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This is a part of our series of lists where we go REALLY into detail. For our first list, you can click here to see our list of 101 Best Cities for Food and Cuisine.
Of course, these lists might be incomplete, but they should be one of the best resources you can find out there. Here is how we made this one:
First, we start with 10 different sources (which you can find at the bottom of this blog post). After that, we will meticulously go through each list and find the cities that rank highest, rank with the most frequency, and eventually compile a list that should reach 101. If the compilation of these 10 different sources does not reach 101, then we here at AWTravel will step in and add the remaining cities to the list based on our experience and expertise in travel. In this case, we completed the list starting at #110 with Vilnius and went to 151.
Now, how the other cities we do not add to the list find their ranking is by how many times they are mentioned on the many different lists we reference and then how high those cities are placed on the lists. We feel that this gives a good average, and, leads to some surprising results. The numbers in parentheses are there to show how many times each city is listed on the variety of lists that we sourced.
So, without wasting more time…Here is the list!
- Cape Town, South Africa (10)
- Paris, France (8)
- Cartagena, Colombia (8)
- Kyoto, Japan (8)
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (8)
- Edinburg, Scotland, UK (7)
- New York City, New York, USA (7)
- Sydney, Australia (6)
- Istanbul, Turkey (6)
- San Francisco, California, USA (6)
- Singapore (6)
- Prague, Czechia (6)
- Queenstown, New Zealand (5)
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (5)
- Rome, Italy (5)
- London, UK (5)
- Dubrovnik, Croatia (5)
- Chefchaouen, Morocco (5)
- San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (5)
- Venice, Italy (5)
- Budapest, Hungary (5)
- Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (5)
- Florence, Italy (5)
- Barcelona, Spain (4)
- Seoul, South Korea (4)
- Buenos Aires, Argentina (4)
- Hong Kong (4)
- Bruges, Belgium (4)
- Havana, Cuba (4)
- Quito, Ecuador (4)
- Cusco, Peru (4)
- Jaipur, India (4)
- Vancouver, Canada (3)
- Lisbon, Portugal (3)
- Zurich, Switzerland (3)
- St. Petersburg, Russia* (3)
- Bangkok, Thailand (3)
- Marrakech, Morocco(3)
- Bergen, Norway (3)
- Athens, Greece (3)
- Charleston, SC, USA (3)
- Palermo, Italy (2)
- Taipei, Taiwan (2)
- Tokyo, Japan (2)
- Vienna, Austria (2)
- Toronto, Canada (2)
- Chicago, Illinois, USA (2)
- Madrid, Spain (2)
- Dubai, UAE (2)
- Jerusalem, Israel (2)
- Berlin, Germany (2)
- Hanoi, Vietnam (2)
- Beijing, China (2)
- Chiang Mai, Thailand (2)
- Luang Prabang, Laos (2)
- Muscat, Oman (2)
- Seville, Spain (2)
- Tbilisi, Georgia
- Ho An, Vietnam
- Sedona, Arizona, USA
- San Diego, California, USA
- San Sebastian, Spain
- Dublin, Ireland
- Beirut, Lebanon
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Doha, Qatar
- Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Porto, Portugal
- Tallinn, Estonia
- Valletta, Malta
- Innsbruck, Austria
- Kotor, Montenegro
- Zermatt, Swittzerland
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
- Busan, South Korea
- Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Swakopmund, Namibia
- Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania
- Essaouira, Morocco
- Banff, Canada
- Asheville, North Carolina, USA
- Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
- Melbourne, Australia
- Hallstatt, Austria
- Merida, Spain
- Bagan, Myanmar
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Alesund, Norway
- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Lucerne, Switzerland
- Heidelberg, Germany
- Cork, Ireland
- Oia, Santorini, Greece
- Zakynthos, Greece
- Valencia, Spain
- Bologna, Italy
- Strasbourg, France
- Alicante, Spain
- Perth, Australia
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Brisbane, Australia
- Odesa, Ukraine*
- Ho Chi Min, Vietnam
- Riga, Latvia
- Shanghai, China
- Cairo, Egypt
- Moscow, Russia*
- Vigan, Philippines
AWTravel listed cities
- Vilnius, Lithuania
- Antalya, Turkey
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Valparaiso, Chile
- Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Samarkand, Uzbekistan
- Bariloche, Argentina
- Sibiu, Romania
- Cambridge, UK
- Tangier, Morocco
- Ronda, Spain
- Marseilles, France
- Taos/Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
- Portland, Maine, USA
- Willemstad, Curacao
- Florianopolis, Brazil
- Bari, Italy
- Gdansk, Poland
- Bergamo, Italy
- Munich, Germany
- Naples, Italy
- Aswan, Egypt
- Almaty, Kazakhstan
- Oaxaca, Mexico
- Baku, Azerbaijan
- Antwerp, Belgium
- Shiraz, Iran
- Ghent, Belgium
- Nice, France
- Avignon, France
- Austin, Texas, USA
- Oxford, UK
- Algiers, Algeria
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Brno, Czechia
- Genoa, Italy
- San Cristobal de Las Casa, Chiapas, Mexico
- Reykjavic, Iceland
- Ohrid, North Macedonia
- Granada, Nicaragua
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
As with our other lists, we also like to break down the list by the number of mentions of each country and how many countries are represented in each continent. First, let us start with the number of countries represented in each continent.
Europe has 31 countries on the list and a total of 67 cities on the list.
Asia has 26 countries mentioned with 34 cities on the list.
North America has 7 countries on the list and 25 cities.
Africa and South America both have 6 countries on the list with a total of 11 cities in Africa and another 9 cities in South America.
Finally, Oceania has two countries on the list and 5 cities in total.
In total, there are 80 countries on the list.
Now, as for the countries that have the most cities.
In the lead is the USA with a total of 13 cities on the list. Following are Italy (9), Spain (8), France (5), Mexico, Canada, the UK, and Morocco each with 4. Countries that have 3 cities are Belgium, Greece, Austria, Germany, Vietnam, and Brazil. And finally, countries with two mentions are the Netherlands, Czechia, Switzerland, Norway, Portugal, Japan, Turkey, Russia, Thailand, China, Argentinaand Egypt.
List of Resources
25 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Travel + Leisure (TL)
The 50 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Insider (I)
10 of the Most Beautiful Cities in the World to Visit in Your Lifetime by Veranda (V)
50 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by CNTraveler (CN) – Alphabetical order
30 MOST Beautiful Cities in the World by The World Pursuit (WP) – The most original
These Are the Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Harper’s Baazar (H)
Top 10 most beautiful cities in the world by The Luxury Travel Expert (TLE)
The 25 Most Beautiful Cities in the World to Put on Your Travel Bucket List by House Beautiful (B)
THE WORLD’S 20 MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES TO VISIT IN YOUR LIFETIME by Elle Decor (ED)
Ranking 50 of the Most Beautiful Cities in the World in 2022 by Wordly Gentleman (WG)
* The World’s 50 Most Beautiful Cities, Ranked by Travel Experts by Readers Digest (RD) and 50 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Far and Wide (FW) are the same exact list as the Insider top 50 list. However, CN Traveler is a unique fifty.
Now that we have that covered, our work will continue wherein we do a deeper investigation into the cities on this list. So, look out for that!
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