These Are The 5 Most Walkable Airports In America, According To Flyers

We all know that walking is great for your health. In fact, 30 minutes of walking a day can improve the health of your heart and your mood, lower blood pressure and blood sugar, and even help your stress level, according to Prevention. To get more walking in, some folks skip the car for nearby errands, go for evening strolls, and even choose to walk through airports rather than take shuttles or trains. If that last one sounds like something you do or want to do, your fellow passengers have opinions on the best airports for it.

There are, of course, plenty of walkable airports in the country, and many of them are working to give flyers an opportunity to stretch their legs before sitting on a plane for hours at a time. For instance, Phoenix's Sky Harbor offers a mile-long fitness trail, and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has two cardio trails. It's a fantastic trend. So, to help with your next airport layover walk, we looked at a number of posts on Reddit threads, social media, and travel blogs, as well as travel websites to find a consensus on the top five most walkable airports in America according to flyers. 

The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas is known for having the longest walk between gates at around 1.5 miles, according to a 2025 study by Kuru Footwear. You don't really have to walk it, of course. DFW has the Skyline train that connects all terminals. It leaves every two minutes, and it's pretty fast. It's a good thing, too, as DFW is so big that it has its own zip code. However, if you're looking to stretch your legs, you have plenty of areas to do so. It was mentioned as a walking airport on Reddit's r/LifeProTips, and on a "favorite airport strolls" post on r/unitedairlines. In the latter, the newly-renovated terminals were mentioned, but so were the crowds, so that may need to be factored in if you decide to do some walking before boarding. This airport was also brought up a few times in r/flights as an example of an airport that is fully connected and can be explored on foot.

But, if you are looking for something a little more unique, DFW also has a 0.7-mile walk through the DFW Art Program in International Terminal D. Also, there are floor medallions and markings between gates D6 and D40. There is even an interactive map of the airport that you can check out here if you want to plan out a walking route.

Next on our list is Denver International Airport in Colorado, America's largest airport with some of the best food options. Kuru Footwear cited Denver as having the second-longest walking distance between terminals after Dallas/Fort Worth. This airport was mentioned a number of times on Reddit pages as well. In an r/unitedairlines post on Reddit, the fact that you can go outdoors at DEN was a big selling point. One person said, "DEN can be nice, especially the open air terraces," while another wrote, "I like doing a lap of DENs regional gates and seeing all the tiny places you can fly to." Still another poster recommended, "DEN from gate b7 to b94 is a nice stroll if you have the time and want to get your steps in."

According to WeSaidGoTravel, the Denver International Airport also has a 1.45-mile walk along its public art collection, so you'll have some great scenery as you stroll. The Denver Airport website explains that the collection celebrates the city, as well as the state of Colorado. (Don't miss the large blue mustang sculpture outside the airport as you travel.)

If you're flying from, to, or through Atlanta, Georgia, the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is a great place for some walking, according to flyers. It was mentioned on r/Flights as a walkable airport, and Stuck at the Airport let readers know that the walk between Concourses A and D is around 0.79 miles. On r/unitedairlines, it was listed as one of users' favorite airport strolls, with one poster saying, "The ATL tunnel is pretty cool, with different displays (art, history, jungle ambiance) between each concourse," and another adding, "This would get my vote. Whenever I have a long layover at ATL, part of my time-killing is walking the tunnel from T to the end. Sometimes I ride the train back, sometimes I walk back."

While you can take the Plane Train between concourses, r/travel posters mentioned ATL a few times as a great place for a walk. One said, "ATL is just big. It is easy to get around and there are lots of food and shopping options." Another noted that it was "super easy to navigate," while someone else mentioned that there is a "walkway between all terminals so you are not reliant on the tram." On Our Travel Cafe, it was pointed out that, "you can easily do all or part of the longest walk, complete it round trip by foot for a four-mile excursion, or combine it with a plane train return if you get behind schedule." The airport website touts its commitment to Atlanta sports fans, with plenty of spots in the terminal to stop during your walk and check out live games and eat food, including its Atlanta Hawks Bar & Grill in Concourse A and Atlanta Braves All-Star Grill in Concourse D.

Los Angeles is home to Hollywood, and fitness is a way of life there. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) certainly has lots of places to walk. Posters on the FlyerTalk forum mention LAX as an airport that requires long walks, though one person mentioned poor signage in places, and the fact that there always seems to be construction. In Reddit's r/LifeProTips, LAX is mentioned as a good place to walk while waiting for a plane.

The Los Angeles Times reported in 2023 that passengers at LAX can walk through all nine terminals after going through security. It's 2 miles each way, and 2.5 miles if you add in all of the Bradley International Terminal. The publication points out that the walk allows you to hit a number of restaurants and other features outside of your departure terminal.

In r/AskLosAngeles, a poster asking about 1-mile walks at LAX was told that it's easy to do, now that the terminals are connected, while another mentioned that it's close to 0.7 miles from Terminal 1 to Terminal 6. It was also pointed out that it's worth walking in the airport as you may not have time to go outside during a layover. (LAX isn't in the most walkable area of Los Angeles.) That said, forget the 1980s song by Missing Persons that says nobody walks in L.A. As someone who lives there, I can confirm that we do.

The San Francisco International Airport has a great, open feel to it, and according to flyers, it's perfect for a stroll. One poster on r/unitedairlines said, "SFO from terminal 2/d gates to E/f. Lots of light." Another said, "United SFO flyers wanting to walk a bit should venture over to Terminal 1 (A/B). It is really nicely designed with lots of unique food options that we don't have (yet) in the United side (D-G)." A FlyerTalk poster mentioned San Francisco, saying, "I enjoy skipping the moving walkways at SFO. There are some good UA walks there between the D, E, and F gates, with bonus steps for G (Int'l), all airside."

The SFO website mentions that all the terminals are connected before and after you go through security. You can walk to all gates, no matter where you check in. They list the walking time between terminals as six minutes, though if you take the AirTrain instead, it takes three minutes. However, if you do choose to walk, the airport also has a self-guided walking tour. 

To pick the most walkable airports, we skipped the smaller ones and went for major airports. We looked at Reddit's r/LifeProTips, r/unitedairlines, and r/flights among other forums, and consulted travel blogs like We Said Go Travel, Our Travel Cafe, and Stuck at the Airport. Then we looked at the official websites for each airport, and stories on Kuru Footwear and Travel + Leisure. In addition, I've been to all of these airports and many of the other ones that were mentioned. As someone who can't sit still and needs to burn off energy before a flight, I have absolutely walked back and forth through each of these airports a number of times, and run through them when I was late for a flight.