Top Cities when it comes to Friendliness per Conde Nast Traveler

Photo courtesy of braziltrails.com

Last year travel magazine extraordinaire, Conde Nast Traveler asked readers all over the country for their thoughts and views when it came to the top airlines, cruise lines, resorts & hotels and amongst other things the friendliest and unfriendliest cities in the world. And in the recent reveal of their Readers Choice survey where over 46,000 readers rated cities they have traveled to for either business or pleasure. Cities were rated out of five and as part of the results, per Conde Nast Traveler the standings are in no way a reflection of locals’ actions, rude or otherwise. And their ratings were based on various elements including location, culture, the people, size, cuisine and of course friendliness.

The Good News per Conde Nast Traveler

Leading the pack with a high score of 95.8%, known as the “Island of Magic” and winning the title of the world’s friendliest city is, drum roll please, Florianopolis, Brazil. Followed in the number two spot by Thimphu, Bhutan and in the number five spot is Paro, Bhutan proving again that Bhutan’s emphasis on “maintaining gross national happiness” is more than successful. And in the number three spot is Queenstown, New Zealand, famous for beautiful scenery and an easy-going life tempo. Regularly landing on the list and with the only top ten US spot and located at number 4 is Charleston, South Carolina, with their residents being portrayed as “insanely nice”.

Completing the top ten list of friendliest cities: Margaret River, Australia; Mandalay, Burma; Kilkenny, Ireland; Ubud, Bali, Indonesia and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The NOT so Good News per Conde Nast Traveler

Starting at the top, unfortunately cities in the great US didn’t fare well when it came to the top ten unfriendliest cities, with a mere 13.4% the Conde Nast Traveler survey readers voted Newark, New Jersey as the unfriendliest city in the word. Per Conde Nast Traveler “Newark is best known for being the site of an airport near New York, and for many of our readers, that”s the only reason to stop there.” Taking spot number two is Islamabad, Pakistan, with a rating of 17.9% and rounding off the top five of unfriendliest cities are Oakland, California; Luanda, Angola; Kuwait City, Kuwait.

Completing the top ten list of unfriendliest cities: Lome, Togo; New Haven, Connecticut; Detroit, Michigan; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Tangier, Morocco.

When it comes to rating the top, the best and the most of anything has a lot to do with personal experiences. For me every time I am in Detroit whether it be for business or pleasure, I have only had outstanding experiences. Again, in my opinion good or bad has everything to with my individual happenings. Anytime surveys do come out a lot of us are taken aback and surprise with the results. What about you, do you agree? Hit the comments section and let us know about your travel friendly and unfriendly experiences.