easy they are to explore on foot in a new study by travel experts at luggage storage company Radical Storage. The study analyses the distance, steps, and travel times between each city's top attractions to enable visitors to plan their own city walking tours. Of the 50 cities assessed, one in Belgium has made its way onto the leaderboard.
Milan in Italy and Porto in Portugal jointly took the top spot. They scored 9.9/10 for the short walking distance between their respective top attractions and their moderate elevation levels.
The study found that walking between Milan's five most popular attractions takes 34 minutes, with a total elevation gain of only 11 metres, while the distance for Porto was shorter (30 minutes) but with a higher elevation gain (25 metres).
In joint second place with a score of 9.8 were Athens in Greece, Copenhagen in Denmark, Bergamo in Italy and Belgium's very own Antwerp. Between 5,000 and almost 8,000 steps were needed to visit each of their top five attractions on foot.
Credit: Lucid / Visit Antwerp
Rounding off the top ten most walkable cities and jointly claiming the bronze medal were Nice and Lille in France, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Palermo in Italy.
Europe's least walkable cities
On the other end of the scale, Oslo in Norway was ranked Europe's least walkable city, scoring just 1/10 as the route required a ferry and would take over 20 hours to complete on foot.
Marseille in France and Helsinki in Finland also scored lower (6.0 and 7.1, respectively), with longer walking distances and high step counts.
Other cities which received particularly low scores were Hamburg in Germany, Lisbon in Portugal, Birmingham in the UK, Turin in Italy, Bordeaux and Toulouse in France, and Prague in Czechia.
Exploring Antwerp
For those wanting to explore a Belgian city for a day, Antwerp is clearly the place to go, according to the study. Walking between the Flemish city's top five attractions covers 4.1 kilometres and only takes about 55 minutes.
"The route involves an elevation gain of 20 metres and averages 7,821 steps, making for a scenic and manageable tour through the heart of the city," the study found.
Radical Storage recommends beginning a tour of the city at the "beautiful and historic" Central Station.
Antwerp's Central Station. Credit: Woodmonkey / Visit Antwerp
It then suggests exploring Illusion Antwerpen, a museum of interactive visual exhibits, followed by the Museum Plantin-Moretus, a UNESCO World Heritage site celebrating the city's printing heritage.
The route then takes visitors to MAS – Museum aan de Stroom, followed by the historic Grote Markt, which is home to a wide range of restaurants, cafés and live music.
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Radical Storage used data from December 2025 in this study. Europe's 50 most populous cities were assessed, according to World Population Review, and cities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were excluded due to the ongoing conflict.
Each location was scored out of a possible ten points for the following metrics: distance in kilometres between each top attraction; elevation gain in metres along the route; total number of steps along the route; and estimated travel time to complete the route.
