It seems to me that those people putting all these "top-40s" cities in their lists would not appreciate Ohio's cities if they hadn't grown up in Ohio. I would put Albany on my list over NYC.

 

I couldn't make a list because I simply haven't traveled enough to see all the great possible choices, and most cities I have been to I haven't spent enough time in to authentically judge.

It seems to me that those people putting all these "top-40s" cities in their lists would not appreciate Ohio's cities if they hadn't grown up in Ohio.

 

Agree 100%. Hometown bias is a big thing in Ohio and other parts of the Rust Belt (though I've found Toledoans and Detroiters to be the most self-aware). I'll personally never put Toledo on one of these lists. I'd have to be three Labatt aquariums deep before saying it's a nice city. Lebanese food and coney dogs aren't enough to make a great city.

 

Though I do miss the cynicism of Toledo. No one is naive there. People who haven't experienced the Rust Belt tend to be more naive.

 

I would put Albany on my list over NYC.

 

Buffalo is probably top 10 for me and my favorite of the true Rust Belt cities, but NYC is really nice. It felt like the safest big city I've been to outside of Canada and there is a ton to do at all hours (our only real 24-hour city). New York City is loved for good reason. It's overrated for sure, but almost every city in America is overrated (quality of life is not what it used to be and our COL is a huge problem). I don't know enough about other countries to make an international list, but I think I'd love Beirut, Rio, and Hong Kong. I've heard German cities are best bang-for-buck. The only major cities I've been to outside the United States are Montreal and Toronto (love them both, and I find them superior to most American cities in quality of life).

 

Denver is one I really toyed with putting on this list. Quality of life there is among the highest in the United States and the people are very healthy. I think cities should be judged on health/social factors as much as anything else.

 

I think the only US city that's underrated by most of the country is Grand Rapids (or some of the other gems on/near the upper lakes). Grand Rapids people seem extremely nice, the downtown is awesome, and its location gives you a ton to do. I would consider living there if I could get a job there. People assume Michigan cities are all like Detroit, and don't know about the glory of the rest of the state. Michigan is the most underrated state since most people outside the region don't get what the upper Great Lakes are all about, which is basically being North America's four-season Mediterranean. Michigan coast > California coast. I guess Marquette, Grand Haven, and Duluth are actually my favorite cities. I should have put them on top of the list, but forgot about them! Freighters, beaches, hills, fresh fish, and good-looking women. What more do you need?

The open container laws we're sweet too

 

Forgot about this! Savannah knows how to party.

I'm surprised I haven't chimed in on this list.

 

USA

1. Cleveland (it's home, but I often find myself falling in love with it all over again);

2. Pittsburgh (I love cities among hills, recovering industrial cities, European immigrant culture [see Cleveland], and a downtown with a subway and no surface parking lots);

3. San Francisco (see the hill thing as above, the density, and the push-the-limits on culture);

4. Warren, PA (more hills, but a stable, small and pretty city in a beautiful, remote section of northern PA which I visit in the fall every five years [fall 2012 is next time] to enjoy some quiet and think about where I am in my life);

5. Chicago (a little flat for my tastes, but lots of trains, and a big city with small town friendliness).

 

Foreign Cities

1. London (easily my favorite big city anywhere, cleaner than Paris and more wealthy, architecturally beautiful [both historic and modern], with tons of culture, human-scale neighborhoods);

2. Toronto (it's how I wish all American cities were designed and run, clean, dense, great transit, stores open late, great neighborhoods):

3. TIE: Interlaken and Zermatt, Switzerland (sorry, there just aren't very many places on Earth as beautiful as these cities)

4. TIE: York, England and Rothenburg, Germany (two of the best-preserved old European cities, if you love vibrant pedestrian-friendly cities then visiting these two cities are a must--My sister has been to Brugge, Belgium and says it's very much like York and Rothenburg);

5. Warsaw, Poland (my favorite central/eastern European city many of which were completely leveled in WWII, but they did a very good job at rebuilding part of the old town from the ruins, while also having some Soviet architecture namely the Palace of Culture and Science [called by some as one of Stalin's Eighth Sister], and some of the most modern architecture for any central/eastern European city).

 

I'm sure I'll think of a few more places, such as Torque/Paignton/Brixham. England is a beautiful country, but this area along the Cornish coast of the English Channel is even more pretty. And when you visit that part of England, you can feel like you are at the jumping off point to America some 400 years ago. Because that's what that area really is. It's the last of England that many American-bound English saw. It is an interesting experience to be at the ruins of Dartmouth Castle or standing at Land's End and looking east at the Atlantic Ocean, wondering what our ancestors were thinking when looking at the difficult and uncertain journey ahead. So those cities of England have a special meaning for me.

I feel like Switzerland seems to have a lot of great cities.

 

From what I have read, Zurich, and Switzerland overall have a really high quality of life.

USA

1. NY, NY

2. Jersey City, NJ

3. Savannah, Ga

4. San Francisco, CA

5. Chicago, IL

 

FOREIGN

1. Paris, France

2. London, England

3. Reykjavik, Iceland

4. Quebec, Canada

5. Vienna

Hard to come up with 5.  Globally I have only been to Europe and Israel.  In the US I have a short list to visit yet, mostly in the NW.

 

US

 

Cleveland

SF

NY

Burlington

Bangor

 

Abroad

 

Munich

Vienna

Berlin

Toronto

Prague

 

 

Nation

 

1. New York City

2. Cincinnati

3. Seattle

4. Washington, D.C.

5. Denver

 

Honorable mention: Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco

 

World (of cities I've been to)

 

1. Paris

2. London

3. Vienna

4. Lucerne, Switzerland

5. Amsterdam

wow, alot of love for miami.  OUtside of south beach,which wasnt chill enough for me, i thought it was a pit.  I must have missed the good parts.

 

Miami and Miami Beach are two different beast!

How did I miss this thread?

 

Domestic

• Cleveland
  
• Chicago
  
• Philadelphia
  
• Miami Beach
  
• San Juan
  
• New Orleans
  
• New York
  
• Washington, DC
  
  

International

• Rio
  
• Nice/Cannes
  
• Milan
  
• Madrid
  
• London
  
• Panama City
  
• Belize City
  
• Montreal
  
  

MTS, Care to edit your header for overseas cities? I mean, I know you like London. But c'mon! :)

MTS, Care to edit your header for overseas cities? I mean, I know you like London. But c'mon! :)

Thanks, these pain killers have me all messed up!

oh - fun thread!

 

well this varies often.

 

lets see here.

 

for lars von trier/dogme 95 rules type obstructions i'll do no ohio or current location allowed.

 

 

usa

 

el paso (local flavor)

minneapolis/st. paul (clean/urban)

vancouver (canada schmanada)

providence (quirky)

milwaukee (tore out a hwy=love)

 

 

alternates

 

wilmington, nc (under radar)

philadelphia (always sunny)

seaside, ore (pinball, cracky crab)

 

 

international

 

tokyo (futureworld)

buenos aires (drips charm)

barcelona (knows itself)

hong kong (chungking mansions apt)

ulan bator (mongorians, in a yurt)

 

 

alternates:

 

cannes/south of france (gangsta)

uzbekistan (the best stan)

bangkok (for one night)

 

El Paso is criminally underrated.  It's perhaps Texas' most vibrant major city and has excellent food.

^ i'd like to keep it that way. i think they only recently got a starbucks. its a very local place foodwise for sure.

 

otoh ulan bator was obviously a living in nyc too long kind of wildcard. upon further introspection, i would like to replace it with havana. nothing personal my mongorian comrades -- whenever you are ready to tear down another chitty wall i'll be there for you!

 

 

National:

 

1. Philadelphia

2. Boston

3. Seattle

4. Pittsburgh

5. Cleveland

 

International:

 

1. Rio

2. Barcelona

3. Toronto

4. Montreal

5. Bogota

BTW I live in Philly now. It is great!

How did I miss this thread?

 

Domestic

• Cleveland
  
• Chicago
  
• Philadelphia
  
• Miami Beach
  
• San Juan
  
• New Orleans
  
• New York
  
• Washington, DC
  
  

International

• Rio
  
• Nice/Cannes
  
• Milan
  
• Madrid
  
• London
  
• Panama City
  
• Belize City
  
• Montreal
  
  

You forgot Cincinnati.

 

bangkok (for one night)

 

 

No one responded to that? I sure hope you youngin's got that pop culture reference. If not, think Chess.....

 

Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok ( Original Music Video ) HD / HQ

1. NYC (big)

2. Philadelphia (organic)

3. Washington DC (planned)

4. San Francisco (pretty)

5. Chicago (heart)

Ohio Honorable mentions to Cincinnati (architecture and built environment, underappreciated nationally) and Cleveland (quirky, fun, cultured, pretty, unexpected, refined, flirty, dirty, irreverent, professional, ghetto...if Sarah Silverman were a city, she'd be Cleveland)

 

1. London (Perfect)

2. Mexico City (International)

3. Bangkok (Crazy)

4. Montreal (sophisticated and gritty)

5. (Small City Tie): Barcelona (pleasant)and Guanajuato(breathtaking)

In the World

 

1. Cleveland

2. Columbus

3. Cincinnati

4. Toledo

5. Tie: Dayton/Akron

 

Honorable Mention:  Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Wheeling, Youngstown, Altoona

 

All other places can suck it!

^ Love it, haha.

How did I miss this thread?

 

Domestic

• Cleveland
  
• Chicago
  
• Philadelphia
  
• Miami Beach
  
• San Juan
  
• New Orleans
  
• New York
  
• Washington, DC
  
  

International

• Rio
  
• Nice/Cannes
  
• Milan
  
• Madrid
  
• London
  
• Panama City
  
• Belize City
  
• Montreal
  
  

You forgot Cincinnati.

 

You're absolutely correct!  If only I could forget and erase everything south of the Turnpike!

Someone is off their happy pills.

In the World

 

1. Cleveland

2. Columbus

3. Cincinnati

4. Toledo

5. Tie: Dayton/Akron

 

Honorable Mention:  Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Wheeling, Youngstown, Altoona

 

All other places can suck it!

 

 

we have a winner lol!

 

Someone is off their happy pills.

 

I wish!  But my comments remains!

Domestic:

1. Cleveland - It's been my home base for 7 years now and I love every minute of this place.

2. Kalispell, MT - Near where my father grew up, it's one of the bigger towns up there. Medium sized college town with an airport, beautiful scenery, and enough retail to survive.

3. Pacific City, OR - I used a picture of it once in the where in the world photo search. Beautiful sleepy small Oregon coast town. A lot of it still has the WWII era charm.

4. New York (Specifically Queens) - Rougher, gritty, ethnic, authentic. What I imagine NYC used to be like before it was "dysneyfied" by trust fund hipsters.

5. Denver - Mile High, dense, modern, friendly people. My experiences there were great.

 

International: (and being too poor for much travel overseas this is based on my perceptions)

1. Vancouver BC. A bigger, cooler version of Seattle? SURE!

2. Christchurch, NZ - Sort of the southern edge of the world. If I had money it would be fantastic to visit.

3. Port of Spain, Trinidad - Old school Spanish trading port? Oh hella yea!

4. Edinburgh - Britain's other throne. The stone of destiny if there, what's not to love?

5. Rockall - Sometimes it's nice to get some peace and quiet.

 

EDIT: the media empire with the mouse as it's mascot auto corrected out of my quote.  DISNEY

United States:

1: Cincinnati

2: New Orleans

3: Pittsburgh

4: St Louis

5: St Paul

 

World:

1: Bamberg

2: Vienna

3: Dachau

4: Venlo

5: Graz

1. Pittsburgh

2. Columbus

3. Cleveland

4. Seattle

5. San Francisco

 

Too many world cities to include :P

I'm going to exclude Cleveland (my hometown) and Washington (my current residence) from this list as they would obviously be #1 and #2:

 

1) San Francisco

2) Boston

3) Baltimore

4) Philadelphia

5) New Haven

^ i take by new haven you are a true pizza connoisseur!

^ i take by new haven you are a true pizza connoisseur!

 

Haha, very true. Nothing beats a New Haven style white clam. And it's a great city for burgers as well.

Redirect from the Quicken Loans Arena thread...

 

When you think about your favorite cities around the world and which ones you would want to move to, how many include professional sports as part of the draw?

This is the first city that I voluntarily moved to that had a major sports franchise(s), a fact which had zero bearing on my decision to move here.

For me it doesn't need to be the highest level professional sports, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about sporting entertainment options.  The requirement for me would probably be two professional teams at least at the following level or better; AAA baseball, minor league hockey (AHL), NBA, major NCAAF (or NFL), or MLS.

I'll just speak to cities I've actually visited and/or lived in:

 

1. San Diego

2. New Orleans (going back Jan 10-14!!!!!)

3. Washington D.C.

4. Boston

5. Cleveland tied with Chicago

 

Sports have had absolutely nothing to do with any of these choices, though the Wrigley Field experience is second to none.

Redirect from the Quicken Loans Arena thread...

 

When you think about your favorite cities around the world and which ones you would want to move to, how many include professional sports as part of the draw?

 

Zero.  Because I already have my allegiance and i wouldnt move anywhere because of their sports teams.  However, when i had considered moving in the past, i did ask myself if the Cleveland teams would be visiting and how often.  that was of interest to me.

 

By the way, fun thread....missed this one:

 

1.) Seattle

2.) San Francisco

3.) Cleveland

4.) Baltimore

5.) Boston

 

Honorable mention: Chicago, Portland.  Surprised how much run Nashville and Denver have been getting nationally.  Been to both of those places in the past two months and was completely unimpressed and disappointed.

 

 

US cities:

 

New York City, NY

New Orleans, LA

Chicago, IL

Washington, DC

Detroit, MI

 

I can't think of any cities that would get bumped from this list or added. If I have to choose five, I think these might be the five (I excluded Cincinnati since I've lived here almost my whole life). If I was forced to, I might switch out DC and Pittsburgh. But I'm not sure.

Have lived in a few different cities in my lifetime, and visited many others do to my career; but my heart has always been in Cleveland no matter where I lived. Why? Because the CLE has everything I've ever wanted. A great Metroparks system, zoo, culture, sports, decent shopping, entertainment, neighborhoods, etc... Sports has never been a factor in my decision on where to live. But no matter where I live, the Tribe will always be my favorite sports team.

 

Favorite cities of the many I have lived in, or visited  -

1. Cleveland

2. Omaha - the Dundee neighbor is great, and this is a city that's very easy to get from place to place.

3. Charlotte - the Elizabeth/Midtown, and Dillworth neighborhoods were favorites of mine. A major drawback to Charlotte was no Metroparks type system like CLE.

4. Chicago - so many great things.

5. Coeur d'Alene ID - one of America's great small cities

 

Just places I've been:

 

1.) Chicago

2.) Cincinnati

3.) St. Louis

4.) Indianapolis

5.) Minneapolis

 

Honorable Mention: Dallas, Nashville, Iowa City, Cedar Falls (small college town)

 

I have never been to Columbus or Cleveland, just driven through.  Really hoping to check it out this year though as I don't have a trillion things on the docket this year!

Redirect from the Quicken Loans Arena thread...

 

When you think about your favorite cities around the world and which ones you would want to move to, how many include professional sports as part of the draw?

 

A bit of an odd question for me.  I'll always be a fan of the Cleveland teams, no matter where I live.... especially with modern technology allowing me to watch them wherever I live.  The professional sports teams were indeed a draw for me to move back to Cleveland.  I'm not sure how big of a draw, but they were to some degree.  But professional sports probably would not be a draw for me moving anywhere else.  The last city I lived in didn't have any major professional sports teams and I didn't miss it.  But I am not so much of a go to the stadium/arena guy.

1) Columbus: I've lived here my whole life. I love the city and it just keeps getting better.

2) Chicago: If had to live in a big city and I had the money, I would move to Chicago. The city is beautiful and has great character.

3) New York: So much history here and so much to do. I've only been to Manhattan but I would love to check out the other boroughs.

4) Cleveland: It kind of brings the East coast city vibe to the Midwest. I have a lot of family from the area so I feel a strong connection to the city and the sports.

5) Pittsburgh: For as much as I hate the sports the city is actually very cool.

Redirect from the Quicken Loans Arena thread...

 

When you think about your favorite cities around the world and which ones you would want to move to, how many include professional sports as part of the draw?

 

A good question--but I'm not sure the denizens of this forum would care.  Me personally--I'd like to have pro baseball unless I was moving to Europe.  I'd still be an Indians fan either way.

 

A more important question is what would young people living in small town America, who are moving to cities in record numbers, think of having a pro sports franchise.    Would they move to a city for college and become hooked?    I think a fair number do....

These are places I've been, I can't count ones I've just driven thru, which would give me quite a bit more (had a lil stint as a tour bus driver)

 

1. Cleveland

2. Chicago

3. Nashville

4. Columbus Oh

5. NYC

 

Have only been to 2 countries (Canada and Bahamas )

 

1. Toronto

2. Windsor Ontario

3. London Ontario

4. Kitchener Ontario

 

Hon mention US,  Cincy, Springfield Mo, Memphis, Tulsa, OKC, Baltimore,  Detroit, Fort Wayne, Toledo, Hillsdale Mi

United States:

[*]Cleveland

[*]Los Angeles

[*]New York

[*]Honolulu

[*]Miami

 

International:

[*]London/Rome

[*]Singapore/Hong Kong

[*]Sydney/Perth

[*]Jerusalem

[*]Rio de Janeiro

1) Cleveland

2) Savannah, GA

3) Chicago

4) San Francisco

5) Philly

This could change daily but for today (and I'm not counting Ohio cities)...

 

My feeling exactly. Definitely a fun list, though. My top 5:

 

DOMESTIC

 

1. New York City

2. Chicago

3. San Francisco

4. New Orleans

5. Seattle

 

INTERNATIONAL

 

1. Bangkok

2. Buenos Aires

3. Paris

4. Barcelona

5. Shanghai

Domestic:

 

1. Queens

2. The Bronx

3. Manhattan

4. Brooklyn

5. Staten Island

 

International:

 

1. Queens

2. The Bronx

3. Manhattan

4. Brooklyn

5. Staten Island

 

:-D :-D :-D

 

 

So yeah...let's keep this TOP 5 cities, folks.  No need to start opening a can of worms on Charlotte or wherever. 

 

Not counting Ohio cities...

 

Domestic

1. San Francisco

2. Philadelphia

3. D.C.

4. Nashville

5. Austin

 

International

1. Sydney

2. Helsinki

3. Ghent, Belgium

4. Toronto

5. Amsterdam