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List the top 10 cities that you think are the most beautiful (either a blend of architecture and environment or separately up to you). Only rule:
-City must have a population of at least 350k in the city proper
-List your top 10 in order from most beautiful and better if you can add why for each one
Mine:
1. San Francisco - The blend of beautiful architecture and the landscape make this easily the most beautiful.
2. Seattle - While the city is beautiful, the natural surroundings put this towards the top
3. San Diego - Same as Seattle, the city is pretty but the natural surroundings are what put it over the top.
4. Chicago - Beautiful architecture, trees everywhere, and the lakefront can't be beat.
5. New Orleans - The architecture of the city is just so great and the vegetation as well.
6. Miami - Water everywhere, modern architecture, and tropical vegetation, and Biscayne Bay and the turquoise water.
7. DC - Elegant European-like architecture
8. Boston - the hill streets, the bay, and the colonial architecture
9. Los Angeles - Mountains are beautiful, but what knocks this city down the list is the ugly
10. NYC - New York has so much beauty and at the same time so much ugly, but still top 10 most beautiful cities IMO
Atlanta and DC naturul environments are very similar to me.DC can be very lush and green with rocky areas just like Atlanta.
People often miss Atlanta neighborhoods so thieir view usually has to do with just the commecial areas.
Once you drive around in Inman ,Grant and Candler Parks or drive through the lush green winding roads of the Buckhead residential areas.
Many of these areas have huge ornate Victorians and Craftsmans everywhere with beautiful wooded areas with 100 year old treess lining the hilly streets made sometimes of cobblestone.
Once you see these areas,you will see its not a stretch at all. http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKOGpxjPnJ4
Atlanta? Not a city I'd ever thought of as beautiful...
*Before I get assaulted in here, I guess I should state the obvious in that almost every place, especially cities of large size, have beautiful nature/structure, something. Obviously, large places are not bereft of beauty...***
"Beauty" is not a word I've much associated with anywhere in Georgia. Not sure what a Top 10 would look like for me, but I'm almost positive Atlanta doesn't make it...
A lot of words and phrases come to mind in Name Association-Atlanta, beauty just isn't one of em...
You will not want to see pictures of cities in that state, such as Savannah, Brunswick, or even Atlanta; they will melt you away with just how otherworldly the beauty is.
Now, Pittsburgh is the city that deserves to be mentioned here more than Atlanta IMO. If hills and trees are your thing, then the former cannot be beat in the Eastern U.S.
Last I checked Savannah and Charleston are well short of 350K. It's easy to grab small cities and put them on this list. This is why we can't add Madison, WI, Eugene, OR, Asheville, NC, etc. This is supposed to be major cities.
My list
1) SF for sure
2) Miami
3) Honolulu
4) Seattle
5) Chicago
6) Wash DC
7) Portland OR
8) San Diego
9) Denver
10) Pittsburgh (close enough to 350K)
Been to Boston a few times and I do not find it all that beautiful. It has some cool features, but it has a weak skyline, isn't squarely on the ocean. Not a bad city, just not what I would call beautiful. Those pics above don't change my mind either.
To each their own, but I don't know about the bolded. Boston Harbor is part of Massachusetts Bay, which is a bay on the Atlantic Ocean. To me, that's squarely on the ocean. Most major coastal cities aren't "squarely" on the ocean in the way that Miami Beach is on the ocean (protected harbors and inlets are one of the driving forces behind cities birth and growth). San Francisco, LA, and New York all have sections that are right on the ocean, but their cores are on harbors, rivers, or bays that are very much protected from the ocean. San Francisco Bay is more vast and strikingly picturesque than Boston Harbor. San Francisco also gets my vote for most beautiful city in the U.S. But Boston Harbor isn't all that far behind. The rocky coast, lighthouses, fishing boats and islands are all right there for people in the city to see and experience. It's much more tied into the ocean than coastal cities like LA, New York, Baltimore, etc. Seattle- a city that is also one of the most beautiful and a city that's very much tied into the ocean, is far more inland than Boston.
You don't have to feel that Boston is beautiful. But I don't see how you could argue that it's not "squarely on the ocean." It is as much as almost any other major city and the harbor is very much a part of the city.
Most major coastal cities aren't "squarely" on the ocean in the way that Miami Beach is on the ocean (protected harbors and inlets are one of the driving forces behind cities birth and growth). San Francisco, LA, and New York all have sections that are right on the ocean, but their cores are on harbors, rivers, or bays that are very much protected from the ocean.
This is very true and something that I don't think a lot of people realize. Being on the open ocean isn't conducive to the growth of a large city. Why did New York become the biggest city in America? I've heard New York Harbor called the best natural harbor in the U.S. -- that's not a coincidence. Take a look at a map of New York; it's absolutely perfect. The ocean gives way to a narrow inlet between Staten Island and Brooklyn, which then widens significantly before approaching Lower Manhattan, where it becomes shielded by just the right number of islands on either side. So you've got natural protective barriers from the elements while still providing a more-than-adequate amount of room for a high volume of shipping traffic.
A fun activity, depending on your definition of fun, is to take a look at a map of the U.S., start at the top and follow it down the East Coast. In general wherever you see a really good natural harbor, you'll find a city of at least moderate significance.
This is very true and something that I don't think a lot of people realize. Being on the open ocean isn't conducive to the growth of a large city. Why did New York become the biggest city in America? I've heard New York Harbor called the best natural harbor in the U.S. -- that's not a coincidence. Take a look at a map of New York; it's absolutely perfect. The ocean gives way to a narrow inlet between Staten Island and Brooklyn, which then widens significantly before approaching Lower Manhattan, where it becomes shielded by just the right number of islands on either side. So you've got natural protective barriers from the elements while still providing a more-than-adequate amount of room for a high volume of shipping traffic.
A fun activity, depending on your definition of fun, is to take a look at a map of the U.S., start at the top and follow it down the East Coast. In general wherever you see a really good natural harbor, you'll find a city of at least moderate significance.
Right, now that I think about the downtowns of major coastal cities overwhelmingly, most aren't right on the ocean, Seattle (Puget Sound), San Francisco (San Francisco Bay), LA (downtown is away from the coast), San Diego (San Diego Bay), Miami (Biscayne Bay), Tampa (Tampa Bay) New York City (Mix of things), Boston (Massachusetts Bay). So when you actually think about virtually no city is on the open ocean, at least their downtowns aren't.
Right, now that I think about the downtowns of major coastal cities overwhelmingly, most aren't right on the ocean, Seattle (Puget Sound), San Francisco (San Francisco Bay), LA (downtown is away from the coast), San Diego (San Diego Bay), Miami (Biscayne Bay), Tampa (Tampa Bay) New York City (Mix of things), Boston (Massachusetts Bay). So when you actually think about virtually no city is on the open ocean, at least their downtowns aren't.
Right. All of the downtowns have frontage on protected bays and harbors; even in the cities that are "on the ocean." Direct, exposed ocean frontage is a good distance each city center as the crow flies.
San Diego (about 2.5 miles to Coronado Beach) and Miami (just under 4 to South Beach) are the closest.
Boston (4.5 miles to Winthrop, 9 to Nantasket Beach), New York (9 Miles to Coney Island), San Francisco (4.5 Miles to Baker Beach, 6 to Ocean Beach), and LA (13 miles to Venice Beach) are all very much connected, but still a little ways from actual exposed ocean frontage.
Tampa is actually close to 25 miles as the crow flies from exposed ocean frontage and Seattle is over 90 miles away from direct ocean frontage.
Nobody would argue against the fact that all of these cities are coastal. I'd even argue that Seattle is as tied into the ocean as any city listed and it's pretty far inland.
Right. All of the downtowns have frontage on protected bays and harbors; even in the cities that are "on the ocean." Direct, exposed ocean frontage is a good distance each city center as the crow flies.
San Diego (about 2.5 miles to Coronado Beach) and Miami (just under 4 to South Beach) are the closest.
Boston (4.5 miles to Winthrop, 9 to Nantasket Beach), New York (9 Miles to Coney Island), San Francisco (4.5 Miles to Baker Beach, 6 to Ocean Beach), and LA (13 miles to Venice Beach) are all very much connected, but still a little ways from actual exposed ocean frontage.
Tampa is actually close to 25 miles as the crow flies from exposed ocean frontage and Seattle is over 90 miles away from direct ocean frontage.
Nobody would argue against the fact that all of these cities are coastal. I'd even argue that Seattle is as tied into the ocean as any city listed and it's pretty far inland.
There are other cities, whose downtowns are directly on the water....including Chicago. It might be fresh water, but it looks like an ocean. THAT's a huge advantage, in my book.
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