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Hi - I currently reside in Waltham (Boston metro), MA and am contemplating a move to the Orlando area. Professional couple with 1 toddler. We both have permanent WFH jobs so commute is not a concern. We're thinking about Florida because COL is much lower, and Orlando specifically because of the major airport, less hurricane risk, lots of local attractions and nearby natural attractions... and I work for Disney so we can visit the parks for free
We will rent, not buy. We really want to be in a walkable neighborhood, so the common suggestions seem to be places like Winter Park, Baldwin Park, College Park, etc.
My question - what does "walkable" mean in the Orlando area? Where I currently live, I walk to two different grocery stores (regional chain + ethnic), the doctor, the dentist, the post office, a Guatemalan bakery, many restaurants of all price ranges, a bike shop, a large playground, a spray park, a movie theater (before the pandemic), thrift store, public library, etc. In other words, most typical errands can be accomplished by walking.
Is this true of the commonly suggested walkable areas around Orlando? Or does "walkable" mean something more like: I can easily/safely take a morning or evening walk around my neighborhood, or I can walk to a local park/pool, but in general I'm still getting in my car to do typical errands?
I'm familiar with Walk Score, but both it and the national walkability index have some well known flaws. We are planning a visit soon to see for ourselves, but thought I'd get some opinions here.
Last edited by langelgjm; 06-11-2021 at 09:12 AM..
My question - what does "walkable" mean in the Orlando area? Where I currently live, I walk to two different grocery stores (regional chain + ethnic), the doctor, the dentist, the post office, a Guatemalan bakery, many restaurants of all price ranges, a bike shop, a large playground, a spray park, a movie theater (before the pandemic), thrift store, public library, etc. In other words, most typical errands can be accomplished by walking.
Is this true of the commonly suggested walkable areas around Orlando? Or does "walkable" mean something more like: I can easily/safely take a morning or evening walk around my neighborhood, or I can walk to a local park/pool, but in general I'm still getting in my car to do typical errands?
I'm familiar with Walk Score, but both it and the national walkability index have some well known flaws. We are planning a visit soon to see for ourselves, but thought I'd get some opinions here.
Walkscore is flawed... Very much so.
The most walkable areas (with the kind of stuff you seem to be looking for) would be downtown neighborhoods like Eola Heights/South Eola and Baldwin Park IMO. The downtown neighborhoods lack a large multi-purpose store though. Baldwin Park has Target.
Both should suit you well enough. I was in BP for about a year, and did not use my car at all for most regular errands. Walk/Bike to Publix, restaurants, the gym, doctor, dentist, Target, bars, etc.
The most walkable areas (with the kind of stuff you seem to be looking for) would be downtown neighborhoods like Eola Heights/South Eola and Baldwin Park IMO. The downtown neighborhoods lack a large multi-purpose store though. Baldwin Park has Target.
Both should suit you well enough. I was in BP for about a year, and did not use my car at all for most regular errands. Walk/Bike to Publix, restaurants, the gym, doctor, dentist, Target, bars, etc.
Thanks, this is good to know. We have 1 car and use it for trips to Target, Costco, daycare dropoff/pickup, and getting out of town, but otherwise most of what we need is within a 20 minute walk or 15 minute bike ride.
I don't need to be able to walk to a Target, but I don't think we're prepared to transition to life where walking is just a form of exercise.
There is another active poster here who lives in Eola Heights, who I am sure will chime in soon.
The key difference between the two, Eola is an extension of downtown, and so has a more established feel with older homes. BP is much newer, and has a “planned community” feel to it.
Last edited by Arcenal813; 06-11-2021 at 11:39 AM..
Is this true of the commonly suggested walkable areas around Orlando? Or does "walkable" mean something more like: I can easily/safely take a morning or evening walk around my neighborhood, or I can walk to a local park/pool, but in general I'm still getting in my car to do typical errands?
I'm familiar with Walk Score, but both it and the national walkability index have some well known flaws. We are planning a visit soon to see for ourselves, but thought I'd get some opinions here.
I think the convo on the usefulness of walkscore is best for another thread. It's just a separate conversation. Still, having lived in other places where I didn't have a car (we have one car here - we don't need a second one) and comparing the walkscore in those places with where I live now I'd say the difference in score is reasonable and pretty accurate.
I live next to Baldwin Park and I walk to the Publix there - and the liquor store and the CVS. I'm hardly the only one. More often I ride my bike over there because it's faster and less sweaty - not because it's a long walk. I don't think it's fair to say that there's a Target in Baldwin Park - it's at Colonial & Maguire - but it's close. I also ride my bike there.
I'm in downtown College Park often enough. I use the bike shop there, the framers, get my italian ice fix, fresh pasta, etc. The bike shop thing is kind of a bummer. I can walk to the one on Bennet in 10 minutes but they're too slow to respond and I ride too much to have my bike out of commission for more than a few days. But yes, Edgewater is a convenient and practical main street with a lot more variety and everyday useful stuff vs. what you find on New Broad in Baldwin.
Downtown Winter Park is practical while also having the boutique stuff. How much you want to walk to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods probably depends on exactly where you live. Both those stores (and the Publix) are about a mile from the train station. Otherwise it's a pretty nice place to be on foot.
There's also the Mills/50 (Colonialtown North and South) area that people don't mention much. My dad had been living there for awhile (he's since retired and moved). It's not that nice to walk directly on Colonial or Mills but everything is right there. I walked to all of it - I just walked on Hillcrest or Thornton instead.
There's also the area around Lake Formosa which now has a ton of apartments along N. Orange (Ivanhoe Village) but also Virginia and Mills. There are a lot of amenities there now and with the influx of a few thousand new people I'm sure there will quickly be a lot more to do there.
Anyway, in this part of town, people definitely walk to stuff. But from mid-May to mid-October it's hot and the sun is friggin' brutal. When the sun goes down the humidity comes up. Even I curtail the times and distances I'm willing to put in on a bike and I don't want to walk anywhere. I'll ride to East End Market. I'll ride to Seito. I'll even ride to Target but that 1 mile radius is about my limit during our very long summer.
Last edited by drive carephilly; 06-11-2021 at 01:24 PM..
I've got friends and family in Waltham near the Charles, my cousin is a big walker and they only have one car. I'm pretty familiar with their walkability. You can definitely find areas like that but as mentioned above, the heat is beyond oppressive from about late may - October. I'm actually in MA now and as hot as it was on Wednesday is NOTHING compared to Florida heat and humidity.
Where I live in Winter park I can walk to restaurants, boutique shopping, my office, the gym, our private club and if I wanted the grocery stores and Walgreens. In the beautiful months of November - April I'm much more inclined to do that but it's just so hot I won't.
Lake Eola, Thornton Park, Mills 50, Baldwin, Winter Park, College park and now even Maitland are all places it's possible to live a walkable lifestyle. But the question is will you want to mid-summer.
There is another active poster here who lives in Eola Heights, who I am sure will chime in soon.
The key difference between the two, Eola is an extension of downtown, and so has a more established feel with older homes. BP is much newer, and has a “planned community” feel to it.
Good to know. I think we need to visit to see what the planned community feeling is like. Apart from some time outside the country I've spent my whole life in Northeast cities where there isn't really anything comparable (certainly not at scale).
I've got friends and family in Waltham near the Charles, my cousin is a big walker and they only have one car. I'm pretty familiar with their walkability. You can definitely find areas like that but as mentioned above, the heat is beyond oppressive from about late may - October. I'm actually in MA now and as hot as it was on Wednesday is NOTHING compared to Florida heat and humidity.
Where I live in Winter park I can walk to restaurants, boutique shopping, my office, the gym, our private club and if I wanted the grocery stores and Walgreens. In the beautiful months of November - April I'm much more inclined to do that but it's just so hot I won't.
Lake Eola, Thornton Park, Mills 50, Baldwin, Winter Park, College park and now even Maitland are all places it's possible to live a walkable lifestyle. But the question is will you want to mid-summer.
Lol, it did get hot here the past week. We also live near the Charles. Still got outside every day and it wasn't so bad, though. I can deal with desert heat fine (think Atacama desert, driest place on the planet). But we visited Cartagena a few years ago and it kind of kicked our butts. We learned to limit outdoor activity to the mornings and evenings, and stay indoors mid-day. I guess it'll be comparable to that?
I can deal with desert heat fine (think Atacama desert, driest place on the planet). But we visited Cartagena a few years ago and it kind of kicked our butts. We learned to limit outdoor activity to the mornings and evenings, and stay indoors mid-day. I guess it'll be comparable to that?
I don't know if any of the locals will find it strange but it seems weird to me that the humidity hasn't really returned in force this late in the season. You'd think we'd be getting the daily afternoon showers at this point. It's certainly hot right now - It's 95 with a heat index of 102 but the humidity is only 42% right now. Around this time yesterday I noticed the really dry breeze and checked it was around 35% humidity.
I'm not a total weather hawk but it seems like most summer days are high of 92 but the humidity puts the heat index up around 110.
It's definitely fair to say that it's best to limit your outdoor activity between 11am and 8pm during peak summer. The heat index drops very slowly here at night because even as the temp goes down (slowly) the humidity is climbing. I'd also imagine that in a place like Cartagena, close to the equator, sunset is probably closer to 6:30pm? Around the solstice we're working with a little over 14 hours of daylight. More time to bake.
On the upside, Christmas in Boston the sun sets around 4:15pm. Christmas sunset here is 5:35pm. Twilight lasts until around 6pm so even dead of winter when I was going to the office everyday I never went home in the dark.
And it's not all doom and gloom with the heat here in the summer. You just need to be in water somewhere.
I live in Eola Heights and I would say it’s very walkable, with many of the same amenities you mentioned above accessible by foot, bike, or a rental scooter. There’s a Publix a few blocks away, tons of different restaurants (especially Asian cuisines as this is where our “Little Vietnam” is, and there’s multiple specialty markets as well), doctors and dentists, the post office, coffee shops, bars/music venues, a brewery, hair salons, farmer’s market, artisan/vegan markets, gyms, library and Lake Eola Park. All of these are within a 15 minute bike ride. One of my roommates doesn’t have a car and walks to do most of his errands (although I wouldn’t personally live here without a car). It’s just tough to walk anywhere in the afternoon in the summer. The heat is pretty brutal. But our winters are glorious!
If you have any questions feel free to ask. I absolutely love my neighborhood and the surrounding downtown neighborhoods and couldn’t see myself living anywhere else. I’d say Eola Heights, Colonialtown North/South, Park Lake Highland, Thornton Park, South Eola and Baldwin Park would give you the most walkability.
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