Best and Worst Cities to run in when traveling

Criteria: staying in a downtown hotel for a day or two and looking for easy access and interesting, safe places to run for an hour. Don't want to get too lost. Trail access a bonus. Reference materials were either a RW/RT article or Concierge recommendation.

Likes: Chicago, NYC, Boston, Washington DC, Austin, SF, Rochester, London, Dublin, Tampa, New Orleans, Los Angeles (Santa Monica), South Bend.

Dislikes: Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland, Baltimore, Columbus, Detroit, Prague.

Worst? Singapore - hot, humid, polluted, impossibly urban. There might be a few nice places to run on the island, but I didn't find them.

Best? Vancouver BC is tough to beat for a large city.

I agree with Paris as worst. Hard to believe with such a beautiful city, but tis true. In the US, Knoxville is lousy.

Good ones on recent trips for me have been Chicago (even in December). Fort Worth, Texas was suprisiingly good for running. Not so good for anything else. Geneva was also good.

I"m sure I'll remember others but I'd like to add Boulder to the Likes list. Perhaps Washington DC surprised me the most as a great running city. Monument Tour, Towpath, Rock Creek, are all great ideas.

Seattle added to my dislikes. Maybe better near UW?

You are right..Boulder is a bit overrated..but you obviously haven't ran there that many times..there are more trails that you didn't mention that AREN'T paved.

ex-runner wrote:

Fort Worth, Texas was suprisiingly good for running. Not so good for anything else.

Just curious as to what you didn't like about Fort Worth? I live there and I really like it...I feel like we have a great downtown area plus the Stockyards, the whole museum district with several museums and the planetarium and the coliseum, plus the zoo, botanic and Japanese gardens, the university area, etc. Anyway not trying to sound like a tour guide but just wondering what you mean...

Pay?!?!? Next time, pay me and I'll let you in for half price. ;-)

screwCO wrote:

You can pay to run the RES...

Paris isn't too great for running, but doing 2k reps up and down the Champs Elysee is pretty cool.

The best city I have ever run in when travelling is Canberra, the capital of Australia. Not that many tourists head there because it is mainly administrative. It was set up in the early 1900's and is beautifully planned. There are parks everywhere, great trails, lots of hills, flat, lakes to run around, whatever you want is there.

Paris is tough. What I found was the Jardins de Tulihieres, the bike path along the Siene, and the Luxembourg Gardens. The only time you can run without getting caught up in droves of tourists is by starting your run at 7 a.m. Forget an afternoon run or even a mid-morning run. If you do end up in Paris, try to get to Versailles. It's so much better for runners, with long dirt paths extending for miles amid well-groomed meadows and stately castles and gardens. There is also a popular park for walkers and runners in a suburb called Le Chesnay, with a rolling 3K dirt loop in what looks like the Sherwood Forest--180 foot high gorgeous deciduous trees.

Some of the worst places, anyone here remember Pierre, South Dakota?

Boulder is wonderful if you know places to go but having a car or bike will broaden your options. Share the ride with some training partners. There is the Dowdy Draw/Marshall Mesa Loop, The Teller Farms/East Boulder trail, The Res and all of its back roads, the Aquaduct, Wonderland Lake and Boulder Valley Ranch loop, Hogback to Sanitas Valley Trail to Dakota Ridge trail, Flagstaff Mountain, Magnolia Road, South Boulder Trail which ends not far from the beginning of the Blue Stem loop, Boulder Creek Path in lousy weather or in the dark (it's plowed and somewhat well-lit), Eagle Lake trail, and yes, Hall Ranch up in Lyons is gorgeous.

Portland has a great trail system in Forest Park.

The center of Paris is terrible, but out near the peripherique there are some pretty good places.

Best is Bois de Vincennes. Easily big enough to get lost in. INSEP is there too, so you might very well run into some of the better French athletes.

Near Charlety there is that little park that has a loop about a mile around or so. Gets boring after 10 laps or so, but it is much better than the streets.

Bois de Boulogne is also pretty good, IIRC.

There are also many, many tracks (not all of which you can actually run on, but quite a few are city run)

The downside is that all the good places to run are on the outskirts, which is probably not where you want to stay if you are there for tourism.

One Keg wrote:

There is the Dowdy Draw/Marshall Mesa Loop, The Teller Farms/East Boulder trail, The Res and all of its back roads, the Aquaduct, Wonderland Lake and Boulder Valley Ranch loop, Hogback to Sanitas Valley Trail to Dakota Ridge trail, Flagstaff Mountain, Magnolia Road, South Boulder Trail which ends not far from the beginning of the Blue Stem loop, Boulder Creek Path in lousy weather or in the dark (it's plowed and somewhat well-lit), Eagle Lake trail, and yes, Hall Ranch up in Lyons is gorgeous.

Portland has a great trail system in Forest Park.

Ok, I really did not like the Dowdy Draw/Marshall Mesa Loop at all!!!! My fiance bragged about how he found the best trail in Boulder, but it was pure crap! Too rocky and sandy in some parts, and you can't pick up speed. He said I hadn't taken the right path, but I ran all over that whole area for an hour and half and hated every minute.

I'm a fan of the East Boulder Trail, Boulder Reservoir and the back roads, and the Left Hand Trail (branches off from the Eagle Trail). Solid places!

Tulsa is a nice place for running and travelling-- the main trail at Riverside is only 1-2 miles from downtown where all the hotels and convention centers are located.

[quote]kohlberg wrote:

Criteria: Running right in the city center (not talking about trails 5 miles outside the city here)

Worst:

Paris

I strongly disagree. In Paris, you have the Luxembourg Gardens in the centre, which offer a spectacular 1.5 loop (not boring) and then the 16th is bordered by the massive boit de Bolougne which goes on for miles, and the 11th arrondisment is bordered by the Vincennes. There's also Buttes Chaumont, Montsouris, Tuileries and others.

Paris is the real deal for running, using your criteria.

scepticus wrote:

The downside is that all the good places to run are on the outskirts, which is probably not where you want to stay if you are there for tourism.

Spoken like a true tourist. The Paris region extends for miles beyond Boulogne and Vincennes; the 16th and the 11th are definitely not the "outskirts" but hold some of the best Paris has to offer. And I've done some pretty fast up- tempo work in the Luxembourg gardens, which sit at the epicenter of the city.

Have to say though, it doesn't get any better than Wellington NZ, my current haunt.

Johnston wrote:

[quote]kohlberg wrote:

Criteria: Running right in the city center (not talking about trails 5 miles outside the city here)

Worst:

Paris

I strongly disagree. In Paris, you have the Luxembourg Gardens in the centre, which offer a spectacular 1.5 loop (not boring) and then the 16th is bordered by the massive boit de Bolougne which goes on for miles, and the 11th arrondisment is bordered by the Vincennes. There's also Buttes Chaumont, Montsouris, Tuileries and others.

Paris is the real deal for running, using your criteria.

I was not impressed with the Luxembourg Gardens. What is the park on the other side of the city from the Arc de Triomphe that is notorious as a gay hangout (not that there's anything wrong with that)? That park is decent, but if you're staying downtown, it's at least a 15 min run to get there, so 30 min of your run is to-and-from. Anyways, until someone shows me better places to run in Paris, I'll maintain my opinion.

A couple of comments on other cities that have been mentioned:

Singapore - Ohmygod is it hot and humid. I almost died on my run there. And you have to be careful where you spit too. But it does have good places to run for a city center....

Hanoi - The craziest traffic I have ever seen - except early AM..about 5am. Then, seemingly the entire city is out jogging around the lake in the center. No cars, just thousands of Vietnamese out jogging. Strange yet fascinating sight.

Boulder- Not a city.

Cities that are also decent/interesting, but not "Top 10".

Vienna

Salzburg (both have good rivers in the center)

Dresden

Auckland (reasonable, hilly park)

Salt Lake

Lisbon

Marseille

[quote]kohlberg wrote:

What is the park on the other side of the city from the Arc de Triomphe [...] That park is decent, but if you're staying downtown, it's at least a 15 min run to get there, so 30 min of your run is to-and-from. [quote]

Kohlberg,

That park is the Boit de Boulogne. The city of Paris doesn't have a "downtown" but rather all its attractions are spread out over the 20 arrondissments. I lived in the 6th arrondissment so am not very familiar with the sixteenth, but know there is lots to do there. For example, it is home to the musee de art moderne, and the arc de triomphe.

But taste isn't a matter for dispute.

Johnston

best - Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Sausalito, Nananuira (Fiji), Ko Phi Phi (used to be).

worst - Bangkok, Singapore, Nuku'alofa (Tonga).

Johnston wrote:

That park is the Boit de Boulogne. The city of Paris doesn't have a "downtown" but rather all its attractions are spread out over the 20 arrondissments. I lived in the 6th arrondissment so am not very familiar with the sixteenth, but know there is lots to do there. For example, it is home to the musee de art moderne, and the arc de triomphe.

But taste isn't a matter for dispute.

Johnston

Hey...don't get me wrong..I love Paris. One of my favorite cities. But, I have not really enjoyed running there.

By "downtown", since this whole thread is about travelling to a city rather than living in a city, I really meant the general area where tourists/business travelers stay...So let's say the area from between the border of the 8e and 1e (Place de la Concorde), along both banks of the Siene to Pl. de la Bastille in the 4e. Aside from Luxembourg, there's not a whole lot in the immediate vicinity.

Also, has anyone been running in Amsterdam and not gotten lost - every corner I turned, the streets looked the same. It was overcast so I couldn't even see the sun to try to figure out which direction I was running in. Ended up just running along the Amstel to try to get back to the hotel and just hoped I wasn't running to Germany instead.

I've always found Run the Planet useful when traveling:

http://www.runtheplanet.com/