A Popular North Carolina Vacation City Is Considered One Of The Least Walkable In America

In November 2024, YouTuber Sam Reid posted a video entitled, "I Walked Across America's Least Walkable City." The city in question? Fayetteville, North Carolina, an urban landscape that Walk Score, a private index that ranks U.S. cities by pedestrian accessibility, listed as the least walkable city in America in 2017 (via Money Talk News). In the video, Reid and a friend tackle a range of everyday tasks in Fayetteville on foot, ranging from grocery shopping to visiting notable landmarks. The result? 16.57 miles of disappearing sidewalks and questionably safe road crossings across a chaotic and entertaining eight hours and 43 minutes.

But here's the thing: Fayetteville isn't even that much of an outlier in the broader scope of things. As Americans, we love our cars, but in most cities, we don't really have a choice not to. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 0.6% of all workers in the country commute to work by bicycle, and a mere 5% of people do so via public transportation. Those figures are no accident; they reflect a 75-year history of the American automotive industry spending hundreds of millions annually on lobbying for car-centric development, a trend that continues today.

Counterintuitively, this is exactly what makes Fayetteville a uniquely compelling place to visit. Since it made less-than-flattering headlines in 2017 for its walkability score, residents have been developing increasingly concerted efforts to change its image. To visit Fayetteville today is to see a city in the midst of rethinking its identity while witnessing a case study in evolving attitudes toward urban design. And outside of these headlines, Fayetteville holds plenty of charm as a destination in its own right. Here's what to know before you go. 

Fayetteville's streets are home to a rich mix of culture and history. A must-see for visitors is the Airborne & Special Operations Museum, which offers a compelling and interactive look at the history of the U.S. Army's airborne forces. The admission-free museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. And just a few blocks away is the Fayetteville History Museum. Housed in a restored 1890s railroad depot, visitors can learn about the city's transit history, making it a particularly relevant stop for anyone interested in discovering how the Fayetteville of today (Walk Score and all) came to be. Museum staff offer guided downtown walking tours, too.

Nature lovers should head to Cape Fear Botanical Garden, which offers 80 acres of walking trails, native plants, and scenic overlooks just a couple of miles from downtown. Open daily, admission ranges from $7 to $12 depending on age. A few miles north of the botanical garden is the Clark Park Nature Center, a large natural area featuring running paths, jungle gyms, and interactive exhibits for children. This makes it the perfect rest stop for those passing through on their way to Robbinsville, a water wonderland located in the Smoky Mountains, or Carolina Beach, one of the best coastal towns in North Carolina.

While downtown, take a stroll on Hay Street. The street's historic architecture, local cafes, and growing arts scene offer a solid place to get a feel for where the city is headed next. Cape Fear Regional Theatre is a great place to catch a play, and Cape Fear Studios is a well-regarded art gallery that regularly hosts exhibitions from local talent

Since being labeled the least walkable city in America in 2017, Fayetteville has been on a mission to rewrite its own narrative. One of the clearest signs of progress is the Fayetteville Pedestrian Plan, which aims to pour hundreds of millions into creating new (and repairing and extending old) pedestrian pathways in areas around schools, parks, and high-traffic corridors in the next 5 to 20 years. These projects are slowly making it easier for residents and visitors to move safely around town without a car. And Fayetteville doesn't even need to look very far for inspiration. Davidson, one of the best places to live in North Carolina, is a walkable college town with a charming downtown.

Residents are also taking up the challenge. In 2024, Ben Hultquist founded Strong Towns Fayetteville to advocate for human-centric urban design in the city. A non-profit organization, Strong Towns is a country-wide advocacy group that aims to produce livable, walkable, and financially sustainable communities. Hultquist and other members have since been working on eliminating city parking mandates that lead to inefficient, car-centric land use and reforming zoning laws that cordon off single-family housing from local businesses.

Fayetteville's transformation is part of a larger rethinking of how cities in North America should be built. Many now believe that the country's postwar suburban experiment needs a complete overhaul, and cities like Fayetteville are on the frontlines of that shift in sentiment. Rather than prioritizing wide roads, expansive parking lots, and zoning laws that frequently lead to financially insolvent neighborhoods and high pedestrian fatality rates, a new kind of urban design movement is emerging that places people and community at its core. For travelers, that means Fayetteville isn't a place to pass through — it's a place to walk through.