In 2011 I visited eleven new cities with a population of 100 000 people plus. This brought the number of cities I have been to with that size population to 167. The new cities were (in order of how highly I rated them)
- Seoul, S Korea…I was blown away by this amazing vibrant capital city. I ve decided it is the best city in Asia and my 11th favourite in the world! Here I am pictured in down town Seoul
- Exeter, UK….a cute small English city with amazing Roman ruins and a very old and grand Cathedral
- Dubai, UAE…as fun, spectacular and mind boggling as I had been led to believe
- Brasilia, Brazil…Despite the many detractors, I really enjoyed this city- so much so that I dedicated five blog posts to it!
- Beirut, Lebanon…vibrant, fun with so so so much potential. If the hounds of war can be kept at bay, this will be a city to watch
- Pattaya, Thailand…. a city which is easy to get around -with amazing food but I found there is a very disturbing undercurrent
- Changwon, S Korea…another planned city but not one that feels oppressively planned
- Houston, USA…I must admit, I was dreading going to Houston but was very pleasantly surprised
- Fujariah, UAE…fascinating place with a great castle and one of the oldest mosques in the world
- Amman, Jordan….chaotic, friendly with great food and drink and very friendly people. Better infrastructure and public transport would make it a great city
- Dammam, Kingdom Saudi Arabia…. a city that is overshadowed by neighbouring Bahrain…frankly I felt, a lot of work is needed here to bring this city up to world standards….unplanned infrastructure, poor public transportation and a lack of things to do -great food though!
Last year, I identified my top ten cities in the world. That listing has not changed in the year:
- Paris remains my Number One in the world.
- Berlin
- San Francisco – see my 2011 Review
- Melbourne, Australia
- Stockholm
- Montreal
- Barcelona
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Portland, Oregon, USA
- Toronto, Canada
What are your favourite cities?
glad you enjoyed S. Korea! NExt time go with someone that knows the area well (a local) and you might even better time! 🙂
Yes, I agree. I was lucky in that my clients pointed me in the right direction and Seoul is so straightforward to move around in
Foreigners seems to love Berlin, while we Germans dislike or even hate it 😉
Stockholm, Montréal and Toronto I like as well.
I was pleasantly surprised by Ottawa!
In Asia I like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu (not the city, but the scenery).
In Europe some minor towns in Poland like Wroclaw are great. Also Baltic towns like Kaunas, Vilnius and Tallinn rank high in my list.
I would have to say I have met some Germans that LOVE Berlin! 🙂
Check out my latest review of Berlin: http://wildabouttravel.boardingarea.com/