favorite urban parks, trails and hikes.

I loved hiking the top of the wall around Lucca. Also, Merano has Promenades along the Passer River, and Waalweg trails all over the place.

Agree Parque Retiro, as well as Lake Plitvice National Park in Croatia, Peloponnese in Greece, Sedona, AZ., Kubota Japanese Garden in Seattle, Cape Reinga in NZ.

I really like Parque del Laberinto de Horta in Barcelona, I like it even more so than Parque Güell. It's a 18th-century neoclassical garden on a former palatial estate. It's not very well known with tourists so it doesn't have the crowds (yet) like Parque Güell. It's very green with numerous sculptures of Greco-Roman mythology along with a number of fountains, springs, and pools. In the center of the gardens is an English style hedge maze. I used to go there a lot growing up in Barcelona... ahh, the memories :)

Similarly to my favorite pub, it's the one I am experiencing at the moment.

Villa Doria Pamphilj in Rome is criss-crossed with walking paths and accessible by bus.

Near Vevey and Montreux, Les Pleiades and Rochers de Naye feel a world away and yet are on a trainline used for commuting by folks high above the lake as well we day trippers.

Part Monceau in a Paris is small but enticing.

Portland’s Wildwood Park goes from urban to wild as one walks the network of paths.

I enjoyed Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath which has one of the few remaining examples of a Palladian landscape bridge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_Park_Landscape_Garden

I also thought the green space along the River Stour out to the Water Meadows in Canterbury was quite nice. My brother and I had an excellent early morning birding walk along here.

I've had the London Wetlands Centre on my "to-do list" for a couple of trips but haven't made it yet.

Charlie Turner Trail pre dawn Griffith Park Los Angeles, Hampstead Heath, Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, Richmond Park ( all in London) , Gulhane Park, Istanbul, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
Killarney National Park, Gap of Dunloe, Ireland.

Central Park -- New York

Stanley Park -- Vancouver

Tiergarten -- Berlin

Regent's Park -- London

Public Garden -- Boston

Stadtpark -- Vienna

Mani peninsula region for me (Kardimyli, in particular) really wowed me on my RS Greece tour this past October 2018. Pretty much everywhere outside of Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan is amazing for hiking opportunities.

"Prague's Most Beautiful Walk." Find it on bbqboy.net

Oslo's Nordmarka is accessible by the T-bane metro (T1 from downtown Oslo). You can be hiking or skiing a 30 minute ride from the Oslo S train station to Holmenkollen and a couple of minutes more to the higher stations. Some cross country ski tracks are lighted for night skiing.

https://www.visitoslo.com/en/articles/nordmarka-forest/

https://www.visitoslo.com/en/your-oslo/winter/cross-country-skiing/

Plantage in Paris

St James's Park in London

London: Follow the tow path from Little Venice to Camden Lock

Chicago- the lake shore path along Lake Michigan.

Rome - Parco Regionale dell'Appia Antica
Munich - Englischer Garten
Balboa Park - San Diego
Coastal Trail - San Francisco
Bruges - City Ramparts

I don't know if they qualify in every tourist's book but cemeteries are very often interesting and reasonably peaceful park-type spaces to explore. I try to hit at least one in every city/town we visit.

Munich, Germany—Englisher Garten

Merino, Italy—Wasserweg

Vienna, Austria—Wienerwald

Bath, UK—Canal towpath

Berlin, Germany—Schlachtensee

London, UK—Kew Gardens

Copenhagen: Assistens cemetary

One of our favourites for an urban park walk is Valencia's Turia gardens, starting at the Biopark and, eventually, reaching the City of Arts & Sciences. I think it's only about 5 or 6 miles direct walking, but we took most of the day there, stopping at the sights along the way - those in the park itself, but also because its along the old riverbed you can "pop up" regularly to see city sights on either side. Highly recommended! However, although called "gardens" it's not designed as a beautiful garden like you get in England's country houses, more a corporate park like in Italy or Spain.

This year we found there is something similar in Krakow where you can walk through parkland circling the old town, stopping to pop in or out as you go around.

Rather than restate earlier ones, I don't think anyone has mentioned Mirabell gardens in Salzburg yet.

Can't believe Luxembourg Garden in Paris isn't already here. Did I miss it? For a smaller experience, I love Arenes de Lutece.

Good suggestions so far. If anyone finds themselves in Hannover, Germany you will find Eilenriede Park. It is twice the size of Central Park. I've had many wonderful walks there as it is a half block away from my Aunt's house.

Add the Killarney National Park. I really enjoyed the walk between St. Mary's in town, through the park for a couple miles to Ross Castle. That's only a tiny bit of the park but it was nicely treed with big well-marked trails (big enough for horse carts).

Luxembourg Gardens in Paris is my favorite place on the planet... : )

My favorite spot in Paris is Parc Monceau (8th arrondissement).

Luxembourg Gardens in Paris ❤️

Also love St. James Park and Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens in London

The Buttes-Chaumont in Paris has some pretty spectacular landscaping, although it might be too small and artificial for you.

In London, you can get to authentic forest quite easily by taking the Central Line, or the Overground line from Liverpool Street to Chingford, out to Epping Forest, which is owned by the City of London as public recreation and a nature reserve.

The walk around the park and spa at Mondorf-les-Bains in Luxembourg, just down from Schengen. Rewarded at the top by a lovely rose-garden. A few redwoods along the way too - Coast, Giant, and Dawn.

I was pleasantly suprised by the trails above Freiburg town centre. I've had the fortune to walk a couple of the other parks mentioned, to which I'll add Wissahickon in Philadelphia and the Tappeinerweg in Merano. My brother reckons there are a lot of good walks in and around Stuttgart.

Paris...The Luxembourg Gardens...serene, tranquil, lovely, impressive

Fontainebleau...the Chateau's gardens...lovely

London....St James Park.

Hannover....the Herrenhäuser Gardens (Herrenhäusergärten)...impressive.

I concur on the Camden Lock towpath in London and the Valencia re-landscaped riverbed walks :-)

Both of the hills in Lyon have urban park paths to climb.

Right beside (west of) Castro St. in San Francisco is Corona Heights Park, with a nifty children's nature center on top.

You can make the walls of Girona into a workout pretty easily, and they also have some interesting exhibits for schoolkids.

And of course every place you go in Toledo is uphill both ways.

Parks in towns and cities serve as a place for serenity and tranquility, an oasis, be they in Paris or elsewhere. That's one reason for me to go back to Paris.

Those parks I have rested, relaxed in, ie, down time, located in North German towns, Lübeck, Eutin/Holstein (north of Hamburg), and Luneburg were exactly the right places...lovely, green, peaceful.