The Best Way To Explore a New City

There isn’t really a wrong way to explore cities, but when we visit a new city we do try to optimize for seeing as much of it as we can because we like to leave places feeling like we wouldn’t need to visit again, even though we might want to. So, what’s the best way to explore a new city if you want to get the most out of your visit: walking, driving, cycling, or taking transit? We’ve taken some trips over the past few years covering places as different as Newfoundland, Vancouver, San Francisco, and the Netherlands, and we have opinions!
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[@ujai5271]

"Walking and cycling are two of our main hobbies, so... Your mileage may vary" Underrated line right there. Really funny.

[@KJSvitko]

Visiting neighbors on a bicycle makes you so much more aware of what is around you compared to riding in a car. Cities need to prioritize safe, protected bike lanes and trails. Ebikes are bringing many older adults back to cycling. Ride to work, school or for fun. Children should ride to school on a bicycle and not need to be driven in a car. More infrastructure to ride safely and park/lock a bicycle safely will increase the number of people riding bicycles. Walking, running, bicycles, escooters, green open spaces, electric buses and trams are all parts of a good transportation system

[@extrastuff9463]

Yup I commute to the office once a week on an about 8 km long route. My mom works in the hospital in that same city and a lot of our routes to the city is the same, over the years I've realised that unless it affects the roads she's not likely to notice small to medium impact changes to the environment along the route. Even the very obvious things in the front yard/all over the front windows of homes regarding a new baby or whatever will often not be noticed. "Children should ride to school on a bicycle and not need to be driven in a car", and even if they can't do that on their own yet seats for children mounted on a regular bicycle or a cargo bike are an excellent option until then. Must be a lot more fun for them too actually being able to see stuff around them instead of a part of the sky through the window from their strapped in seat. Assuming they'll later go to that same school they can already get familiar with the route for their own cycling trips with the parents present and later on their own. Ebikes and older people getting back to cycling does ocassionally cause some issues. It can take some time to adjust to going faster than 10 km/h again causing unsafe conflicts with other people/vehicles in traffic. But overall I think it's a good way to start again or keep the habit going longer well past the time they are legally allowed to drive a car. Just some assistance/guidance during that first getting started period would be nice, starting on a low level of pedal assist and a person familiar with the ebike system taking the time to explain how the buttons work. I suspect most physical bike stores will typically do that, but if another family member picks the ebike up or it's one of the internet delivered to home ones it might not always be done properly.

[@SkipGole]

If you're able, walking through a city is the greatest way to explore and understand place. When I first visited San Francisco, the feel of the different neighborhoods gave a clear understanding of the different cultures there. Through slowly walking through places, you can more fully understand them--even after a first walk-through. Thanks for putting walking at the top of your list!

[@smileyeagle1021]

I'd argue that riding transit (especially the bus) is an even better way to understand the different cultures in a place. As a somewhat regular visitor of San Francisco, I've noticed that it isn't that common to have any kind of random extended conversation with anyone out walking, nothing beyond, good morning, nice weather today... but I've had philosophical debates and meaning of life discussions with random people on Muni. There is something about being "stuck" in a vehicle with other people, you don't know anything about each other except you are going the same direction, and you may never see each other again, that makes it easy to have open conversations that you would never have anywhere else. Especially since you know that if the conversation gets really awkward and you just really aren't liking it, you have the natural excuse of having to get off the bus to break off the conversation.

[@SkipGole]

@@smileyeagle1021 Yes, what you described is true. I once had a nice, long discussion on a bus with a guy who gave me his business card that said, "Treehugger" after awhile. Also, when you're using a bus to see places, you're doing two things at once: riding and walking. So, the two come together well. Now, I'm visiting friends in Berkeley and will be walking over to the DeYoung and Presidio tomorrow. I'll definitely be taking the bus at some point.

[@dwc1964]

I'm always pleased to see pretty pics of my beloved San Francisco. The bicycle infrastructure is definitely a work in progress, with many gaps and some odd designs (Valencia). But there's been a _lot_ of progress. I've never used it though, as I live right next to my neighborhood's compact but fairly complete commercial strip and a short walk down the hill to the Mission District, and Muni and BART handle my needs outside of my close walkable area (including the daunting hill separating me from the Castro, and getting back up the hill from the Mission with my purchases). San Francisco is, I believe, best explored by transit as walking-accelerator, as it is made up of so many walkable neighborhoods well-connected by Muni (though some parts are better than others). Next time you visit, I recommend taking BART/Muni to the Glen Park Station. There's a charming little commercial zone nestled into a hillside around the station, a few blocks' walk on a pretty residential street to the park, and then the park itself, which is huge, occupying the floor of a deep canyon in the shadow of Twin Peaks and Mt. Davidson. If you follow the trail from the little recreational area into the canyon, you'll get to a point where you can look around and see no evidence that you're actually in the geographic center of a city and not lost somewhere deep in the Coastal Range. If you're into that sort of thing, of course.

[@pacerdanny]

Thanks for the recommendation. In all my years in SF, I've only ever driven through Glen Park. An added attraction is that the BART station is considered architecturally significant.

[@Snowboundless]

On my last trip to Chicago, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how simple it was to get around on the busses. All the main streets are bus routes, with frequency between 5 and 10 minutes, so you just hop on a bus that's headed the direction you want to go. The streets are mostly on a grid too, so you can navigate really easily. Plus, the bus and the L have accepted tap'n'pay fares for years now, so you don't have to worry about passes. I'm honestly surprised you guys haven't done more videos on Chicago. It has great walkable neighborhoods, good transit, incredible architecture, and wonderful public spaces.

[@mindstalk]

Well, the point of passes is to limit how much you pay. But yeah, frequency is good. Although as someone who grew up in Chicago and took transit to/from high school, sometimes "a bus every 5 minutes" meant waiting 30 minutes for 6 buses coming as a bunch.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

We'd love to visit Chicago at some point

[@Snowboundless]

@@mindstalk Yeah I'm sure if I lived there and took it daily I'd see more of the shortcomings. But I live in a small city and here you have to know the schedule and get to the stop early because we only get a bus every half hour

[@Snowboundless]

@@OhTheUrbanity Looking forward to it! 😊

[@adamlytle2615]

Just got back from a week in Montreal, and one pleasant surprise, not specific to Montreal, is how good Google has gotten at providing transit oriented directions. I only know the the city a little bit and was able to do some solo trekking with reasonable confidence.

[@JustClaude13]

I went to Osaka to take a tour of early Imperial Japan. That means starting in the founding city of Asuka and working up to Heian-Kyo in Kyoto, with side trips to Kure and Hiroshima. Some of my observations were: 1: A five day Kintetsu rail pass is dirt cheap and gets you from Osaka to Wakayama, Nagoya and Kyoto. It's the best way to visit the older parts of southern Nara prefecture, and the Nara station is more centrally located than the JR station. The regular express goes straight to Ise, near the outer shrine. Limited-express trains aren't included in the pass. 2: The JR West pass is expensive, a bit more than a round trip shinkansen ticket. If you aren't using the fast trains, individual tickets are cheaper. If you're going to ride the shinkansen, the JR West pass is a good deal. JR has the best access to Fushimi Inari Taisha. 3: Buy a day pass for the bus in Kyoto. It's only about $5 and lets you jump on and off the buses all day. Great for travel between clusters of destinations. 4: For touring Osaka itself, the Osaka Amazing two day pass included free admission to many tourist destinations like museums and river rides. It pays for itself pretty quickly. 5: Bicycles are easy to rent, but there aren't many bike lanes. Traffic is slow and not too heavy, so you can just stay to the left and try to follow what the locals do and it should be fine. A single speed Mama-chari can be rented in Nara for about $10 a day, or $20 for an electric model. Bikes in Asuka are about the same, but without the electric. Asuka is really spread out and they don't have decent transit, so a bike is really useful. 6: Sidewalks are rare in the countryside, but again traffic is slow and light so I've never had trouble keeping out of the way. Walking is quite pleasant.

[@mindstalk]

As far as I could tell, the locals in Osaka mostly bike the (wide) sidewalk along busy roads.

[@JustClaude13]

@@mindstalk In the areas of Osaka I was in the sidewalks are divided, with pedestrians supposed to be on one side and bikes on the other. In practice, nobody seems to stick to their own side. Outside of the urban core there might not be any sidewalks. Just you and the cars.

[@mindstalk]

@@JustClaude13 Yeah, there were sometimes alleged divisions near me too, ignored. Sometimes scary as a pedestrian, I learned to look back before shifting left or right. Most streets actually have no sidewalks, shared by all users, but the drivers were mostly scared and slow because of that. Driving among children in a bendy alley-wide street.

[@anubizz3]

Dont bring Asian city this channel like this , They allergic to them even through a lot of country in Asia actually successfully reduce their car dependency. but hey Amsterdam is the STANDARD EVERY COUNTRY SHOULD follow , even thought Netherlands completely fail to do so....

[@HarryLovesRuth]

Buses are hard for non-locals because you need to know where you are in order to ask for the stop. Our local buses have installed better announcement systems with screens letting you know wht the next two stops are, which is helpful. Unfortunately the coverage and frequency is declining due to funding issues.

[@tomtrask_YT]

You never hear of somebody closing a lane on a freeway because they can't afford the maintenance but for some reason public transit has to balance the books every year.

[@jamesphillips2285]

@@tomtrask_YT I think the answer is that businesses generally don't use transit to move goods. They begrudgingly tolerate it because it lets them under-pay their workers more.

[@smileyeagle1021]

There have been some great improvement in transit apps that will map out the route(s) you need to take, take care of fare payment, even warn you when it is time to request your stop. I could imagine a future system that is so integrated that it even requests the stop for you. I know that it has made it a lot easier for me to take transit when travelling (it's made it easier for me to take transit even when I'm at home).

[@PseudoFiction]

I think a lot of local metro systems, at least in the US, are relying on apps now. I've used the Transit app that tells me when my stop is coming.

[@Alina_Schmidt]

That problem also has to do with infrastructure. Think of big visible signs at the station, audio announcements and screens in the vehicle on next stops and an app that lists connection, stops and a map. All are rather a standard where I live, even mostly in busses to small villages. It still could and should be a lot better and I still feel a little insecure when going somewhere for the first time. But much less than if I had to find the whole way on my own to a new place.

[@mariusvanc]

Not only is exploring by walking the best way to experience a city, it's also good for you! Whenever I've travelled for vacation, even though I eat local foods constantly and in embarrassing quantities, I still end up losing weight, that's how much I walk.

[@Ubeogesh]

The answer is Electric Unicycle. It's the most compatible device with walking and transit

[@bearcubdaycare]

Are they allowed on cycle paths, multiuse pathways or sidewalks, or are you forced out into traffic?

[@BoBandits]

What an amazing tool. The ones I see often are Segway style.. Hoverboards maybe?

[@Ubeogesh]

@@bearcubdaycare depends on the country. As far as I know, apart from Netherlands, Germany and England they are more or less allowed everywhere where bicycles are allowed In fact where I live (in Warsaw) they are prohibited from roadways but bike paths and pavement are allowed. I travelled to Bruxels with my EUC and there I rode everywhere no problem too. The only downside is that it's not allowed on the plane due to large batteries

[@lws7394]

​​​@@Ubeogeshafaiik unicycles and segways are prohibited on bike path and road in NL. Vehicles require a steer and a brake (by law) ...

[@krob9145]

E unicycles are not legally allowed in public places in the UK. Yes a few people have them and use them where bikes go but technically you can be stopped and have them confiscated. They're banned from being carried on public transport also.

[@TakanashiYuuji]

In the Netherlands at most train stations you can find bike rental for only E4.45 per day. There is no time limit on how long you keep the bike (price does go up after 72 hours). This makes it, in my opinion very feasible for tourists and visitors.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Unfortunately, OV-fiets essentially requires a Dutch bank account, making it not currently available to most tourists/visitors.

[@patpat8727]

@@OhTheUrbanity What do you mean 'essentially'? Are there exceptions?

[@OhTheUrbanity]

@@patpat8727 I believe there was a loophole where you could buy a Utrecht Region Pass (without a Dutch bank account) and get access to OV-fiets, but my understanding is that this no longer works, unfortunately!

[@Alina_Schmidt]

I wonder if that was a mistake or intentional for some reason.

[@tedsteiner]

Good luck getting an OV fiets as a tourist lol, gotta have a registered address for a subscription. Really unfortunate

[@wiesorix]

Yeah, walking is definitely number 1 for me. Being able to just go outside in a new place and wander around exploring new places and experiencing new atmospheres immediately bring me i the holiday mood.

[@felipesoek]

I've been in Moncton, NB, for a month now and cycling has been truly the best option. I feel like u just see more stuff and experience the city better

[@kim15742]

I fully agree with the car point. I have rented a car on 5 occasions over the past year for roadtrips with friends. We always go to national parks and other rural areas, mostly camping. In cities, we all rely on public transport and at home I mostly bike

[@matinahmed4883]

Something that would be a huge encouragement for tourists to use local transport is to have a standardized signs like they do for international airports. You can fly to any international airport in the world and can easily navigate. I once travelled to a city where bus signs made sense to locals but looked confusing and discouraging to me as a tourist which resulted in a longer travel time than needed. I felt more comfortable using familiar Google maps on my car which is has a uniform look regardless where i travel.

[@jamesphillips2285]

One thing I have encountered in my limited traveling is that different transit systems have different rules that you need to learn. For example is my city bus transfers are valid on the train. But when I visited Montreal in 1988 this was not the case. Bus transfers were only valid on the bus. When I passed through Ottawa a few years ago I did not understand that the bus system was set up in a grid with the bus stops named after the cross-streets. So I was over-relying on trip planning: which was not flexible without mobile data.

[@anubizz3]

There is an apps called google map.. type area 1 to area 2 .. choose the train picture, it even give the fastest way for you....

[@eechauch5522]

I totally agree with you point about busses. Whenever I’m visiting somewhere, I’ll usually find an excuse to ride the trams or metro but very rarely a bus. Luckily Google Maps is decent for planning in most cities nowadays, so finding the right route and time is usually fine. But even if I know which line to take, finding the stop location and knowing when to get off can be tricky, depending on signage and on-board information. But as long as I have internet, tracking along on a map usually works fine. The biggest problem in my opinion is payment. Most bus drivers will sell you tickets, but that’s not true everywhere and I’ve had busses leave me at a station, because I was supposed to already have a ticket. This gets a lot harder in places where you don’t speak the language and don’t know the local customs. And if they sell you tickets, you’re often expected to know which kind of ticket you need and a bus driver doesn’t have the time for you to figure this out on the spot. Trams, metros and trains are usually a lot better with this, because they usually have ticket machines, which will usually at least have an English option. Guest cards/ day/ month passes or tap on/ tap off systems make a huge difference in this regard. I was recently on vacation and the hotel guest card included public transit in the entire state, with a few listed exceptions. This made us use the busses and trains quite a lot, because we only needed to show up on time and didn’t need to figure out what and how to pay. In the same way the German 49€ monthly pass for the entire country has made me use public transport in other cities and even my own city a lot more, because I don’t need to care about fare zones or ticket apps anymore.

[@user-lz8nu1yh8y]

Definitely walking. Famous mountaineer Reinhold Messner once said that human beings are created to experience the world at walking pace, not faster. That's the way we explored Berlin, Prague and many other cities/towns. And you can always take a tram or metro back, if you're getting tired.

[@patpat8727]

Walking is so much slower than biking though. You can't really walk 10 miles to a destination unless you want to be walking all day. By bike, it's an hour or so and you have plenty of time to do other things.

[@mindstalk]

@@patpat8727 Bikes are better for _going_ somewhere. For _experiencing_ a place, especially a dense city, walking is best. (Also depends on the biking. A slow cruise on a safe path is a better experience than a fast road bike dodging cars.)

[@patpat8727]

@@mindstalk Disagree. walking takes a long time to get through areas you might rather get through quickly. Walking has a much smaller effective daily radius -- you're pretty much limited to waht is near you.

[@markbajek2541]

I find some of the biggest issues with either biking or walking in towns is the lack of public restrooms. businesses often restrict their restrooms to customer use. There might be public restrooms here or there but they are usually locked before 8/9AM which makes morning exploring more difficult. Driving typically puts you near gas stations, tim hortons etc where restrooms are somewhat available to non paying customers..

[@mindstalk]

That depends a lot on the city. In Japan, konbinis usually have free public bathrooms. Train stations will too except you have to be in the paid area can't just hop it. Fast food places like McDonalds used to be great for free bathrooms, but in some homeless-heavy US cities have cracked down somewhat. Public libraries will be free if open. US hotels usually have a bathroom somewhere on the first floor; I haven't seen one yet that was locked and reserved for hotel tenants.

[@user-gu9yq5sj7c]

Starbucks had to close some of their restrooms to the public because of people and employees getting hurt or stabbed from drug needles and drugs from the homeless using restrooms to mix and take drugs. Not because they wanted to inconvenience the public. Some people mix their drugs on baby tables in restrooms where babies can touch the drugs. China Fact Chasers/AdvChina or their other channels talked about how some people steal things like toilet paper or soap. A urbanist channel named About Here has a video on promoting public restrooms. He also talked about the problems with them. It's sad, but people have to understand some people wreck public places, facilities, services, and things too. Especially depending on culture. That's why some people want a lot of privatization, such as cars. But it's a vicious cycle. Such as people to just shield themselves from the problems of society. If people would go all out and make a lot of good public things then that would help people too. For example, watch Andrewism on library economy (or the library of all things).

[@Vromiaris778]

Vienna Austria is a transit dream! Busses, trams, trolleys, subway - all perfectly in tune with never waiting longer than 5 minutes per and you can go litterally everywhere in Vienna!

[@anubizz3]

Thats why Vienna is the most livable city and non of Netherlands fail to do so.

[@bearcubdaycare]

A few friends over the years have cycled Scandinavia as tourists. They found it a great way to tour, at least in summer. (They did more countryside than city, I think.)

[@Wozza365]

To do countryside you'd definitely need to be a bike enthusiast/hobbyist though. That really isn't possible without a lot of strength in the right places, even if you had an e-bike. I did Copenhagen on a bike for a few days and it was great. But I could never have managed to reach another city - except maybe Malmo across the bridge.

[@barryballinger6023]

Walking is the best way to see a city. If you can’t enjoy a city while walking, it’s not a city.

[@humanecities]

4:18 I loved Antwerp’s bike share system! The size was so adjustable, the stations have a lot of space, and they have the racks everywhere (at least in the city centre). I especially appreciated that there were docking stations. It simplifies the bikes and keeps the city from being littered with bikes parked in random places…

[@paullarsen8407]

Thanks for visiting the Oakland Bay Area. I hope you felt welcome.

[@ravenfeeder1892]

Walking + Transit is how I do it. I tend to stay centrally so I can walk to most tourist areas. It's expensive but worth it IMO. Transit is for those sights that aren't in the normal tourist area eg Ostia for Rome or Mdina in Malta.

[@khendron]

I think the tour bus option is excellent, because you can see in a day a lot of places that interest you, and then go revisit them using your preferred mode of transport.

[@DonsaiRoadsOfficial]

Wife & I travel a ton and we always go to the bike. 100% best balance of exploration.

[@smilingstickman]

In La Paz, Bolivia, I really enjoyed taking the public transit gondolas over the city and up the mountains. I had great views from above and could not get lost!

[@Arjay404]

To me it seems like walking is the best way to explore a new city, it allows you to catch all these "hidden" spots that make cities great, it also allows you to very easily just stop in at a place, however walking is limited by how far and quickly you can walk and by your stamina/leg muscles. Biking seems like a great alternative to walking, you pretty much get almost the same experience as walking, you can stop at almost any place relatively easily, but distance isn't really a problem and neither is having to worry about your legs getting tired because unless you are riding fast (which defeats the purpose of exploring) cycling barely uses any effort. Public transport is a decent option, but has the limitation of only really taking you to the popular places, you still have to walk to find all the hidden gems, so public transport is mostly useful to drop you off at a central location and then you going off and exploring around that area. If you have a longer term vacation then using this method might actually be the best, but it's less useful for short term vacations. Cars only make sense for bringing you to very very popular and organized locations (Disney, Beach, Parks, Shopping Malls, etc.). Exploring by cars require a lot more planning then the other forms of transport.

[@thebigbean8825]

Motorized skateboards are amazingly fun if you can find the money/balance. I explore my city daily by pressing a button to practically float around at any speed I want. Almost never have as much fun as I do on my board.

[@definitelynotacrab7651]

Exploring cities and getting exercise in sounds like a win win!

[@meowtherainbowx4163]

"Even in North America, most cities do have a walkable core, and you have to get pretty far into the suburbs before walking is truly horrific." *cries in Huntsville*

[@aarons3008]

Great Advice!

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Thank you!

[@ltandrepants]

Yay, St. John’s! Went there last summer for a wedding and was surprised by how beautiful it is. Love your channel. I’m from New Orleans but currently live in Brooklyn, nyc!

[@smelly551]

I recently bought a brompton and a luggage case for it to count as standard checked bags. I'm taking a trip to victoria soon and cannot wait.

[@wakaflocka37]

If you're driving in a scenic rural area, consider a motorcycle. I've done a couple trips and absolutely loved it. You feel like you're actually in the place you're riding through rather than just sitting in a box between destinations. It's kind of hard to describe, but it just feels better than driving a car. And the turns on a mountain pass are a lot of fun, if you're into that sort of thing Also, it doesn't feel dangerous like using a motorcycle in a city. Rural highways are pretty low traffic and don't have a lot of conflict

[@vincewhite5087]

Just did some time in Instanbul. Great walking & transit. Loved it. Only use cab to airport. Athens had good trains

[@een_schildpad]

Thanks for the tips! We just went on one of our first city explorations this year when we visited Bloomington, IN.. In our case we were able to bring our bikes, so after parking our car the first day we didn't use it again until we left. It was such a great way to explore! The kids loved being able to stop at any playgrounds we happened to pass 😀 In cities where we couldn't bring our own bikes (which can carry the kiddos) it might be harder to bike. They are can ride their own bikes just fine, but the car danger in cities makes it an uncomfortable option. Their little legs also limit our walking distance. I haven't figured out great solutions for visiting with kiddos yet, other than just dialing back expectations and distances.

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

Hopefully you use this advice when you come visit StL soon; I am still flabbergasted we didn’t make your ‘top urbanists U.S. cities list?! You’ve gotta come check out the Lou soon so you can see for yourself! ;]

[@smallmj2886]

I really like to take transit when I explore a new city. We were in Montreal last year and took transit everywhere. Our AirBNB was out in the Jean Talon area way past Pie IX, but the bus to the Metro was very frequent and there were some really nice shops in the area. When we were in Amsterdam, we parked our rental car for 4 days and took transit exclusively - though we were glad to have the rental car for visiting the rest of the Netherlands, especially since one of our kids can't bike due to health issues.

[@anubizz3]

Hold on you cannot travel by Transit exclusively in Netherlands? a flat tiny country?

[@smallmj2886]

@@anubizz3 We spent the rest of our trip in various parts of the countryside, and stayed in out of the way places. Transit + bikes probably would have worked, but our daughter couldn't bike so a rental car was best.

[@fauzirahman3285]

I generally like walking and taking public transit when I'm travelling. It allows me to explore places and look at things as I feel like it. I kinda find driving and cycling in a foreign place stressful, especially if I don't understand the local road culture. I'm a bit biased though as I've mostly just travelled in Australia, New Zealand, parts of South-East Asia and Japan.

[@notenrique666]

Walking combined with some other small wheel mode of transport is the best. EUCs are amazing, rollerblading,cycling!

[@GrafEisen1]

I wish you emphasized how confusing public transportation can be in a new city. I just came back from a trip to Philly where I had to learn things like that SEPTA and PATCO were completely different systems despite both being metros in the city and often sharing stops, and that some subway stations might require you to walk aboveground across the street if you want to go on the opposite bound train, stuff like that. Every city has its own idiosyncrasies with their respective transit networks and it can trip you up if you aren't careful.

[@scout8145]

It’s a different channel, of course, but the Urbanist Agenda podcast recently did an episode about this exact issue!

[@SNeaker328]

I just came back from Copenhagen and I'm actually going to Montreal for a long weekend soon. For the first time I'm thinking about doing some biking on actual streets. While I've taken recreational bike rides on trips in car-free areas, I've never done urban cycling as a means to get around. Aside from worrying about safety, an issue is that I may want to do a combo of biking and transit, and then there is the issue of what to do with the bike. That's why it's frustrating that bike-share systems have such short cut off times. It would be great to bike around and then dock it when I'm done without having to return it back to the store I picked it up from. Montreal seems to have major transit gaps (at least to the places I want to go) so it would be nice to fill those with cycling, but if I have to worry about docking/returning the bike, it can be easier to (horror) hop an Uber.

[@jeanbolduc5818]

the New Montreal express metro REM is an amazing way to visit greater Montreal . Bring your bike on board and come back on your bike on the Champlain bridge and around Nun s Island

[@Trenavix]

You guys didn't really touch on motorcycles. Motorcycles, especially smaller ones, tend to get rid of the parking-in-city issues while enabling the far-range exploration cars get. I just recently took my electric motorcycle from Seattle to Vancouver and it made my life so much easier without worrying to park a car. Depending where, you can also filter through traffic between cars when in stand-still, making it the fastest possible option. In my personal experience, motorcycling is safer than bicycling in a lot of north america, since you can actually go the same speed as the cars, causing less conflict. They also are safer for pedestrians, due to the much less weight vs large vehicles, as well as riders knowing a conflict is just as bad for them as the pedestrian. They can also dodge obstacles much easier than a car could. I'd love more bicycle infrastructure, but until then, I will continue to mostly use e-motorcycle. I do still enjoy hopping off it and walking in those dense areas, though!

[@saranbhatia8809]

Good share!

[@kornenator]

First thing i get when visiting a place is a local SIM card, it's not very expensive usually and opens up all the possibilities by having access to online maps. Especially easy in the EU for example, as there are no extra roaming charges, even if you move between countries.

[@SwiftySanders]

Ya’ll need to check Barcelona, Spain. That place is an Urbanist paradise in much of the city. I just got back from there and I was excited to see the super blocks but being there in real life was so spectacular. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Your’re right about bike share. It only works for local people. Probably should’ve done a bike rental instead… but the train in spain is so cheap. You can get a 48hr train pass for 2,40 Euros that even takes you to Sitges which is 30 minutes away from city center from Barcelona. Sitges is a mall town with some great urbanism.

[@anubizz3]

You must be mistaken , according to this people Amsterdam is the greatest city on Earth for urbanist, it have the best bike infrastructure, the best public transport, the safest , have the best education, dont have housing crisis, have 0.01 car per person.

[@jfmezei]

All depends on whether you want to visit specific planes (museums, special parks etc) or just talke a look around. I've biked around Washington DC and seen some of their bike paths in and out of city and to Alexadria. Bike is great way to get from major site to major site in one morning (Lincoln memorial, white house, reflecting pool etc) and take your obligatory picture, but not great if you want to leave bike there and spend much time inside to visit. (I had my expensive bime with me at end of long trip). So if I were to go back to visit the museums, I would plan my visit on where I go , and plan on using public transit to get from A to B to C to D etc. I might consider bike share for some of the segments depending on weather. One thing: it is much easier in a city you're familiar with to use transit since you aloready have the concepts of their system, how to load cards etc. Going to a city you've never been to requires research ahead of time for any mode (transit, bike share) to see how they work, register if necessary etc.

[@jayandreas1131]

OV fiets (Public Transport bike) is € 4.45 per 24 hours in the Netherlands. You can find those bikes at many, maybe even most, train stations.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Only available if you have a Dutch bank account, at the moment

[@tomtrask_YT]

Great video. I take public transit up to SF periodically to play tourist and I've often wondered about the economics of buses and bikes to get around that place (or for that matter, bringing a bike with me to get up there in the first place)

[@SALVATl0N]

We were pleasantly surprised by how many "special" places were accessible by mass transit in the Netherlands.

[@DutchLabrat]

Advice from an urban photographer: Get Lost! Now, wait, hear me out. If you are looking for something new or unexpected following set routes or guides will exactly NOT help you. Of course striking out at a random direction does not always work but it is a lot of fun and you are certain to find something not many people have seen. Even large structures like towers and castles are fun to see/shoot from odd locations and angles around them. You are also way more likely to see the actual locals and the actual city. In a city like Amsterdam or Paris some areas are as real as a Hollywood set and the real locals and local culture will avoid them like the plague. De Dam (Dam square) for example is about as Dutch as a Nepalese monastery :) Also ... a few streets away from the main roads and tourist destinations you can often find eateries and cafes with prizes sometimes as little as a third of what the tourist traps ask. Better too.

[@bryannab2703]

Transit is my favorite. My kids are really young so walking is much more limited and I don’t want them to be stuck in a stroller so that I can get around faster. Biking in new places is impossible because I have no way of traveling with my kids (at home, I have a bakfiet). Cars have their places but I don’t like not being able to look around or talk to my kids easily.

[@borama7845]

I can recommend guided bike tours in Berlin. Much fun and very good value for money.

[@dwc1964]

I did a whirlwind tour of Europe in 2011 and my biggest dual regret is not doing enough planning beforehand, and not allowing enough time in any one city to adequately explore. If I could do it again, I'd want to spend a week (or nearly) in each city, not just one or two days. And I would definitely take a look at their local transit system(s) to get an idea how to get around first.

[@jaws5671]

i usually just sit on the streetcar if they have it and stare out the window until i see something cool and then i get ofd

[@illiiilli24601]

I think it really depends on where you're going, and it's generally best to use whatever means of transport most people who live and work in the city use. So in car dependent cities, it'd unfortunately be uber or the like.

[@frankadam4539]

This video is interesting in so far as the walking and cycling and using public transport is emphasised for holidays. I was looking at the driving which is no good to me as I do not drive. I see Newfoundland used to have the Newfoundland Railway. Are there any plans to rebuild the railways in Newfoundland?

[@mindstalk]

Lol. I think I'm stayingnear the shot at 3:17. How the heck did you two get out there? ...I guess the bike path would be a draw. Most of my explorations are transit-extended walking. Renting a bike was nice once in Vancouver, but I was staying right by a path up to Stanley Park. I'd try it more here, but no rental near me... Buses can be harder to figure out, and less frequent, but they also provide surface views when there's no streetcar or elevated metro. (Of course, for just seeing stuff, these days there's Google Street View.) Bike friendliness can take different forms. Osaka is very bike-heavy without dedicated infrastructure. Lots of narrow streets shared with pedestrians and cars, or wide sidewalks along the busier roads. Finally, the other problem with driving and sightseeing is that you're _driving_, you should be paying attention to the road more than the sights. Somewhat also a problem with biking. Cars are great for the passenger... which does suggest an option of just taking a taxi somewhere more for the view along the route.

[@robertm.9515]

I'm living in Evanston (just north of Chicago, connected to cta/metra) and exploring Chicago on the side. I have a car to get to work and I've found that it's the most cost effective, timely, and safe option to just drive to a place to park, and then walk a ton. Unless you can take the metra $5.50 each way downtown and plan to make the train both ways. The purple line can say 5 minutes but actually be 40. In NYC, where I grew up, the longest you really have to wait is 20 minutes on a Sunday. Maybe if I was closer in the CTA would be a better option. Also it's hard to buy a nice enough bike for 10 mile round trips that won't get stolen, but I want to. I bike on my nice bike but I can't explore the same way on it, can't leave it places.

[@johnboxxy3432]

Most major cities have one or more sight seeing buses which do a circuit all day. Do the full circuit noting the well and not so well know interesting things and spend the rest of the day hoping on and off the buses .

[@ryle4h]

I know you addressed why you dont want to use your phone in the video, but boy howdy is Google Maps' transit routing actually super good.

[@Cagmc89]

I prefer walking and wondering how is life there. Would I like to live there.

[@igneous85]

Walking or cycling as alleyways are the part of a city I'm interested in exploring. That being said I really don't visit cities cause to me they're a place to live and hopefully work. Rather use my car to go to a trailhead than grind it up running errands and going to work. So far I'm always stuck commuting out of the city to the burbs for work, or to like buy pants or something.

[@MICHALMALACHOVSKY]

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

[@and2244rew]

“You can walk anywhere and expect good infrastructure “ … Florida has entered the chat.

[@frafraplanner9277]

5:02 Isn't that the new REM? 😁

[@MartijnMcFly]

As a person who absolutely loves cars: I hate cars in densely populated areas. They don't belong in city centers, they belong on ring roads that go around the city. A car in the city is a last-mile step to reach a destination and not for throughput.

[@rustyshackleford9498]

I found it quite difficult and expensive to rent a bike in Amsterdam compared to Antwerp on a recent trip. While I liked Amsterdam, I LOVED Antwerp. Probably would have found Amsterdam more enjoyable if I could've gotten out of the touristy areas a little more

[@anubizz3]

You must be mistaken , according to this people Amsterdam is the greatest city on Earth or even in milky way galaxy, it have the best bike infrastructure, the best public transport, the safest , have the best education, dont have housing crisis, have 0.01 car per person.

[@TheWolfXCIX]

I'm going to Copenhagen in 5 days, any tips for there anyone? Where would be best to hire a bike?

[@patpat8727]

In Copenhagen? Probably just about anywhere. Your hotel will probably have an option or know of several.

[@mremumerm]

"Even in North America, most cities have a walkable core and you have to get pretty far into the suburbs before walking is truly horrific". Ironic to pick Halifax as the background to this statement, as living here i would say this is far from experience of walkers.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

From Clayton Park to Cole Harbour, most places still have sidewalks but not bike lanes (and certainly not protected bike lanes). We're not saying the walking experience is amazing, but the basic infrastructure is there for walking in a way that it isn't for cycling.

[@stekra3159]

In vienna its trams in the first district

[@woltews]

Now try this same thing IN THE WINTER ! Cites exist in all 4 seasons , NOT JUST SUMMER . New urbanism seams to only exist in nice weather, its literally a fair weather philosophy ( imaging biking , walking or driving in the scene with the stuck buss ? )

[@OhTheUrbanity]

This video was about going on vacation, and people don't generally vacation to cities in winter conditions. You're right though, driving in the winter is awful, I'm glad we live in a walkable city where we don't have to do it.

[@woltews]

@@OhTheUrbanity so they go on ski vacations in the summer ? they go moss hunting in the summer ? They go to the Winter Olympics in the summer ?

[@smileyeagle1021]

@@woltews People who are traveling for outdoor adventure are going year round, but people who are visiting urban areas tend to go when it is nice weather, and I think you already knew that. With the exception of Christmas and New Years, people aren't flocking to New York when it is cold and dreary, Chicago's busy season is definitely in the summer, and southern cities market themselves as a place to escape the cold during the winter. Most people like nice weather so that's when (and where) they go on vacation.

[@woltews]

@@smileyeagle1021 people come hear relatively independent of the time of year

[@lattakia3812]

Victoria, BC is a great biking city, even more so than Vancouver

[@jeanbolduc5818]

Victoria is a very small city .... and victoria is not on the Copenhagen index

[@vasiliyt8600]

Where is the 5th option? Motorcycles & Scooters.

[@anubizz3]

Or The 5th .. rent a motorcycle of if you don't have license small scooter what so hard about it? in most of the city they parking free, use little fuel, as small as bike can carry 2 people, have storage... go revzilla and they even able to bring a tent.....

[@mremumerm]

the trips you described as "fun" by car seem to be situations which are total failure of public transportation.

[@dutchymon]

First walk around and find a used bike for a $100 or less, cycle around and enjoy, A bike is 3x faster than walking and 2.5 times slower than a car. At the end of your journey give away your iron horse to a new friend, church or other charity

[@TheWolfXCIX]

Also I really like the way you aren't delusionally against cars for road trips or to go to more rural areas, makes a nice change from some other urbanist youtubers lol

[@Amir-jn5mo]

i follow like 10+ youtubers. No one is against intercity rural trips lol

[@RealConstructor]

I thought we didn’t have roaming costs in the EU, or is that only for EU citizens and do Americans and Canadians pay roaming fees to their own provider?

[@kevinthiede1434]

bike infrastructure is expected in a lot of european countries outside nl and denmark lmao

[@OhTheUrbanity]

What other European countries or cities have a consistent bike network providing infrastructure as consistently as sidewalks? There are lots of cities we've visited in person or explored on Street View - from Oslo to Berlin to London and Barcelona - and while they have some nice routes, they're just not as consistent. The closest we've seen is Antwerp on our recent trip.

[@patpat8727]

@@OhTheUrbanity It's not in Europe, but what about Minneapolis-St. Paul? Only down side is that you might not want to use it very often several months of the year lol.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

@@patpat8727 Last I checked, it had a pretty good network of painted lanes but not a lot of protected bike infrastructure (at least on street - there were some nice multi-use pathways).

[@kevinthiede1434]

@@OhTheUrbanity most midsized cities in northern germany and switzerland

[@patpat8727]

@@OhTheUrbanity Depends on what you consider a lot. Several been added in the last few years. also IMO you dont really need protected infra on sparsely traveled streets.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

Never ever follow a travel guide. That's a good way to get yourself stuck in the tourist traps, but an awful way to discover what your destination is really like. Walk around and talk to locals, and you will find lots of interesting and unforgettable experiences. When your holiday is organic, rather than following a rigid structure, you will feel like you earned those experiences.

[@remko2]

tbh, I'd discourage people to use a bike to explore Amsterdam unless you are very used to riding a bike in a crowded city. Amsterdam is a walkable city, you can easily reach all the points of interest by foot, bus or tram. Nothing irks the inhabitants of Amsterdam more than a bunch of tourist on obvious rental bikes clogging up the bike paths, so don't do that unless you want to pick up some interesting Dutch vocabulary. If your able to go with the flow, ignore what I said and be my guest.

[@notjulesatall]

6:39 wait they copied Paris' Art Déco stations ?!

[@OhTheUrbanity]

It's real! It was donated by the RATP in Paris. The Montreal Metro is largely inspired by the Paris Metro. www.stm.info/en/about/discover_the_stm_its_history/art-metro/list-artworks/square-victoria-oaci-hector-guimard

[@jeanbolduc5818]

Montreal is a UNESCO city of design .... and a creative city . A world class city connected to best cities in the world.. You way also find a real piece of the Berlin wall in the Montreal world trade center, given by Berlin to Montreal for the 350th anniversary of the city ,

[@mikko.g]

Electric Unicycle > Walking, Cycling, Driving .. takes the best benefits of all 3 and doesn't need to be parked and can go fast or slow as needed. Providing its legal.

[@bytesandbikes]

Motorcycles are great for rural exploring. If you've never tried, you will be surprised how much more you can see, and how much more free to stop, compared to a car.

[@KiranMachiraju]

Just get a electric bike sharing

[@dukeloo]

People never talk about motorcycles or motorscooters or moped as viable transportation options.

[@Zalis116]

At least in the US, you often need a separate license to drive a full-scale motorcycle, which most people don't have. Maybe other areas are different.

[@jeanbolduc5818]

Most europeans cities are better design and walkable ... not the case for 95 % of not american cities .... Montreal is an exception and Manhattan

[@jackolantern7342]

Hard not to conclude that North America is just too far gone.

[@PlayedCleverly]

First!

[@Connor_Roush]

First thing to know about new cities is to know where the hood at and avoid it at all cost. Lol.

[@xymaryai8283]

i was arguably in the hood areas when walking between my hotel and a Cafe in Bandung, Indonesia, and i enjoyed it far more than my time in the commercialized areas of Jakarta. i know you don't just mean low income when you say hood, but thats what others thought when i described Bandung to them. though i know for sure it was not the worst parts

[@KevinLynch1717]

Would love to see a non transit oriented version off this video too. For example, how to find the best food, music, clubs, beaches etc.

[@nickberry5520]

For me, walking is the easiest if I actually want to explore and take pictures, but riding transit for the sake of riding transit is the most fun. I have a lot of fun riding routes end to end, or riding between randomly selected points.

[@yukko_parra]

i know most cities don't offer this, but if you can, take the ferry/water bus/water taxi service if you can. In the case of Sydney, taking the ferry allows you to view the harbour (to places like Manly, Watson Bay and Taronga Zoo), or see the whole river system (to Parramatta) Even if it is a gimmick mode of transportation, it is certainly a beautiful mode of transportation even when compared to the overground suburban railway network, where if you are lucky you can go through mountain passes on a daily commute.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Ferries are a good point!

[@stephensmith1509]

Gimmick transportation is one of my favourite parts of visiting a different city! Give me all the ferries and monorails and funiculars and canals and aerial tramways you've got, please

[@mindstalk]

I don't think I ever did take the Sydney ferries, but the Brisbane city ferry is a great deal, you can go up and down the river for a dollar or so. And the full route is like 90 minutes. (There are also tourist ferries but they're shorter.)

[@anubizz3]

if you want a Gimmick have a ride in Amsterdam canal cruise, its slow , expensive and all you see is dirty canal water and people sewage system , BUT hey if your eyesight good you might see some bicycle diving in the canals .