Walking

Walking is the normal way for Sims to get around. However, in The Sims and The Sims 2 (prior to Bon Voyage), player-controlled Sims cannot normally walk from one lot to another. Instead, they have to get a taxi or use a car. Visitors to residential lots, whether invited or random, will walk when entering or leaving the lot, as will townies and neighborhood Sims who appear when Sims visit community lots. In addition, all NPCs in The Sims, and several in The Sims 2, will walk onto and off of a lot.

In The Sims 2: University, college students walk when going to classes or to take final exams. From Bon Voyage onward, Sims can walk between lots, but Sims cannot walk from a community lot to another lot unless they walked to that lot, and Sims who walked to a lot must walk in order to leave it. The Sims 2: Apartment Life allows schoolchildren to walk to school and older Sims to walk to work.

In The Sims 2: Apartment Life, NPC witches will always arrive on a lot by a flying broom instead of walking. The player can direct a playable witch to either fly with a broom, walk or choose any other means of transport to arrive onto a community lot. In The Sims 3: Supernatural, witches will use a broom as their default long-distance transportation, even if they do not have one in their inventory.

Beginning with the base game, Sims in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 have the ability to walk between lots. In addition to walking, Sims can also choose running or jogging.

Pacing
In The Sims and The Sims 2, Sims will usually walk when told to interact with other objects. If they are told to "Go Here" to an empty floor tile, they will usually walk, but will run if the distance is long enough. In The Sims 2, Sims who have at least five active points can be specifically told to run instead of walk. Playful Sims can also be told to skip, which is also faster than walking.

In The Sims 3, Sims will often run if they are told to go to another lot. When told to "Go Here" by the player, the player can choose to force Sims to walk to the specified location, to run the entire way, or to automatically select the means and speed of travel based on the distance to the destination.

In all games, Sims will run rather than walk for certain urgent situations. For example, they will run to the toilet if their bladder is critically low, or to catch a carpool that is about to leave.

Walking styles
In The Sims 4, players are able to set a Sim's walk styles in Create a Sim. Walk styles available are: default walk style, perky walk, snooty walk, swagger walk, feminine walk, tough walk, goofy walk, sluggish walk, and bouncy walk. Patch 46 added the creepy walk style featured for Vampires.

Sims in The Sims 4 will walk differently than their chosen walk style, if they are tired or their bladder need is low. Having strong emotions such as angry will also make Sims walk differently.