Sydney has been voted the best city in the world – and is also ranked second only to Singapore as the “friendliest.”
The NSW capital just got more reason to brag after topping Condé Nast Traveler’s “world’s best” list, cementing its place as one of the world’s top tourist destinations.
The Readers’ Choice Awards 2024 saw more than 125,000 readers across the UK vote for the prestigious gong. Sydney came out on top with a score of 92.96 for “unique, indoor-outdoor lifestyle”.
The city of Valencia in Spain came in second with a score of 92.78, followed by Singapore (92.47), Hong Kong (91.72) and Stockholm in Sweden (91.11).
“If you’ve experienced a snippet of life Down Under, you’ve probably fallen hard for the unique, indoor and outdoor way of life Aussies embrace so well,” Traveler said about Sydney.
The age-old debate – and loud ‘friendly’ between countries – whether Sydney or Melbourne is better has finally been settled, according to the publication, with Sydney beating its rival.
Sorry, Melbourne — the people have spoken and you’re not making the cut.
In a rather surprising development, Sydney was also named the second-friendly city in the world to visit with a score of 93.85, behind Singapore (94.84) in first place, with Las Vegas, Nevada taking third place.
Melbourne? Again, not on the list. But they do well in many other categories.
The Langham Hotel in Melbourne scored ten in the Best Hotels in Australasia category.
However, a popular Sydney hotel, The Fullerton, is located in the CBD that rises above. Park Hyatt Sydney came second, while Halcyon House in Cabarita Beach came in third and The Calile Hotel in Brisbane took fourth place.
As a country, however, Australia cleaned up in several other categories with Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island named 29th in the list of Best Hotels in the World, and the only Australian hotel named in the top 50.
the hotel burned down in the black hot bush in 2020 and was rebuilt in 2023. L’Horizon Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, California took out the top gong in the category.
Conde Nast Traveler US also unveiled its Readers’ Choice Awards this week, with Sydney placing third in its list of the best cities in the world, describing it as “the ideal holiday no matter the season”.
Melburnians will be pleased to know that the Ritz-Carlton Melbourne was named the best hotel in Australia and New Zealand for 2024 in the US awards – so that’s another thing they can brag about.
Winners were chosen based on the votes of more than half a million survey respondents.
The publication also had readers vote for their favorite airline with Air New Zealand coming first, followed by Singapore Airlinesm Qatar Airways, Emirates and British Airways. No Australian operator made the top 12 cut.
Meanwhile, in September, Sydney was named Oceania’s Top City Destination at the World Travel Awards 2024.
However, while Sydney continues to receive several prestigious awards, according to the latest International Visitor Survey data from Tourism Research Australia, the city received 3,446,000 foreign visitors in June, a figure still 16 percent below the same period in 2019.
John O’Sullivan, chief executive of Experience Co and former managing director of Tourism Australia, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the star award could put Sydney on the radar of high-value international travelers – which is, well, possible. to spend more, stay longer and travel more in Australia.
