Your favourite city in the world

[sorryIdidntmeanto]

Which is you favourite city in the world? I have three
Bristol - for the music scene, creativity and independent spirit
Munich - for the lakes, cycling culture, climate
Marseille - for the beaches, proximity to Provencal towns and landscape, diversity, and the fact it is in France

@sorryIdidntmeantowould you mind if I asked Mumsnet HQ to make this thread permanent?
So many good suggestions on here.

Venice
New York
London
Chicago

The mountains,sea, Stanley park ,gross mountain ,the locals ,Kitsilano ,Vancouver Island,just everything ❤️edit to say drive to Squamish,Whistler,just so much.

I am fine with this being permanent.

Good to see another Cape Town fan. For me it’s the perfect combination of breathtaking scenery, the climate, I love the breeze, the sea, things to do and the food and wine. It’s has a wonderful light and I feel really content and at home when I visit there. It’s hard to explain the exact feeling but I know I cried the first time I left.

Girona

Agree with Marseille, I booked it as a cheap and quick short break and just thought it would be a few days on the beach in the sun but we were very pleasantly surprised by the city.

I lived in Munich for a number of years and love the place but have always thought the best thing about Munich is not the city itself but the proximity to other places. Just focusing on the city, I think other places are better.

Sydney or Edinburgh

I love culture and saw a lot of Munich whilst there.
I did spend some time in the beer gardens though. They were cool.

Yes the food everywhere we went in South Africa was unbelievable! I wasn't expecting it to be so good but it's the best place I've ever been for food.

If the perception of danger didn't put so many people off South Africa would be ruined by over tourism because it literally has everything. I loved it.

Food in SA is amazing. We managed to get a last minute booking at The Tasting Room in Franschhoek (not sure it’s still there) for the 9 course tasting menu and it was something else. And for a fraction of the price for a similar experience in Europe.

Lyon is lovely especially down by the river, the old town and cathedral.
Vienna is a wow around every corner.
Bruges is great for small wandering around, gazing at canals, drinking beer flights!
Enjoyed Madrid for 4 days and my daughter is doing last 2 years of uni there next year.

I have thought of another favourite, but I expect people might think it odd again. I love Santander, for the beaches, proximity to the Picos, and lovely town centre.

Aaah, Santander, with the prostitutes openly punting in the park a couple of hundred metres behind the ferry, visible from the rear deck...

Love Saigon, Berlin, Girona, Prague, Belgrade, Damascus, Jerusalem (old part) Beirut, Istanbul, Phnom Penh. Hated Budapest and Barcelona.

Weirdest city, loved it, was Skopje. Place is utterly fucking barking mad

The word I was missing before was evocative.

Trieste is on my bucket list for history reasons too.

One that hasn't been mentioned I don't think - Freiburg in the Black Forest. Great quality of life and close to France and Switzerland. The people are rather up themselves though.

It's twinned with Guildford and a few years ago Guildford scored quite highly in the MN league of cities/towns where the people are up themselves. So maybe like attracts like!

(Bath came top as far as I recall)

I get a newsletter from a lady who lives in SA and has competed for GB at athletics. She runs a strength and yoga app for runners and is obsessed with the food out there. The pictures she posts are amazing. She is in Cape Town.

Barcelona

I lived in Venice for a couple of years. You just get a bus (or tram nowadays) to Mestre if you want to buy normal stuff.

I haven't listed my favourite city/ies because I just can't choose. But Berlin would be up there, and I think would offer a good quality of life. Relatively cheap rent, it's a very spacious city with lots of green spaces, good public transport (OK, I'm a bit obsessed with the S- Bahn) and cycle friendly. Because of its history it has very little urban sprawl so is surrounded by green (the Grunewald is HUGE!), and also hundreds of lakes that you can swim in.

For me, personally, I love that the anarchic culture of the 90s seems to have lasted longer there. There are so many DIY bars, cafes and venues in old industrial buildings, so many gigs and raves, and so much relaxed socialising in the parks, streets and beer gardens.

That's leaving all the fascinating history aside of course. You feel that there's an endless amount of things to visit there.

Seville for me. Interesting the love for Bristol. I’m an hour away and think it’s a dump. Good that we all have different views.

The chances of encountering a bear around Brasov are slim, but by no means non existent!

We actually went on a guided hike to track bears and other wildlife (and we did find their tracks- and those of wolves and wildcat too- although we did not get a hoped for glimpse of the animals themselves), and our taxi driver on the way there showed us a picture he'd taken of a bear raiding the bins in Poiana Brasov the night before.

Funnily enough I wasn't that keen on Brasov though- it struck me as extremely touristy with not much to do.

Cairo

Delft

Cordoba. I've only ever been happy there.

Shanghai is huge, majestic, futuristic and lots of fun.

Tel Aviv