Best Walkable Neighborhoods? (Austin, Burnet, Clarksville: safe area, good schools, university)

[CiscoKid]

My wife, daughter, and I are coming to visit Austin in February with the idea that we might consider moving there. We live in New York now and lived in Berkeley CA before. What we really love about those places is that you can walk pretty much anywhere and live life car-free. What neighborhoods get recommendations as far as walkability is concerned?

Best walkable neighborhood for those with young children? (close to parks/playgrounds/nature/other kids)

Best walkable neighborhood for academic types? (close to bookstores, cafes, libraries, the university)

Best walkable neighborhood for the health conscious? (close to a gym, a park, a healthy grocery store or farmer's market)

Best residential neighborhood? (affordable housing! a safe area with good schools)

Would love it if a neighborhood was a combination of all of these!

[deeptrance]

Your comments/questions in bold below...

We live in New York now and lived in Berkeley CA before. What we really love about those places is that you can walk pretty much anywhere and live life car-free.

Clarksville, Hyde Park, SoCo, SoFi, SoLa, plus:
parts of Tarrytown, Brykerwood, Rosedale, Shoalwood, Cherrywood and Dellwood, East 11th to East 7th and I'm probably forgetting a few...

Best walkable neighborhood for those with young children? (close to parks/playgrounds/nature/other kids)

Clarksville, Travis Heights and Hyde Park

Best walkable neighborhood for academic types? (close to bookstores, cafes, libraries, the university)

North Campus/Hyde Park

Best walkable neighborhood for the health conscious? (close to a gym, a park, a healthy grocery store or farmer's market)

Any of the previously mentioned neighborhoods. Parks, trails, health foods and gyms are plentiful in Austin.

Best residential neighborhood? (affordable housing! a safe area with good schools)

Now you want it all! The above combo is impossible in any city that isn't suffering an economic meltdown. But I'll take a stab at it --- I think the area bounded by 183 (north), 45th (south), Mopac (west), and Lamar (east) is probably your best bargain for balancing all that. Check out the neighborhoods near Burnett Road between Anderson and 45th especially. That encompasses a few neighborhoods, almost all fairly affordable and all promise to go up in value and quality as they've been trending that way for years now.

[bjlaprade]

What is the best location for a mid-seventies widow? Am looking at properties in the 78734 area. I don't like traffic or congestion. When in the mood, I will drive to the Belen Museum, the Capitol Building and UT.

[deeptrance]

Greetings, bjlaprade! Do you recognize my user name as matching my e-mail address? Good to see you visiting this site!

I don't have time to respond now but will look into where the 78734 code is located (I honestly don't know that one) and I'll get back to you. Meanwhile, I hope you find other responses helpful and that your 2007 is a great year and that we'll be neighbors someday!!!