Turin, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Madrid, Hanoï, Kampala, Casablanca… All those cities I moved to and those I visited in my host countries and around. And every time, these same questions: where can I go running around here? How to get to the nearest park? Where can I safely plan an interval training session? Where can I find some slopes? And, above all, how to avoid getting lost? Here are my tips and tricks to find running routes and plan your running session, whether you are moving to a new city or just spending holidays (but don’t want to sacrifice your holy running session!).
Spotting nearby parks
Actually one of the top criteria for me when looking for accommodation in a new city. A proper park should be available on a running distance (and not just a public garden with three trees). You probably noticed from my previous recommendations in all cities I lived in, parks are my favourite running spots. First, they are my go-to when I don’t know the city and when I don’t have the motivation to find out new routes (so very often). Second, it’s also a safe place to run away from the cars (and exhaust fumes), you don’t have to stop a hundred times to cross roads, and it’s ideal for interval training sessions.
So I managed more or less to find places to stay that were not so far from major parks:
- Torino > parco Gustavo Colonetti (1,5 km away)
- Berlin > Insulaner park (quite far 2,5km away) and Volkspark Wilmersdorf (1,5 km away)
- Paris > parc des Buttes Chaumont (1km away)
- Grenoble > parc des berges de l’Isère (500m) and parc Paul Mistral (1km away)
- Vienna > Prater park (500m away, only went once though)
- Madrid > parque del Oeste (1,5km away)
- Casablanca > Arab league park (600m away)
The two exception I had to make were Hanoi, as the only park in very far in the South (and you have to pay the entrance…) and Kampala, as there are no publics parks AT ALL or nothing that could serve as a park.
Same thing applies if you want to run when traveling, spot the nearest park (Brussels > parc de Bruxelles, Marrakech > Menara park…)
Taking a scouting walk
Lesson learnt from Turin (where I went running randomly and took 1 hour to find back my place), I’m now always taking a first scouting walk to the place I’m intending to run to. Try to memorise the directions, the street names, and some remarkable places on the way (a shop, a giant tree, a metro station…). Taking a scounting walk is also useful to evaluate the “running friendliness” of the route.
Building a loop on Google maps/maps.me
If you’re traveling and don’t have time to take a scouting walk, a good option is to prepare a rough route to follow on Google maps (or better, download maps on maps.me to use it offline). Then you can evaluate and adapt the distance you want to run. The issue is that you have to run with the phone in your hand, which is not very safe depending on the country and often need to stop to check where to turn. In the end, I rarely succeed in respecting the itinerary I made up.
Asking and observing locals
Try to search Facebook groups for recommendations, many expats ask where to run (I always ask for recommandations to find a swimming pool). It’s also a good indication to know if an area is safe for running security-wise (for an expat). Otherwise, ask your local friends, colleagues, neighbours, hosts, or just try to figure out where locals are usually going. For instance, in Hue, a city in central Vietnam I was visiting a couple of days, I just followed the flow of runners and walkers along the river. In vacation in Montpellier our host indicated me the nearest park (with a running track, on top of that!).
Getting inspiration from running and GPS apps
Probably the easiest way to find running routes ideas around you, especially in large cities. I rarely follow ready-made routes because I don’t like taking my phone with me while running and I often struggle to strictly respect the itineraries. What I often do, however (especially while travelling), is just getting inspiration from the apps with routes around me to have a broad idea on where to go. I mostly use Open runner (in Kampala), Jooks (in Paris, Grenade, Marrakech…), Komoot (Casablanca) and mapmyrun (Tangier) depending on the location, but there are a lot on the market (the most famous one being Strava). I’m preparing another article with a comparative of the different apps I had tried, so stay tuned!
Getting inspiration from official races
Another way to get an idea of where to go running: check the routes of the official races in your city (sometimes there are transposed on GPS apps). Actually one of my routine run in Kampala was more or less the 10K route from the MTN marathon (because you avoid 200 elevation lol). The whole routes may not be transposable in every city, as roads and big avenues that are closed during race days are not necessarily very running-friendly in normal days (typically in Casablanca).
Going around randomly (aka the yolo technique)
I wouldn’t say that this is my favourite technique but… I had to use it a couple of times, especially when travelling to small cities or remote areas where it’s hard to plan a route in advance. I usually have a vague idea in mind on which side to go (in Kyaninga in Uganda, in Hoi An in Vientam) or I just follow the road back and forth to be sure not to get lost (Dadès gorges, Morocco). And yes, sometimes, I really had no clue (for instance in Arua, Norther Uganda, another failure in following the route I made on Google map). The most important is pin the location of the place you’re staying at on your phone and to clearly memorise the area/street (try to spot something particular around to find it more easily on the way back). And above all, don’t venture too far away from your starting point. Rather run 5 times the same small loop instead of trying to make a single big loop.
So far, all these techniques combined (with the yolo technique as a last resort) always enabled me to go running anywhere, whether in a new city I moved to or in vacation without getting (too much) lost. Anyway, that’s also part of the discovery…
And you, what are your tricks to find running routes in a new city?