An Australian City Has Been Named Second Friendliest In The World
Ever get the warm fuzzies when you’re walking down the street in Sydney? You’re not alone. A new survey has revealed that travellers rank Sydney as the second friendliest city in the world, coming in after Charleston, South Carolina, in the US.
Over 128,000 travellers took the Conde Nasté Traveler Readers Choice Awards survey, where they were asked to rank the “friendliness” of cities, with attention paid to where the visitor felt warmly welcomed. Sydney, which topped the same list last year, was praised for its kinds locals, with one reader saying “Aussies are very friendly. Every time we stopped to stare at our map to get our bearings an Aussie would stop and offer to help us.” Another said, “I would live there if possible.”
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While no other Australian cities made the top 20 (looking at you, Melbourne), our neighbours across the ditch in New Zealand took out a whopping three places on the list; Wellington at 17th and, Auckland at 15th and Queenstown at 4th. Rounding out the top 10 were a few other US cities (Park City, Utah; Savannah, Georgia; and Nashville, Tennessee) and some European capitals (Bruges, Blegium; Kraków, Poland; and both Galway and Dublin, Ireland).
On the other end of the spectrum, the survey also revealed the “unfriendliest” cities based on reader perceptions, with Newark in New Jersey topping the list for its “extreme traffic” and “poor signage”. Other cities in this category include Tijuana in Mexico, Atlantic City in New Jersey, and Doha in Qatar.
The strong presence of US cities on both lists would be a result of Conde Nasté Traveler being a US-based publication – so it’s worth keeping in mind that the lens of those surveyed may, in turn, be somewhat narrow. Also, “friendliness” can be subjective and vary from culture to culture. We reckon the best way to find out is to visit these places and make up your own mind.
Conde Nasté Traveler‘s 2016 friendliest cities:
10. Nashville, Tennessee, US
9. Bruges, Belgium
8. Kraków, Poland
7. Savannah, Georgia
6. Galway, Ireland
5. Park City, Utah, US
4. Queenstown, New Zealand
3. Dublin, Ireland
2. Sydney, Australia
1. Charleston, South Carolina, US
Conde Nasté Traveler‘s 2016 unfriendliest cities:
10. Doha, Qatar
9. Lagos, Nigeria
8. Detroit, Michigan, US
7. Maputo, Mozambique
6. Caracas, Venezuela
5. Atlantic City, New Jersey, US
4. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
3. Oakland, California, US
2. Tijuana, Mexico
1. Newark, New Jersey, US
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