What is the best city you've ever been to, and why?

I wish I had enough time to tell you how beautiful the entire state Maine is. It took my breath away!!

SEATTLE! Beautiful scenery, unique neighborhoods, awesome restaurants, the space needle—who needs more?!?

San Francisco is my favorite city to visit. I love its energy, its neighborhoods with great Victorian houses, the spectacular views of the Bay, the beautiful bridges like the Golden Gate, the excellent restaurants, the variety of shopping, the culture and museums.

Some of my favorite activities: dim sum for lunch, fresh Dungeness crab (often from a Chinatown restaurant), sunset at the Cliff House.

I also love some of the surrounding areas: Marin County especially the redwoods at Muir Woods, Half Moon Bay.

I can’t even touch on everything; there is so much.

Toss up between Florence and Venice. Art, history, culture, romance Ahh…....

i travel a lot and have been to many cities around the world, but my favorite would have to be montreal. others include venice, italy; lille, france; eilat, israel.

I was in Honolulu for 8 years. A truly beautiful and cosmopolitan city, all year long…

I loved London. It has so much history, the public transit system is easy to use, there’re tons of places to visit, the people I met were friendly, and it gave me the impression that the city had positive energy. I stayed in an inn that had been built before America had been discovered. The doors and floors were all at awkward angles to each other with huges slopes.

Having never traveled internationally, I would say it is a tie between San Francisco and Manhattan.

Vancouver, B.C. and Lahaina, Maui, HI.

Domestically, it’s a tossup between San Francisco and Austin. Internationally, I’d go with Zurich for natural beauty (in and around), Siem Reap, Cambodia for history/ruins and Bangkok for going out (this may have just been a consequence of who I was there with, though).

Bangkok. There was so much to see there and everything was so close together that you really didn’t have to travel far or long to get from one place of interest to the next. I saw everything from wats, to malls, to crocodile farms and elephant sanctuaries. It was absolutely amazing. I plan on going back when I graduate form college.

Any city in Maui…such beauty is amazing.

Also, Rome, Italy…the history, the fountains. Incredible.

Bytom, Poland .
I stayed a year in this gritty, former mining town for an internship with the Silesian Dance Theatre.
In the winter it was so cold that my eyeballs would feel hard in the short seven minute bike ride from home to the theatre.
But in the spring, suddenly, the green would shoot up from the concrete.

Part of the reason I loved Poland so much is that art there feels so necessary; in the West the arts tend to be viewed as decorative – they will be the first thing that will be cut when budgets get tight. But in Poland, perhaps partly due to the role the arts has played historically in maintaining its identity (all the underground movement during Communisim/Solidarity movement) art is as essential to the fabric of their lives. So it was wonderful to be in a vibrant, artistic community.

Of course, this was six years ago. Since then Poland has joined the EU, a lot of young people have come abroad and gone back.. so no doubt things have changed a lot.

Of the cities of Poland I would say this: Warsaw is impressive and spacious; Krakow is truly beautiful. Small town center, wonderful architecture. I would recommend Krakow for visitors who only have a week for Poland.

But Bytom remains in my heart as a community that was gritty, tangibly alive.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words:
> Cold harsh winters
> Spring in Bytom
> Annual summer dance festival
> Krakow Rynek
> Aga’s family (You can tell very easily which is me.. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place where I stood out so much. I think I was one of the two or three Asians in the Katowice city cluster. Children would stare at me openly on trams, adults covertly…)

Allie a city named Bangkok sounds so PAINFUL…

JA: Haha, I knew someone would say that eventually.. =)

I try not to disappoint…

I love that people are throwing out all these amazing places like SF, Venice, Poland, Hawaii, Manhattan…
and someone said Austin.

Definitely to each his own! ;)

And your city is?

Orick, Ca
Home of the “Toothbrush”
....cuz any where else….
It would be called the “Teethbrush”

ha….......ha! I also say San Francisco. Beautiful, crisp, tons of culture. I use to live just north in Novato. It’s really breath taking, especially coming from flat, humid Florida. Everything there just seems so positive. (except my rent! 800 for a tiny studio apartment, around 500 square feet) Sf makes you feel so warm and peaceful inside , it’s hard to explain.

@Jack – Mine? I tri-habitate in Seattle, Boston, and NYC. I’m currently in school in Seattle, but my home and my heart are in Boston and NY, respectively.

I feel like I haven’t travelled enough yet to make a statement on my favorite city I’ve ever visited…

Oooh, I’m jealous. Boston and NY are my favorite cities. :D

Thanks, MacBean. Agreed! They’re both wonderful.

@jjd2006—Wow Boston & NY? Those are 2 cities that dont like each other though! Go Yankees! LOL

New York City, for the experience of a truly big city. Chicago, for the jazz and blues played on Rush Street, and the river winding through downtown buildings.

Lisbon. Ah.

I’d say the best city I’ve ever been to, not including the one I live in, would be Sydney. I didn’t know what the hype was all about until I went there. I loved it. I live in Hobart, Tasmania by the way, and I’ve been to Cairnes, Port Douglas and Surfers Paradise (all amazing), and Melbourne a fair few times. Melbourne is fun, you’ve got shopping and footy and food, but after a few days I find myself wanting to go home, because I am sick of it. The buildings are too tall and there are too many people and I get claustrophobic. Sydney, on the other hand (though the two times we were right in the city was Boxing Day and New Years Day so I didn’t ever have to put up with crowds, which I imagine would be worse then Melbourne, so I’m biased on that front) has so much more to offer! There’s the ferries and the beaches and the beautiful Botanical Gardens right there and the bridge and the museums and the yachts and the aquarium and the fireworks and I found myself not wanting to return home after a week. Pretty unusual for me.

Amsterdam is the city of freedom.I was enjoying there those narrow streets and lots of places where to have a coffe with smoke.The nice stuff about it is that the centre of Amsterdome is for walk dismounts…..

wait a minute boffin, that’s Oildale, CA!

Berlin – Big, Beautiful, Dirty, Lots of History, Lots of Art, Great Transportation, Chaotic, Eclectic, Lots of Diversity, Bike Friendly, and so much more.

No No @Judi…..... Your thinking of Arvin, down that way….

Arvin is not near as redneck as Oildale! Everyone in Oildale is related.

Also the crank capital of the world.