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Having been to many large cities of the world I always ask, what makes a great city? Of course, the question must be very personal, and subjective.
I however tend to favor natural landscape over 'urban feel/vibe', which crosses relatively flat NYC off the list, for instance. And while I consider mass transit important, it takes backseat to natural beauty.
In a city I crave the coast, and varied topography such as hills and mountains. Interspersed bodies of water like bays, rivers and lakes too.
While I prefer L.A. for living, I love to visit S.F. and by leagues the latter outshines the former as far as beauty goes. Nothing beats the San Francisco Bay.
Recently I spent time in Vancouver, and would consider it a top global city by my criteria. The bay, the way the mountains climb up right at city limits, miles and miles of walkable shoreline. And I before anyone lists it, I grew up in Seattle. It is stunning too, by IMO, Van beats it, and since they are so similar in so many ways, its either one or the other.
Internationally, I consider HK a fav. Stunning. God I would love to live there. Only spent a few weeks but it wasn't enough. The hiking, the ferry system, car free islands. All combined with vibrant urban density.
So as it stands my favorite cities I have visited are:
San Francisco
Vancouver
Hong Kong (I find it interesting these places all have strong Cantonese cultural presence)
Scouring the internet, other large/global cities that might make the list:
Cape Town
Rio De Janeiro
Honolulu
I'm trying to think of a major city in Europe that would match this criteria too.
So, if anyone can advise me of other cities to add to my list. Thanks!
Although I wouldn't call it a global city but Haifa in northern Israel has beautiful views as a hilly coastal city and the home of the Baha'i region with it spectacular hillside gardens looking at over the Mediterranean Sea. It also has a great public transportation and one of the few places in Israel that has public transit on Saturdays (the Jewish Shabbat when public transportation is shut down in most of the country).
Honolulu cannot be compared to Rio because of the size difference. The beauty of the city landscape is astonishing even though the population goes well over a million. Hawaii is in general pretty slow for the lifestyle while Rio in that sense compares closer to a world city with an obiou more hectic lifestyle.
Yes I see what you mean...Rio is truly more a 'global city' than Honolulu. Of those I listed, HK would qualify as most 'global'. I love HK and want to live there someday.
All very lovely cities but not quite as hilly as I might like (judging from pics, so I could be wrong). Hope to visit them all.
I've been to the first two, and I can assure you that they're both very hilly indeed.
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