Portland is located on a peninsula overlooking the Casco Bay and is the most populous city of Maine, although having small dimensions: according to the last estimate of the United States Census Bureau, in 2025 had 69.911 inhabitants. In May, the US magazine EatingWell included it among the seven winners of its first Best Wellness Towns, assigning it the category “Best for Exploring on Foot”, that is the best place to explore on foot.
The award then contributed to the fame of the city: Portland, for many, would now be the most wolkable city, assimilated to our “walking” cacophonic in the United States. However, it is not what EatingWell has established, and we say it for the sake of news, since the local press has kept us specifying it as much as possible. The magazine has selected 21 locations with less than 150 thousand inhabitants and less than an hour from a large airport, evaluating them based on thirteen factors, including air and water quality, public transport, cycle paths, agricultural markets and outdoor activities. From that group have emerged seven winners, each for a different category; the general title of best wellness town went to Asheville, North Carolina.
EatingWell has attributed to Portland 100 walking points, against an average of 72 between the 21 finalists, sending back to the Walk Score site. The linked page, however, allocates 100 points to a single point in the centre, near Tommy’s Park and Lincoln Park, while the entire city has an average of 62 out of 100. A fact-check of the Portland Press Herald reconstructed the equivocal after other newspapers had transformed the recognition into a national primacy – and so here we are doing the due distinctions.
Portland remains suitable for a weekend without a car. The average figure includes neighborhoods outside the peninsula, while many of the areas visited by tourists have much higher scores: Walk Score assigns 95 to West Bayside, 93 to Parkside, 88 to the West End and 81 to the East End. In the center the distances are short and the route crosses different environments: the Victorian houses of the West End, Congress Street, the brick buildings and the cobbled streets of the Old Port, up to the docks of the commercial port, where the activity of the live fishing boats with restaurants and shops.
From the ferry terminal, on the waterfront, you can reach Peaks Island in about 17 minutes. The island is a district of Portland and you can walk or cycle, passing from the beaches to military installations built during World War II. Back on the peninsula, the Eastern Promenade occupies 31 hectares overlooking the Casco Bay. A little further north, the Back Cove Trail forms a flat ring of 5 kilometres around the cove.
Walking in the center also means constantly passing in front of places to eat. Next to oysters, lobster roll and Maine fish, the city has restaurants and bakeries awarded nationally. In 2024, the James Beard Foundation awarded ZU Bakery and the Atsuko Fujimoto Bakery pastry; in 2026, the Outstanding Restaurateur prize went to Dana Street, which runs among other Fores Street, Scales and Standard Baking Co. To the gastronomic scene are added breweries and tasting rooms: Oxbow, for example, opened in 2014 its space in the East End, along a route that remains walkable from the Old Port.
From New York the simplest ground solution, for those who want to avoid the car, is the direct bus of Concord Coach: the current time takes about six hours from Midtown to the Portland Transportation Center. The train takes more steps. The New York convoys arrive at South Station or Back Bay, Boston; the Downeaster for Maine departs from North Station and Amtrak does not manage the transfer between stations. North Station to Portland takes about two and a half hours. The Portland International Jetport is connected with LaGuardia, JFK and Newark, although frequencies and seasonality change during the year.
Once you arrive, two or three days between Old Port, East End, West End and Peaks Island are organized without driving. The car comes in handy if you want to add Portland Head Light, which is located in the nearby Cape Elizabeth, the beaches south of the city or the paths outside the urban area.
L’articolo Portland, in Maine, visit well on foot proviene da IlNewyorkese.
