Sydney Has Been Voted the Friendliest City in the World
Huh.
While Reykjavik is praised for its "ability to make the most of an inhospitable climate", Auckland for its "unbelievably friendly folk", Budapest for "music... not just concerts, but in the streets, on the radio, and in cafés," and "wonderful pubs filled with laughter", Sydney has taken out the top spot as the friendliest city in the world.
Run as a Reader’s Choice award by Condé Nast Traveler and focused on how a visitor feels in each city, the Friendliest and Unfriendliest City in the World poll asks readers to submit reviews of each city with a focus on the overall warm fuzzies generated by their experience. “Everything from location (no one likes an airport city) and political perception (everyone watches the news) to size and basic language barriers can make a destination unattractive to tourists and be a factor in their evaluation of a place’s ‘friendliness’," according to CN.
Sydney's been praised for its people skills, regardless of what you might see on George Street any day of the week. "Such friendly people," enthused one voting reader. "So much so that after we met an Australian woman on our flight there, she offered to pick us up at our hotel and spent a whole day showing us her favourite parts of the city." Sydney earned snaps for the Bridgeclimb, the Cruise Like a Local Sydney Harbour boat tour, and Bonza Bike Tours got a big ol' high five as "a great way to see some of the lesser-known sights." Overall, readers found simply "nothing to not like" in Sydney, although importantly, all mentioned experiences are tourist-focused.
Last year's friendliest winners were tied: Melbourne and Auckland. Sydney came in at number five; tied with Dublin, who just narrowly missed out on the top spot this year. Of course, Sydney was supremely modest about it.
Ha! IN YOUR FACE @dubcitycouncil!! We're the friendliest city in the world! http://t.co/T1WgOPUVu7 via @CNTraveler pic.twitter.com/9rIafVZ59o
— City of Sydney (@cityofsydney) August 18, 2015
Australia and New Zealand have done pretty nicely on worldwide city rankings of late — the Great Barrier Reef nabbed #2 on Lonely Planet's Ultimate Travelist and Melbourne ranked #1 Most Liveable City on the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) liveability survey.
So Sydney's apparently the friendliest, Melbourne's the most liveable, what do you reckon?
CONDE NAST'S 2015 FRIENDLIEST CITIES IN THE WORLD:
10. Reykjavik, Iceland
9. Auckland, New Zealand
8. Budapest, Hungary
7. Kyoto, Japan
6. Edinburgh, Scotland
5. Bruges, Belgium
4. Kraków, Poland
3. Queenstown, New Zealand
2. Dublin, Ireland
1. Sydney, Australia
But what of the jerks? The Unfriendliest Cities in the World side of things is a little hairier, with no Australian or New Zealand cities making the cut for another year. Up high.
Cannes was dissed for being expensive and "bloated simply by the prestige of its famed film festival," while Jakarta was called "dirty and congested," despite gaining praise for its food.” Moscow got a bad wrap for "dour, unfriendly people" and "deplorable traffic", while Nairobi was flagged as "dangerous and volatile". But Caracas, Venezuela took out the top unfriendly spot as a place of "rampant crime, a scarcity of basic necessities, and a poor quality of life."
CONDE NAST'S 2015 UNFRIENDLIEST CITIES IN THE WORLD:
10. Cannes, France
9. Jakarta, Indonesia
8. Moscow, Russia
7. Cairo, Egypt
6. New Delhi, India
5. Nairobi, Kenya
4. Guatemala City, Guatemala
3. Guangzhou, China
2. Casablanca, Morocco
1. Caracas, Venezuela
Via Condé Nast Traveler.
Image: Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel.
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