How to Make the City an Outdoor Playground

By Kate Wilke | July 6, 2015

Love living in the city but have consistent outdoor withdrawals? Us too. With all the resources a big city has to offer, you can easily make the city life feel more like an outdoor paradise. Find the best parks, playgrounds, waterways, local eateries, and outdoor community groups in your location and you’ll be able to complete our guideline to turning your concrete jungle into the best outdoor playground.

Parks

Parks offer much more than a jog around the pond and family picnics. Many cities have yoga studios or local organizations, like Team Green Adventures in Nashville, that host yoga in the park on a regular basis. Barry’s Bootcamp is a national fitness studio that will teach several weekly classes at the local park. Aside from these group classes, the park is also a great place to use a bench for exercises like lunges, shoulder press, and push-ups. Other parks offer more diverse terrain for activities like mountain biking and trail running. Use the app Gociety to find people with the same outdoor pursuits as you and join a meet-up at the park for a group activity.

Playground

Playgrounds are basically a more colorful gym. Everything from the monkey bars to the staircase can give you a killer workout. Use the monkey bars as they’re intended but also do as many pull-ups as you can. Get in push-up position in front of the swing and put your feet on the swing. Pull your knees into your chest and back out for an overall strength workout. Use the staircase to jump up and down on one leg to strengthen your calves and quads. If you move your workout to the playground, you’ll instantly add more fresh air, greenery, and inspiration to your day.

Waterways

Most cities have some kind of waterway, even if it’s a river surrounded by brick walls. Make the most of these resources by investing in a paddle board or kayak to soak up the sun and enjoy long, adventurous days on the weekend. Try a paddle board yoga class hosted by a local studio, like Bliss Paddle Yoga in Southern California.

Restaurants

Even though eating doesn’t necessarily count as outdoor adventure, exploring local restaurants that use produce from local farms will give you a sense of the natural world that you can’t find at the nearby pub. Trying a new restaurant once a week also keeps you learning about your city and makes it feel like you’re constantly traveling. Drive out to nearby towns to really change things up. Denver residents can truly escape the city life at Boulder’s Dushanbe Teahouse, which features more than eighty premium teas.

B-Cycle

No matter what city you live in, biking is always an option. B-cycle makes it easy to access a bike wherever you are located in the city. With stations planted throughout the city, B-cycle allows you to rent a bike for any length of time and return it to any B-cycle station. The bike comes with a useful basket to hold your belongings. The first half-hour of B-cycle is free of charge, then fees are applied based on how long you are using the bike. If you have your own bike, then all the better! Protect the environment and treat your body with a workout by biking to work on a daily basis.

Apartment Life

Possibly the most difficult issue outdoor-loving city dwellers face is that they feel squished in an apartment and miss the spacious land, multitude of trees, and view of either the ocean or mountains. To ease the pain of looking out at construction cranes, we have some ideas that will make your space a little more like a wilderness getaway. Add tropical houseplants if you are homesick for the ocean, and hang your paddle board on the wall for a surfer-inspired atmosphere. If you are aiming more for the cozy cabin, you can find many ski-town wall decorations that will turn your city apartment into a ski hut. You could even hang your skis criss-crossed on the wall!