For me it’s either 600m to a small corner shop or about 1.1km to a larger store.

I do 3km periodically for another store, but I wouldn’t do it in 30c weather. I’m barely willing to exercise in 25c weather.

That's cycling distance. A nice bike ride to pickup shopping.

My closest supermarket is 400m away, and the next supermarket over is 1.1km. I walk there daily, sometimes multiple times a day. 3km is quite far and I would not consider that walking distance.

It's certainly possible to walk that distance once every (couple of) months, if I did not have my bike available for whatever reason? But I would consider regularly walking 40 minutes one way every other day to be far too much. That distance is cycling distance, not walking distance.

On a side-note. Did you just say that the bus arrives only once every four hours? My lord.. It might as well basically not exist at that point.

500 meters. If the store were at 3km I'd bike there, not walk. I feel like 500m is still an okay walking distance, but at some point I regularly went to a store 800m away and I already preferred to bike there. Walking 3km is definitely a bit of a time investment

3 Km is what? A half hour walk? I've lived in multiple European countries in my life and never been that far from a supermarket.

I mean, I definitely have walked that much daily. My longest walk to work I can remember was maybe 40 minutes. In some places where I'd take public transportation for like 20-30 min I've walked for an hour when I felt like it instead.

For groceries I don't think I'd take that with me that far walking unless it could go in my backpack. But seriously, if you don't have a shop in that radius around you in Europe you need a car anyway because you're out in the middle of nowhere.

But also, in European supermarkets you can normally get big grocery hauls delivered that far away. Just go there, buy your stuff, pay, book a delivery. Lots of old people who can't carry heavy weights do it. They still go to the shop, though.

We have two supermarkets within five minutes walking distance, if you make it ten minutes, it's four.

Also within ten minutes walking distance are two middle schools, a primary school, and two kindergardens, several doctors and apothecaries, several shops, and the central bus station.

The latter is a bit of an disappointment, as not only the bus service is low frequency, and it takes an hour+ to the city.

In Norway. Technically in a city, but it's very rural. About 30 minutes of walking with a descent of ~150 meters. Carrying groceries back up that hill is a big test of stamina, so we very rarely do it. We mostly drive to the store.

Your friend is full of shit. 3km is a very long distance for walking to get groceries, and I can imagine that you have to deprioritize heavier groceries all the time due to that distance. I'd recommend getting a bike or electic scooter or something to cover that distance. Basically no one in Norway would have 3km to their nearest store with walking as their only option.

I'm in Vienna, Austria. I have 5 supermarkets and 3 pharmacys in a 10 minute walking radius.

Even fairly rural Europeans will consider that to be at least cycling distance.

I have four supermarkets in a radius of about 500 metres. Not only do I regularly walk, I pretty much buy only what I need for a few days, safe in the knowledge that if I need something now, I can be out & back in under half an hour, also knowing that most supermarkets here are reliably stocked with just what I need.

I live out in the countryside. The nearest store is about 2.8km away. Put on some good music, get an ice cream for the second half of the trip, it's a lovely walk. I could catch a bus back, there's a stop right by the shop, but my timing is generally shite. If I'd be halfway home by the time the bus comes, I'd rather just walk.

One more opinion: 3km is definitely too far for groceries, that's driving distance. It's half an hour walking each way, the return loaded with bags? Forget about it.

I live on the edge of a small-ish town and it takes me 15 min to the nearest supermarket, and that's quite a lot, everyone on this streets bikes there, in about 5 min. From there towards the center you don't need to walk more than 5 min to get groceries.

I'd say having to walk more than a 10 minutes for groceries already affects the apartment value.

When I was in a similar situation, I wish I thought of “one way”. I realized after the fact that many people were walking one way to the store but taking a taxi back with their load of groceries. However I have no idea whether it was actually affordable or if that was their only choice.

You should look into that. How affordable is a taxi if you only take it one direction?

If I walked 3km in any direction I would pass probably 8-10 grocery stores on the way. But I live in the middle of a small European city. I walk probably 300meters to the nearest one though.

Europeans aren’t a homogeneous blob - we’re individuals. There’s no universal consensus among us about what counts as a reasonable distance to the grocery store.

I live in a very small town, the closest one is 300m, it's a rather small grocery store good enough for daily stuff. Once a week or two I take the car to a bigger store 10km away for stuff that I can't find in the small store or is cheaper there.

I draw the line of the unladen (not for leisure) walking distance at 25 minutes. That can be reevaluated in case of necessity.

800m by foot only.

Or about 50m and 2 tram stops.

edit: counting is hard.

I bike (more carrying capacity) about 9km each direction. (Belgium to Germany, funnily enough.) That being said, not wanting to do so under the burning sun is absolutely valid.

Eastern part of Germany here. The closest grocery stores are about 2,5km away from my home, but we live a little more rural than most of the people in the thread. I don't walk that distance for groceries, because they don't allow dogs in, but one of the supermarkets has a DIY store right next to it, and I do walk there to get smaller items and have a nice walk with my doggo.

Around 2.2km at the moment, according to google maps :3

Most places I lived before were significantly closer to the store tho.. 3km is still walking distance for groceries I'd say, but anything further than that and I'd definitely be considering a different transport method, just cause of the bags

I'm not really a European but I'm close enough I guess (Turkish). The closest supermarket to me is less than a hundred meters away, with 3 others available in a 250m radius around my home.

3km walk in this weather sounds like hell to be honest. You could use a grocery delivery service though if you have one available in your country.

3km is kinda far, even with a bicycle, I have a small shop down the stairs and a medium supermarket at 5 min walk

• 180m to the nearest small supermarket which has a satisfactory selection

• 450m-650m to three normal-sized supermarkets which have everything I need in daily life

• 1km to a mall which has everything I could ever ask for in life

Yes, I live in the city.

Nearest grocery store is 100m away. Nearest supermarket is 850m (just cheched). I walked to the supermarket moments ago, bought grocery and brought it back all in less than 1 hour. I wouldn't do it with 30 degrees in the middle of the day though. If there were no sidewalks and I had to make a 6km round trip to get groceries, I would invest in the cheapest electric bike possible.

Got four different shops within ~500m.

I don't have to walk more that 10 minutes to a "grocery store" where I live (which is kind of in between rural and urban) but occasionally I might walk 3+ km and back to somewhere with a better selection, take a backpack, that's not an unreasonable walk to me. If I had to do it every day I might complain.

My day to day shopping is 600-800m away.

My specialty store is 1.1km.

3km is a bit too far for me.

The most I've ever willing walked for groceries is 1.5km

My usual place is 250m from my home, or around 3 minutes walking. There's like another 5 supermarkets, 5 bakeries, 4 greengrocers and 3 butchers about 500 meters away (off the top of my head, there could be more).

About a 4 minute walk!

Not european but 2km to the nearest grocery store with fewer selection, 3.8km to the nearest town with better selection. The caveat here is i moved into a rather new residential area and it's in the middle of nowhere. Before this the grocery store is 3min walk, and the furthest part of the residential area is still 1km away from the nearest grocery store.

I wouldn't walk 3km though, that is still 30min to 40min walk one way. Cycling is better.

About 200 meters, but I usually take the bike down to the Lidl 1 km away.

Where I last lived I had 200 meters to a small shop and 3.5 km to the local Lidl, which was fine but not ideal.

Getting a bike with a rack might be a good idea for your grocery runs. 3 km is less than 10 minutes on a bike.

The closest supermarket is 6km away. I either walk or cycle 1k to the bus stop or all the way by ebike. The way home is super steep, otherwise i would probably take the normal bike. It's nice, because i can go all the way without touching an asphalt road.

As a european, it takes me 8 minutes to walk to a supermarket, though i use a bicycle

I'd ask your friend if they walk 3k to the market, and if the answer is no, tell them to STFU.

the walk is good for your though. You can feel like a badass for doing it, but complaining kind of weakens that.

1km, 12 minutes walking

I have a grocery store in the first floor of the building, so just an elevator down and up. One supermarket in each direction 550 and 650 meters. But I live in the city centre, so that is a privilege most people do not have.

The nearest to me is super run down and gross with people doing drugs in the parking lot, and its 2.7km from me. Instead I end up going to a nice one in a different part of town just over 9km away. Obviously driving is the only option for either.

About 500m or, if I want to go to a larger supermarket, about 2km.

Vilnius, Lithuania. 3 different shops 5 min walk from home. And its not even high density urban area. I shop almost every day

About 1km one-way. I usually walk

My nearest store is about 3km away and I will usually walk there unless I'm picking up anything especially heavy or bulky.

I live in a city center in Norway. Grocery stores surround me. Several within a few blocks. Maybe moving soon to a rural area where the closest will probably be 10 minutes via bus. But still not too shabby.

Aussie, but the strip with a butcher, grocer and IGA is about 60m away, if i want more supermarkety goods i'll hop on my pushbike or walk the 1.4km to Europa

6km, I drive ..

Netherlands, Rotterdam. 4 supermarkets within walking distance. 1 less than 10 minutes, 3 less than 5.

Not European, but most people in my city would say "3 minutes" as they'd live directly above a mall. I live somewhere quieter, so it's about 12 minutes for me to the closest supermarket, and 4 more if I want to go for cheaper groceries, hella restaurants and food stalls, and boba.

When I was staying in Berlin, the closest Lidl was a 15-minute walk away.

3 km sounds like too much to me. I don't think most people here would walk that far to do their shopping, especially in 30°C heat, mostly because we usually have small supermarkets all around.

I currently walk 500 m to my small neighbourhood supermarket when I just need to buy a few things and I don't recall ever living further away from some small supermaket. When I am running out of provisions, I take my car and go to a big hypermarket 7 km away. There are other hypermarkets closer by, even within walking distance (2.3 km), but that farther one is the one I like for doing a big shopping.

Of course, distance isn't the only factor. It's not the same 500 m in London or Amsterdam which are mostly flat than in the city where I live now, where the 500 m to my supermarket have gradients of up to 15 %.

I recently moved somewhere a little further from the shops. I can take the bus part of the way but still need to walk around 1km each way, so I've invested in a Clax trolley to carry my groceries.

If I was in your situation, I would buy a light, foldable cart, take the bus to the shops, and walk home.

Depends on what I want (availability in the shop).
But anything is in a range of about 6km in every direction and reachable by bike.
Got a Lidl, Aldi, Edeka Center, Rewe, Kaufland in my range.
All of mid size.

Depending on the weight I am willing to carry the groceries (if they don't need cooling).
But that depends on how much time I have and if I am in the mood.

I have a small shop with basics and a seasonal farm stand about 400 meters from me and I walk that for anything I need from there, or another larger but still small shop another 300m past the first one. But selection is limited.

There's a gross supermarket about 2km away, and I wouldn't object to walking that, but I don't think I ever have. In the same amount of time I could drive 4km to the good supermarket or large green market and get better products. I regularly go for 5-7km runs, often past the gross supermarket, so it's more so that if I need something from a supermarket, I would rather do a full shopping trip, or stop at the store or market on the way home from work.

The closest small one is about 1 km, a reasonably sized one for stocking up is 5 km or so. I have never walked to either in 5+ years of living here. Even the closer one is like a 10 minute walk (ish), and then I would have to carry back what I bought, which also means I can barely buy anything. 5 km is more like an hour by foot one way, so that's just not happening, ever.

I usually take my bike to the closer one, or the cargo bike to the bigger one. I also pass by the smaller one on the way home from work (I commute by bike). The fact that I own bikes is why there's never any rain to walk anywhere, basically. Additionally, there is very little sense in taking a (relatively small capacity) bike to a big store when a cargo bike is available. I also don't own a car. I don't know a single person who would regularly walk 1 km+ for shopping, but I also don't know anyone who doesn't own any form of personal transport. Most would usually take a bike, and take a car for bigger or heavier trips.

Taking a bus or tram/train for grocery shopping does happen for some, but highly depends on the local situation and town or city layout if that can bring useful time savings. Unless you live is the middle of nowhere, bus and train schedules are anywhere from every 10 to 30 minutes or so, more frequent in dense areas where there's multiple lines.

Edit: for context, I live on the outskirts of a medium sized city (250k inhabitants), but my town only has 3500 or so. The small supermarket is on the literal other side of that town, the bigger one is one town over (opposite direction of city). Distance to the city is also only only 10 km or so (to the center), but there happen to be no "attractive" supermarkets in that direction for me.

Outskirts of Budapest, closest supermarket is bit more than 1.5 km, so I did my daily shopping when I walked the dog. I would guess 45 min round trip.

I live in Berlin. I can go shopping for groceries, head back home, cook a meal using those groceries and eat within one hour of home office lunch break.

Obligatory "I'm not European" but have quite a few online friends from euro land that I yak with regularly.

Remember their grocery shopping habits are (typically) much different than Americans. Where US shoppers may go once every week or two, and make large bulk purchases to load into their car, it's more common there to stop by a market every day or two on the way home from work or another errand, just to get a single light bag that is enough for the next couple meals. "Carrying home groceries" for a km or two is less of a chore if it's not 25kg of groceries at a time.

About 10 to 15 minutes walk depending on where you want to shop

I have a neighbourhood small shop at 5 min from me. But I usually go to bigger ones 30 min or a bit more so I can get some exercise and enjoy nature and fresh air.

My day to day walking to grocery stores is something like one kilometer. Bus goes every ten or fifteen minutes near my home. I don’t like biking that’s why I decided to walk. Every now and then I walk to the city, which is 5 km from my home, I don’t think it’s too far, but if I go to shopping there I usually come back with a bus.

200 meters

I don't live in Europe anymore, but it was about 2.5km one way. There was a closer one, but from a chain I absolutely hated, so there I'd only pick up heavy or bulky stuff, like drinks, toilet paper etc.

About 60m. 30 if I cut across the courtyard. It almost takes me longer taking the stairs down from 4th than walking the rest of the way.

I am in the states, my only non-Walmart grocery store is 0.5km and before my bike was stolen I used to ride there for groceries quite often. I rarely walk it, but I also hike ~9km a day with my dog.

I am in New Mexico and our temps are more like 36-39c. I am trying to get out of my truck more.

500m to a small one, 1.2 to a fairly sized supermarket, some 3 km to a hypermarket.

Walking to the hypermarket and back is something I used to do quite frequently with a friend or another, but it is a slight chore, and I wouldn't enjoy going in -25C.

Usually if I have to walk I'll go to the supermarket, 1.2km is a very reasonable distance to walk.

Or 500m for some quick stuffs like a few beers or tobacco from the closest small store

I’m in the US (and in FL no less so it’s routinely 30-38C/80-100F). I moved to my specific house, among other reasons, because it’s about 250M/a quarter mile from a grocery store. I walk there 2x/week and carry back on average about 10kg/20-25 lbs of groceries. Lots of others in my neighborhood do the same, but most of Florida is not built for walking which is incredibly disappointing.

900m. I live at the edge of town...

From Serbia, I have a supermarket about 200m from my apartment and a mall with a huge supermarket about 20 mins away on foot. In my city at least, you're rarely more than 15 mins away by foot from a supermarket, they're everywhere.

The closest grocery store/supermarket is around 1km away from my house and a few others are just slightly further away. I could walk there, but I have better ways to use my time, so I just go with my bike.

The pannier bags also enable me to buy heavy stuff without having to lift it the whole way.

Nearest store 8 min walk. The one i perfer, 20 min biking and 10km away. Living on the countryside