Suzanne Humphries
International travel hasn’t exactly been a viable option over the past year, and if you’re anything like me, you’re absolutely itching to get back out there. But, until it’s safe again, you can scratch that itch with City Walks. The site features filmed walks through metropolitan areas around the world, all without narration, letting you experience them for yourself.
Update, 12/20/21: Double-checked that links and content are up to date.
City Walks was created by Aristomenis Georgiopoulos and Artemis Stiga as a way for everyone to “explore the world from your screen” during COVID-19. The platform features peaceful videos of walks through cities like Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Lyon, France; Vilnius, Lithuania; Athens, Greece; Taipei, Taiwan; Chefchaouen, Morocco; Las Vegas, United States; Hanoi, Vietnam; Istanbul, Turkey; and Mexico City, Mexico. Plus, new videos and cities are added every day.
Each video gives you the option to toggle day or night mode, which in turn plays a corresponding video either filmed during the day or at night. There’s also a setting to watch videos that were filmed during COVID-19, but they admittedly aren’t as much fun and make every city feel like a ghost town. I do highly recommend turning on City Sounds, however, which really makes the videos come to life, as it allows you to hear the sounds of people talking, cars and motorbikes driving and honking, street buskers, and restaurants with patio dining.
City Walks’ videos do a wonderful job capturing life in these big cities. From Miami’s colorful and lively streets filled with beautiful restored cars and a constant ebb and flow of music, to the peaceful tree- and flower-lined park pathways of Tehran—it all goes a long way to keep my wanderlust at bay. It’s like a zen version of the Travel Channel, without the pesky narration.
Even though I can only passively watch these videos from my computer, it’s the closest thing I’ve had to a real vacation in over a year. Though being there in person to smell (and eat) the food cooked in these cities and feel our feet grow tired after walking around exploring all day, we can still enjoy a small respite from the day-to-day life by clicking on a random video on City Walks and hitting fullscreen.
City Walks
Visit bustling cities from around the world now for free on City Walks.
