Condé Nast just published their Readers’ Choice Awards for 2012, marking their 25th anniversary for this annual survey. Their site is loaded with amazing, pin-worthy photos that will be responsible for my daydreams during the coming week. Their rankings include results for the top cities, islands, and hotels and resorts in the world.
Highlights:
Interestingly, Charleston, SC outranked all other world cities to take the #1 spot in this year’s survey. I was also surprised — in a great way — to see Beirut take the 7th spot for world cities. Those that I’ve spoken with that have made the trip to Lebanon have had amazing things to say about Beirut in terms of culture, natural beauty (many compare it to Switzerland) and nightlife.
In other news, Northern California really held it down in the US-focused survey: While outranked by a number of international cities, San Francisco ranked as the #2 city in the US. Napa and Carmel also fell into the top 10.
I’m a little sad to say that of the Top 10 Cities in the World, I’ve only managed to see one thus far: Florence. (Read my re-cap — I liked it, but didn’t think it was a top 10.) After reading through the list, Cape Town has just climbed further up my must-see list.
Amongst all of these statistics, readers also ranked the ‘Top 10 Islands in the Caribbean’, where Anguilla ranked at #6 (Bermuda captured the #1 spot). Also, is it not a little cliche that Maui is ranked the #1 island in the world? I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with that one.
There are tons of rankings listed, but they’ve done a good job of breaking it down by region and category to make it a little easier to digest. So, tell me: If you were making your crème de la crème lists, which cities, islands, hotels or experiences would be at the top?
Check out my Conde Nast-inspired travel wish lists coming up next week!
xoxo,
