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These are two cities not known for their pedestrian friendly nature, but which has the better downtown for walking?
Ive spent a good amount of time in both, and Sacramento has a surprisingly walkable and human scale downtown (despite the sprawly nature of the rest of the city), with decent amenities and commercial activity. So my vote goes to Sacramento.
^I was in Tucson a week ago. It really wasn't bad at all downtown... particularly along 4th Ave and the surrounding areas. It was actually quite nice. The rest of the city was sprawling, but parts of downtown had a really good scale.
Phoenix, on the other hand, was rough. I had a 11:59pm flight out of Phoenix and arrived in Phoenix at about 4pm. Needless to say, I had time to kill. I jumped on the light rail and headed downtown. The scale was way off. It wasn't enjoyable walking around. The light rail, on the other hand, was quite nice. It just didn't connect me anywhere I wanted to go.
For the sake of choosing the lesser of two evils, Sacramento is better than Phoenix. Tucson is better than both.
It's been years since I've been to either city, but Downtown Sacramento seemed more interesting to walk around in--the K Street Mall, the Capital Mall, Old sacramento. I'd agree that Scottsdale and Tempe are better than either downtown in terms of walkability.
^I was in Tucson a week ago. It really wasn't bad at all downtown... particularly along 4th Ave and the surrounding areas. It was actually quite nice. The rest of the city was sprawling, but parts of downtown had a really good scale.
Phoenix, on the other hand, was rough. I had a 11:59pm flight out of Phoenix and arrived in Phoenix at about 4pm. Needless to say, I had time to kill. I jumped on the light rail and headed downtown. The scale was way off. It wasn't enjoyable walking around. The light rail, on the other hand, was quite nice. It just didn't connect me anywhere I wanted to go.
For the sake of choosing the lesser of two evils, Sacramento is better than Phoenix. Tucson is better than both.
I disagree that Tucson's downtown is better than Sacramento's in terms of pedestrian friendliness. I lived in tucson for 5 years. It has some decent pedestrian areas around the campus and 4th avenue. But downtown as a whole is tiny and seriously lacks amenities.
Sacramento, while the rest of the city is a major sprawl, actually has a semi-decent size downtown, and much of it is very walkable, with distinct areas and corner markets, bars etc.
I would put Sacramento's downtown above Tempe and Scottsdale's as well. Again, it's significantly bigger and has a lot more areas to explore.
Just to be clear, I'm usually not much of an advocate for Sacramento, but as you said we are comparing the lesser of evils, and Sacramento's downtown offers much more than most people think.
No comparison; downtown Phoenix. While there are a couple streets here and there in Tucson, mainly 4th Ave and Sacramento having a smallish downtown as well, downtown Phoenix has 14,000 residents, an Arts District along Roosevelt Row, a CBD (central business district), an arena, stadium, amazing convention center, new high-rises with shopping, nightclubs, grocery stores, a downtown Public Market/Farmers Market, light rail, free downtown DASH bus service, and the list goes on.
There is nothing comparable in Tucson or Sac-town. Tempe isn't really walkable "downtown" as that area is north of Town Lake, but its HUGE university district, Mill District, Maple/Ash, and Town Lake districts all mesh into one HUGE urban zone that makes it extremely walkable. Scottsdale also has a MUCH larger Old Town/Downtown area compared to Sacramento's. There are more residents in downtown Scottsdale alone and the urban districts in Tempe alone than Sacramento.
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