If you answer with New York, you’re a basic bitch.
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I haven’t traveled nearly enough, but I’d say it’s either Amsterdam, Netherlands, or Barcelona, Spain.
Amsterdam for the freedom and beauty. Barcelona because it’s beautiful and on the beach.
It’s not even a great beach, kinda rocky for my taste, but it’s just such a beautiful city.
Sarnia, ON, because why would I leave if its the best place on earth.
Utrecht
Thought you’d say Launceston… 😆
Berlin.
Many people hate Berlin. I don’t. It’s got so much variety, there are neighbourhoods surrounded by lakes, neighbourhoods that are basically in the woods, beautiful neighbourhoods like Charlottenburg and very urban neighbourhoods. Want something good to eat? There’ll be something amazing nearby. They have trams running through the forest. There are trains going to Amsterdam and Prague. You can get everywhere by public transport (outside town in Brandenburg too). It’s surrounded by a beautiful state, where you can watch cranes migrate in huge flocks and where you can skate on natural ice in winter.
I live near Freiburg now. Everybody loves Freiburg and the Black Forest. But I miss Berlin.
Shhhh! We keep up that reputation deliberately so not even more people come here and worsen the housing crisis ;)
Berlin is a dirty shithole lol
?? never been?
My favorite city I’ve ever visited.
Its not a dirty shit hole, not more than any other metropole city. But it suffers from what many cities post ww2, especially german cities, supper from: ugly block architecture and car centered infrastructure
ugly block architecture
Affordable social architecture for people, not castles and churches built on slave labor.
West (not east) Berlin paid people to take the mouldings off their historic buildings. Nothing to do with affordable social architecture.
You can build affordable and beautiful. Prove, castle in berlin vs the national museum in stockholm which do you think cost more?
It’s not just to do with WW2, both east and west Berlin loved tearing down and uglifying old buildings (seriously, west Berlin paid people to tear off decorations) for some reason.
Which city? Mine.
Why? Because i live there.
Houten, Netherlands. No cars in the city, you can bike anywhere. The true 15 minute city
Not Cheyenne, Wyoming. Go there. Walk the streets of its downtown. Walk those desolate streets and say to yourself, “this place is actually the capital of an entire state?”
Cheyenne, Wyoming, the town that God forgot.
Cheyenne isn’t that bad, especially compared to other Wyoming towns.
TL;DR: Seoul, Korea. I loved living there.
I’ve not seen many cities on Earth. But, in making my choices, I’ll share what Im considering.
Caveat: I’ve never been to any place on the African continent. This is an admitted blind spot. I’ve also been to only three European cities.
Not New York, Toronto, San Fransisco, Ottawa, Portland, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Miami, Québec, Atlanta, or Halifax (sorry Nova Scotia, we love you!)
Not London (UK). Not Frankfurt. Not Sydney (Aus). Not Beijing. Not Kathmandu. Not KL, KK, Bangkok, or Singapore. Not Dubai. Not Colombo, Male, Kuwait, Doha, or Muscat (sorry Oman, we love you!)
No La Habana, ni Santiago de Chile, Cali, Arequipa, Cusco, y no á ciudad de Guatemala (disculpame mis hermanos de Guate!)
I think that the greatest cities on Earth have DEEP histories, offer diversity, and have been at the crossroads of the human condition.
Of the cities I’ve spent at least a week in (in no particular order):
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La ciudad de México, México. (Pyramids, gardens, art, and food)
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Istanbul, Türkiye (Hagia Sofia, Bosphorus, history)
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Seoul, Korea (functionality, history, food, mountains, music)
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Cartagena, Colombia (music, seaside, fortress, art)
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Beirut, Lebanon [at least, when (2012) and how (with well-connected locals) I was there. Certainly, it’s faced repeated harms in the past 7 years.]
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Berlin, Germany (architecture, functionality, history, walking tour, art, festivals)
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Montréal, Québec (one Canadian city needed to be on)
Ones I’ve not been to, but might list if I had:
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Tehran, Iran (history)
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Barcelona, Spain (Al-Analous)
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Mumbai, India
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Hong Kong
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Tokyo, Japan
Serious question, how do you afford that much travel, or am I just that poor?
The first bit, living in Seoul, was youth and low cost of living in Seoul. I had debt, but my Thailand, China, and Australia trips were done on the cheap.
The next bit, living in Kuwait, was making oil money, zeroing out my debts, and having no mortgage and no kids. It was pretty sweet. But, still, I lived in the desert.
The next bit, living in Guate, was still no mortgage and no debt. My eldest was around for my last two years there. But, again, low cost of living and flying was a boon.
Since returning to Canada, I have only been to cities to which I can drive. I still pretty new to having a mortgage.
That said, I’m not planning any trips until sometime after 2037. If, yknow, there’s still a world then.
I think that the greatest cities on Earth have DEEP histories, offer diversity, and have been at the crossroads of the human condition.
Not sure how you can say all that, exclude London and then put Montreal on there… place is less then 400 years old!
Montreal was a late addition.
It’s not that old, I’d agree. But, of Canadian cities that I could see as among the greatest in the world, it’s Canada’s nearest option.
Québec is older, over 400 years. But, Montreal is more of a world city.
Calgary is solid too, other than the fact that it’s in Alberta.
Vancouver is beautiful but in my experience it generally smells like garbage.
Good buddy of mine spent 5 years in Calgary and has only good things to saw. The Tarsands really pushed things in that province out of joint.
I’d like to spend some time in Van. I was in Victoria for a few days and Nanaimo for a few more. But Van and Tofino were bridges too far on that trip.
Portland was the West Coast city that was outstanding to me. Victoria was cute. Seattle was excessive.
I’d love to go back to Cartagena. I proposed to my wife there and we had an absolutely amazing trip
That was one of my see-before-i-die trips I made as a teenager. Based, entirely, on a profile in Nat Geo. Australia was another.
Iceland, Norwegian fjords, New Zealand mountains, and Haida Gwaii are nearest the top of my list for physical spaces. Rapa Nui would be a neat experience, but not wholly necessary. Hokkaido in Northern Japan would be a cultural experience I’d chase.
And, I’d really like to go on the ground from Djibouti to Cape Town on a circuitous voyage through as many places and nations as I can manage. Then, a flight to Libreville, Gabon and travel on the ground toward Ghana.
Thank you for the in-depth answer.
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Philadelphia, easy.
New Amsterdam
(because it became New York)
Even Old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can’t say. People just liked it better that way.
Canmore, Alberta. You’re minutes from all the places that make up 90% of the Earth porn pictures on the internet, nestled right in the Rocky Mountains. Nobody is ever going to nuke, invade, occupy or otherwise come anywhere near Canmore during a war. Even if they did you could just escape into the vast Canadian wilderness which surrounds it. Lots of good food, shops, recreation and a generally great place to live and raise a family. Cheaper than Banff too!
Nobody said it had to be a major city.
I just hiked Ha Ling the other day. Amazing place.
Oslo
I really don’t like cities, but the cities I have disliked the least (in order) are: Singapore, Istanbul, Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Quebec City, Granada Spain, New York, Montreal, Cartagena, Cuenca Ecuador, Washington D.C.(although it was many years ago I was there), Ottawa.
Ecologically speaking, it must me Singapore.
Belgrade Serbia. It’s the perfect size, not crowded but always busy, big enough that it has everything you could want small enough you can get anywhere in under an hour on free public transportation. The food is great and cheap and there’s plenty of places open all night. Lots of green space and a couple huge parks. I live as a nomad but if i had to pick a city to settle in Beograd is the easy choice.
Thanks for including the “why” part of the answer.
