# Top 5 Cities? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180 "2011-09-30T18:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/1 "2011-09-30T18:16:11Z")
What are your 5 favorite cities, plus when do you think they are at their best, and why do these cities rock in your opinion? My top 5: 1. Istanbul: early autumn; best skyline in the world, great food and a great city just to just wander around, you will always see something worth seeing; 2. Singapore: doesn’t matter when as it is always too hot; but the food, my God the food. 3. Chicago: summer; like an unpretentious NYC and the Millenium Park is one of the coolest public spaces I’ve ever seen; 4. Tallinn, Estonia: winter; with cobblestone streets, mulled wine and a great old Europe feel; 5. Washington, DC: spring; the Smithsoniain is one of the greatest collections of museums in the world and they are free, free I tell you! I used to just walk into the National Gallery East, pick a painting and sit down in front of it, and just kind of hang out as long as I wanted, that’s just awesome. Honourable mention: Budapest: spring; Tallinn and Budapest were really close calls, I included Tallinn because I have had a great night there once that just edged Budapest out of the top 5. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/2 "2011-09-30T18:34:47Z")
1. London - too expensive, but I’m never bored. 2. LA - The Greater Los Angeles metroplex is all anyone ever needs in a city. Any season, any time of day or night. LA rocks. The fall colors, when the smog chokes the leaves and they all fall off the trees. The winter landslides, when the mountains migrate to the ocean. 3.San Diego - Laid back but vibrant. The perfect smaller city. It is always summer in San Diego. 3. Las Vegas - because I love tacky. And neon. And the best restaurants in the country. Summer thunderstorms are awesome from a corner view room 37 floors up. 4. Varies by my mood. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/3 "2011-09-30T18:37:18Z")
Rome (gorgeous), London (best city on the planet), New York (spectacular). Hmmm. Two more? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/4 "2011-09-30T18:37:57Z")
1. Manhattan. Best restaurants in the world, great shopping, galleries, venues. Most walkable city. 2. Washington DC. Beautiful, low skyline, lots of open space, free museums, endless attractions. 3. Venice. Disneyland for adults. The most photogenic city in the world. 4. London. Modern sophistication and decadence with old-world charm. 5. Hong Kong. Amazing skyline, great mix of new and old. And - they speak english! ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/5 "2011-09-30T18:53:15Z")
1.)London 2.)Amsterdam 3.)Chicago 4.)New York 5.)Vienna ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/6 "2011-09-30T19:08:19Z")
Man, I’m in love with Issaquah Washington. I really oughta move there. Living in Los Angeles now. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/7 "2011-09-30T20:14:03Z")
_Toronto_: I’m biased, and I sort of live there, so I must take it out of the running. _Helsinki_: like Canada, but run by smarter people. It’s built in an area that looks exactly like Muskoka, but they’ve built a metropolitan city with excellent rail and architecture where we’d have cottages and shacks. _London_: the endlessly-fascinating city of my ancestors. _San Francisco_: Love love love the landscape. And the tech and art. _Montréal_: the Metro. Culture. Art. French. _Vancouver_: Mountains. Sea. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/8 "2011-09-30T20:24:11Z")
Burlington, VT - Good shops, waterfront, NECI Halifax, NS - Historical, walkable Traverse City, MI - Nice views, cherries, quiet Montreal, QE - Good food, events Quebec City, QE - Very historical, beautiful, cozy ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/9 "2011-09-30T20:39:23Z")
New York (Manhattan only): Greatest architecture, restaurants, museums, landmarks, ethnic neighborhoods. Paris: History, great museums, restaurants, architecture, Metro, superb ambience. Barcelona: One word: Gaudí. Amsterdam: Architecture, canals, liberal mores. London: History, museums, London Eye All are best in the spring. Runners up: San Francisco, Nice, Vienna, Florence. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/10 "2011-09-30T22:24:59Z")
New York London Amsterdam Montreal Las Vegas Honorable mention: Edinburgh, Scotland Chicago Boston Seattle ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/11 "2011-09-30T23:11:15Z")
1. Paris. Just magical; everything was beautiful and the people were a delight to talk to. 2. New York (Manhattan). Love the hustle and excitement. 3. San Francisco. Great food, plenty to do and see. 4. Washington, DC. Lots of free things to do, plus a real sense of history. 5. Fredericton, New Brunswick: not a big city, but a real relaxed, small-town atmosphere. Honorable mention: London Boston Montreal Las Vegas ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/12 "2011-09-30T23:24:24Z")
Venice. Rome. Florence. Milan. Romford. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/13 "2011-09-30T23:26:53Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Man, I’m in love with Issaquah Washington. I really oughta move there. > > Living in Los Angeles now. ☹ Uhh, weird…I’m flying there in like an hour. (Okay, well flying to Sea-Tac, then driving to Issaquah). Salmon Days! ---
**Author:** ![Neevil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Neevil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neevil)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/14 "2011-09-30T23:33:51Z")
1. New York - hands down the place I would choose to go back to over and over again 2. Paris 3. Rome 4. Hong Kong 5. Barcelona Really enjoyed Las Vegas, Amsterdam, London and Edinburgh too. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/15 "2011-10-01T00:39:09Z")
London San Francisco Boston Rome New York Pretty standard favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/16 "2011-10-01T01:49:09Z")
London Paris New York Munich Everybody talk about Pop Musik ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/17 "2011-10-01T03:01:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 1. LA - The Greater Los Angeles metroplex is all anyone ever needs in a city. Any season, any time of day or night. LA rocks. The fall colors, when the smog chokes the leaves and they all fall off the trees. The winter landslides, when the mountains migrate to the ocean. The “smog” you mention hasn’t been around since the '80s. That’s the smoke from the all the brush fires you’re seeing in the Fall, when the hills turn to a lovely shade of black, in preparation for the Winter migration. But enough grumbling about disparaging my hometown by ranking it #2… 1. Los Angeles - Best weather in the country. Every time I see the national weather report, I see Rain, Snow, Blizzards, Hurricanes, Tornados, and a tiny little bubble right here that’s Sunny, 72°. 2. Kiev - Beautiful city, very impressive sights, and compared to the rest of Ukraine, remarkably clean. Don’t go during the winter. 3. Seattle - I decided that this was my favorite city to visit when I was 9. The space needle was cool, the monorail was fun, and it wasn’t raining that day. 4. Heidelberg, Germany - Lived here six months back in college, so need to give it a plug. Beautiful, historic, and cozy. 5. Honolulu - This was a hard choice, since I also have fond memories of other places that I visited for a day or two, but those were a long time ago. Here I just visited a couple of years ago, and the weather was nice. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/18 "2011-10-01T03:16:12Z")
1. Sana’a, Yemen: Simply an amazing old city with fantastically unique architecture and quirky, fun people. 2. Hong Kong: Best harbor in the world… always a beehive of activity. 3. Istanbul: Great collection of east-west with a stunning skyline. 4. Sliema, Malta: Super atmosphere and great old-world architecture. 5. Beirut: Best climate in the world… and the FOOD! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/19 "2011-10-01T03:24:05Z")
Hoo boy. That’s a tough choice to make, since so many cities have such different attractions. What comes to mind immediately would be: San Francisco Rome Prague Paris London Next five: Istanbul Brugge Florence (for the Uffizi alone) Portland, OR Budapest ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180/20 "2011-10-01T16:23:10Z")
1- Paris. Live there, and have a hard time leaving it 2- Cairo: one of the most amazing cities I’ve been to. Everything overwhelming. And you can go around deep into the night without much fear. 3-San Francisco: been there when I was 6, never got back but still have the most vivid memories of it. Amazing city for a 6 year old kid. 4-London. Again, lived there, and except for the food, it was great. 5- Something Italian, but I have trouble deciding between Rome, Florence and Sienna. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-5-cities/598180.md?page=2)