What's your favourite city?

[Dunenewt]

Pretty simple question really, but I was just wondering what nice cities there are out there.

For me, my favourite city in the UK has to be Plymouth, although I haven't been to an awful lot due to the poor state of our public transport.  Its a city in the south west of England, right on the border with Cornwall, although it is a pretty city in its own right, especially the Hoe, and the Barbican, if anyone has been there.  It is a long way from London which gives the life quite a pleasant pace, without it being a small backwater city.

Outside of the UK, my current city isn't the best looking place in the world, but nearby, Cologne and D

[Khan]

London and New York. Also Adelaide in Australia but mainly just for sentimental reasons.

[Tatar Khan]

Toronto, Canada. Beautiful downtown full of high rises, amasing parks.

Luxembourg the feel of the city was very good and in itself it has a lot of charm to it.

Quebec City, Canada another beautiful city with very French feeling to it but it seems at the same time it is better than France.

London and New York.

I did not like New York due to it look of a salad I guess. You have older buildings with slightly newer buildings built on top of them and finally modern buildings built on top of those ones. I did not like that.

London is very good city, but it is missing at the same time the high rises of the modern city (they are there but not enough). Another thing it was damp there and air smelled of diesel.

[Dante]

I don't much like cities. They're ok to visit, and there are nice things in them, but as a whole they're kind of ugly.

That said, I do like Sydney. Probably because of the warm sea breezes and easily available seafood though.

[exatreide]

I do love Chicago, a lot.

San Antonio Texas is okay, if you can get over the fact that its one of the fattest cities in the entire world, and the self righteous Texan ass holes that one to have their own country .

[veK]

There are far too many cities yet to be visited to already have all-time favoutites. As for Germany my favourite city is definitely where I live right now: Hamburg. It's beautiful, a lot of trees, parks, a lot of water (the Elbe, the Alster), the whole harbour area is pretty nice, there are great parts of the city and it's just nice to live here.

I also like Amsterdam in the Netherlands and enjoy my visits there whenever I travel there to celebrate at a big party.

I also like Cyprus very much and go there quite often. My favourite areas there being in and around Limassol and Paphos.

Zurich in Switzerland is also a very nice and beautiful city.

[Dunenewt]

I've been to Paphos in Cyprus, was a very nice place from what I remember.

I'm also going to Oslo in December for five days, although I will probably spend each day in a different Norwegian/Swedish city.

[SandChigger]

Another vote for Toronto. Loved walking along in the various ethnic areas. :)

Hangzhou was nice ... 15 years or so ago.

Morioka.

Quite liked Cambridge. And Leeds, oddly enough. :P

Malm

[Mahdi]

Gah.  I do not get all of this support for Toronto.  I have no love for that city whatsoever.

Although, to be fair, I don't like cities period.  But I dislike Toronto more than most I've been to.

[Dunenewt]

Luxembourg the feel of the city was very good and in itself it has a lot of charm to it.

Is there much to do there?

[Tatar Khan]

Is there much to do there?

Not really in terms of sites to see you can cover it all in one day. It got few places such as the Duke's palace to see, several word known bridges, ability to go through the old city walls, basically you get to look at the sight of the old fortresses. In terms of architecture and streets it got its own mix of french and German architecture, streets are very narrow. Museums they got a few, the only really worth seeing is history of Luxembourg one, other ones are not at the same level as you will find in major European capitals.

Luxembourg has more of a feeling of provincial town with people more relaxed and friendly.

Gah.  I do not get all of this support for Toronto.  I have no love for that city whatsoever.

Although, to be fair, I don't like cities period.  But I dislike Toronto more than most I've been to.

Well with Toronto you get wide open spaces, side walks that are wide and not crowded (comparing to London side walks that have as much traffic as its streets), Beautiful modern high rise buildings, large park areas where you can meet wildlife such as chipmunks, raccoons, squirrels (that will keep asking you for nuts), deer, foxes, rabbits).

[Dunenewt]

That's okay, I was only planning to spend the day there anyway.

[SandChigger]

Gah.  I do not get all of this support for Toronto.  I have no love for that city whatsoever.

Although, to be fair, I don't like cities period.  But I dislike Toronto more than most I've been to.

Maybe it has much to do with the circumstances of your visit? (I'm assuming from your comment that you haven't lived there; I haven't ... or in any of those I listed.) :)

[Andrew]

I liked Ottawa when I visited a couple days and toured. Even saw the prime minister drinking at hard rock cafe, and happily got in a picture for us tourists. Made front page of local newspaper I think. Parliament hill was nice, and decent view into the river.

Quebec city was nice as well. Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac and area inside old city walls was fun. Take a look at picture here

Only other major city I was at is Toronto, but that was more than a decade ago. Big city. CN tower was fun. Underground shopping malls were interesting. Or at least that is what I considered shops underneath a hotel next to the subway. Also got into pilots cabin to watch them fly during plane flight. I don't think they allow that any more :P zomg terrorists!

I want to go do tourist stuff soon. :(

Where are some tourist places to go to? Prefer some historic/cultural/landscape type stuff if possible. Europe at some point.

[SandChigger]

Underground shopping malls were interesting. Or at least that is what I considered shops underneath a hotel next to the subway.

That reminds me: years after I was there, I saw one of those malls we'd visited on that Nikita TV show. :)

[Mahdi]

I've visited Toronto several times.  It was the first city I ever went to. 

I don't like cities in general.  Toronto, being a large city, I like even less.  Too big, too many people, too much concrete, too many towers, etc.  I also saw a hobo die in the streets once.

I lived in Ottawa for many years (only left a month and a half ago) and liked it (as much as I can like living in a city) because of the large amount of greenery, fewer people, more spread out.  Unfortunately it's been changing quite a bit recently. More giant condos and office towers and the like, turning Rideau into a mini Toronto instead of, well, Ottawa.

Worked in Sydney, Australia for 6 months.  Liked it more than Toronto.

Canberra was really nice (again, as far as cities go).

Had a few hours a day in a bunch of other cities like Tokyo (Akihabara), Christchurch, etc. but not enough to actually get a vibe from them.

[SandChigger]

I grew up in a town with a population of about 3,000 (at the time; it's only up to about twice that now), so I don't care much for cities, either.

The city where I live over here has about 350,000 people, but up until a few years ago it was the largest city in the country in terms of land area (outside Tokyo), so the pop. density isn't that bad; maybe 80,000 people live in the center.

Had a few hours a day in a bunch of other cities like Tokyo (Akihabara), Christchurch, etc. but not enough to actually get a vibe from them.

Tokyo kinda rewired the concept of "city" in my brain. But I'm not overly fond of it. (In fact, it's probably been five or six years now since I've gone in.)

Whenever I used to go in, I always got a rush from being there for the first three or four hours. But after that, just being surrounded by so many people (and so much concrete!) would start to wear me down and I'd just want to escape back to the inaka-boonies. :)

[Dunenewt]

That reminds me of my first time to London, actually with Khan and Edric from here.  Before that I'd only gone on school trips to museums there.  It was so much busier than anything I was used to.  Duisburg, where I am now, has got about half a million inhabitants, but it seems to be quite spread out, although green areas are a rarity in the Ruhr district.

[SandChigger]

That's one of the two necessary conditions I have set for anywhere I live from now on: lots of green and with hills or mountains. Preferably near some sort of water. Iwaki satisfies all three. :)

The thing that struck me most the first time I came to Japan and saw Tokyo was how <b>packed</b> everything is, one building almost on top of another. It's insane. If it weren't for the quake risk holding them somewhat in check....

[veK]

although green areas are a rarity in the Ruhr district.

visit me in Hamburg, we've got plenty of green areas and water  8)

[Tehpevis]

Santa Fe, NM. I may just be saying this because I used to live there.

[Dunenewt]

Hamburg is definitely one of the places I want to visit whilst I'm here.  I was in Essen today, there's loads of work going on there to get it ready to be the 2010 European Capital of Culture, but it should look nice when its finished.

[nampigai]

of the cities I've seen I must say either Rome or Berlin.

Rome is just full of history, ever since I was a kid I've been hooked on ancient Rome. A few recomandations for anyone who are planning a trip to Rome:

http://www.cappucciniviaveneto.it/cappuccini_ing.html -

The Basilica of St. Clement - below is an Altar of Mithris and an ancient Roman alley.

the Catacombes

and offcourse the Vatican (start EARLY in the morning!! - and enjoy a cup of coffee or two on the roof of Sct. Peters Basilica), Forum Romanum and the Flavian Coluseum.

Berlin has alot of history as well, but what I like about it is the "feeling" you get when in Berlin. The city just have rythmic life to it.

Oh - and if anyone drops by Switzerland - go to Gruy

[Barbarossa]

The extent of my travels are sadly limited to my road-trips across the United States. And Even then, I've never been one for visiting other urban areas. By far though, I most enjoy my home City of Chicago. Birmingham Alabama was interesting, at least for the History nut. Nashville was a fun visit, especially for lovers of rock.

Knoxville TN is a horrible City. Don't visit it. And watch your back while driving through if mis fortunate enough to need to.

[Xaroth]

I'd have to go with the following:

Amsterdam ... and that mostly because I live 10 miles south of it.. while 90% of the tourists think all people in amsterdam walk on clogs, smoke pot or work in the red light district, nothing is further from the truth.. while it might be a relentless city to be in if you don't know your way, it's still a city full of history.

Rome mostly for it's historical reasons, though I wouldn't recommend people going there in the middle of the summer.. i had the 'pleasure' of walking around there for a week when the lowest day-time temperature was 40C...

Add the Vatican to that for your religious day-trips.. while the atheists under us might frown at it, it's still a nice visit even if only for the nice decoration everywhere.

For the car lovers under us, Adenau, Germany.. it's a few minutes away from the Nurburgring, which is quite clear in the surroundings, as everything has some vague relation to the ring, or cars in general... there's also some nice roads around it that are worth taking, even the view alone is nice.

For england, I'll have to stick with Hertford, I've had the pleasure of staying there for almost a week.. it's a nice little town just north of london, and is full of history.