takes some beating. Lovely bars with delicious pintxo. Beautiful town with great beach in a bay. Laid back but smart during the day, lively and still smart during the evening. Wonderful restaurants and very walkable. It's full of fun and surprises and yet very relaxing.

A lot of people - especially Londoners - find this hard to understand, but I love London. I like big, bustling cities, especially those rich in history, and London is up there with the best of them. Plus, it always feels like there's so much exciting stuff going on in the city. I'm sure that if I lived there, I'd be skint in no time - not due to the relatively high cost of living, but because I'd be out and about every single night doing something different.

It IS expensive, but Paris (particularly in the Springtime) is a beautiful city.

It seems to have everything. Mountains, sea, really friendly people, good food, good beer, and it feels safe and very civilised. Even has clean public toilets.

It's got soldiers, eight (l think) bars, one nightclub, narrow minded people and easy access to the A1.
Want more? You can't handle more!

Working liveable Midwest city - with the finest skyline,. Lake Michigan, restaurants, bars, clubs and a rocking aquarium and pier - and the Blues Brothers...

Wonderful walled Tuscan city, usually overlooked as tourists rush around Florence and Siena.

New York is the greatest city that I've visited. Apart from anything else, it is a living, breathing monument to the idea of what a city should be. My no. 2 is Florence.

London is probably my favourite city full stop. Other favourite UK city is Newcastle - I love the Geordies.
Outside of UK I would say Montreal, Vancouver, New Orleans, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Paris, New York and Amsterdam.
Least favourite would be Lima which I found threatening despite the great colonial architecture.

For a man who hates cities (I grew up bang in the middle of London and have tried to escape ever since), I love Berlin, particularly West Berlin before the wall came down. It had a special feel then but still retains something different. It probably helps that I have been visiting and staying in Berlin for some 23 years or so, and have very good German friends there. It also seems to be less rushed than most cities I have experienced so, at a push, if I was forced to live in any city in the world, Berlin would be my choice, with York second.

A proper city but small enough to walk around and big enough to have thriving local music, art, comedy and sport.

Weather can be atrocious but often isn't - but even when it is, that makes the many bars, restaurants and cafes all the more inviting.

Has its own funicular cable tram and some households have their own domestic system because their houses are built on a sheer rock face. They travel up and down in a little bucket.

Which brings me to the people. Many of them have a weather-beaten je ne sais quoi that you can spot a mile off. My wife and I enjoy spotting them on the news - "I bet she's from Wellington" and more often than not, the word will appear beneath the name.

2) London
3) Edinburgh

I love, love, love Bath.

This may have something to do with the fact that I lived there for three years while a student, so there are lots of good memories associated with it.

It's easy to become blasé about it if you see it every day, but the architecture is just stunning, even the simplest two-up two-down looks gorgeous compared to most city centre dwellings. Due to the whole city being a World Heritage site, they're very fussy about what gets built - hence no ugly retail park-style buildings; nightclubs and soforth have to be underground.

The first time I ever visited, driving along the A46, you can see the whole city from above - it really takes your breath away.

Plus, there are the Roman Baths, the Royal Crescent, Pulteney Bridge, The Rec, I could go on. I haven't lived there for a couple of years now, but I still visit whenever I get the chance.

As far as proper, metropolitan cities go, I love Rome. I could never get tired of Rome.

In terms of cities to actually live in, it's pretty humble but I love Lancaster. It's beautiful, it's friendly, it's on the doorstep of the Lake District. It's also the FPO's hometown, and we're planning to move there in a couple of years. I can't wait.

then LA. However, all the cities that get mentioned i will undoubtably like as well. But New Orleans every time gets top billing

love this place - wonderful and very beautiful skyscrapers, the EL tracks, the history, the lake-shore drive, Oak Park to see Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings and I could go on and on. The biting wind was a bit much though, still if I will insist on visiting in November. Also, two contrasting cities in Italy - the madness of Naples (read Gomorrah if you must, but best just to go there and you'll either hate it or love it) and the elegance of Florence (if only the coach parties could stay away, could be even better). Also, living in London you forget what a great city this place is and it is, just wish we could get the transport right.

But it's gotta be Galway.

So I'd say Bruges. Manageable size, not overwhelming. Excellent chocolate, beer, and mosselen-friet (not in that order though).

But for somewhere different go to South America and try Santiago (wonderful street sculpture everywhere) or Guayaquil which is just simply marvelous.

Glasgow - it's home, so I'm biased. Weather is variable, but we've got nice people, great buildings, good restaurants, bars & shopping.

New Orleans - music everywhere, great people, great food and bars.

San Francisco - a brilliant mix of Europe and America, the best bookshops, great places to eat, and one of the best record shops (Amoeba)

New York - breathtaking. Like Glasgow, it has a reputation for rough people but I've found people there to be helpful and kind.

Melbourne - great views, great people, great shops and bars and eateries and trams.

It is obvious and it is cliched but still I *heart* NYC.

Nothing in the world like it. On my first trip over, when I saw the Manhattan skyline come into view from the cab ride on the Long Island Expressway, I confess, I came over quite emotional and I'm sure I had something in my eye.

A few trips on, it still thrills. The people are engaging, the sights and sounds fantastic, the art and musical heritage second to none. There's just something about the places that makes you feel so alive. It's like a 60 watt bulb being replaced by a 100 watt bulb.

Swoon.....

I'd highly recommend anyone going out there to do The Sopranos tour of North Jersey. Great value, great fun - plus there's the additional chance to act out Sonny Corleone's downfall at the Turnpike!

Beloved of the stag do I know but what a beautiful place at any time of year. Friendly people as well.

It owns my heart. Some cities you go to, enjoy your stay, send the postcards and then return home. But once you´ve been to Liverpool you can never leave.

I first visited Seattle in about 1990, just before grunge exploded. I'd chosen it as one of the few destinations available to travellers with Polo Express, an international courier firm. I fell in love with the place on sight, and have been on two subsequent occasions. Geographically, it's a bit like a mini San Francisco, in that it's very hilly, and the roads parallel to the seafront are steeply tierd, rather like the Frisco roads, with the perpendicular ones sometimes extremely steep. It's surrounded by some beautiful countryside, especially to the north. And a boat trip off the coast takes you through scores of lush, green islands. It was my fantasy, when I'd made it filthy rich, to live in a big house on one of the islands, and have a chauffeured boat to bring me back in the evenings from Seattle's superb nightlife. The art gallery is fantastic and there are terrific restaurants and pubs with micro-breweries. The first time I went, the public transport system was so enlightened that it was free in the centre of the town.

What really made it was the atmosphere and the people. Oh, and I used to go to a great little coffee house, Starbucks I think it was called. I wonder if it's still going.

I love Vancouver too, beautiful place. And Hobart, Tasmania, which I found highly simpatico.

I can't imagine living anywhere other than London, mind!

Another vote for Edinburgh from me. I've experinced many a fantastic hogamany in the city. The castle, Holyrood Palace and Botanical Gardens, Calton Hill all being on the must do list (along with a pint in the cafe royal)
Honourable mentions also to...
Krakow
Newcastle
New York
Venice
Barcelona
Paris

Home of Elvis and the Ancient Greeks.

And of course Sun Studios, McLemore Avenue, The Peabody, Beale Street, the Gibson factory, etc etc...

Yes, a lot of the city is now a bit 'theme park' but there is still more good, free, music than just about anywhere else.

Oh, and the ribs (wet or dry) and the barbecue is to die for.

Not been to Nashville or Nawlins so can't compare - but I love Memphis.

...amazing architecture. Fantastic food. Cocktail hour. Fashionable clothes. Surrounded by the Alps with mountains seemingly at the bottom of every street.
And a side vote for Antwerp, all of the above +beer -mountains.

But also Bristol, Jerusalem, Istanbul and Prague.

For it´s winding, narrow streets and sense of history: Toledo
a city that feels like a village: Madrid
for it´s magnificence and grandeur : London
for it´s pretty women and charm and the Danube: Budapest
for the best nights out: Leon ( north of Spain )

Can't believe no one's mentioned Barcelona yet: utterly beautiful, loads of culture (Gaudi and Miro head of the queue), great wining and dining to be had in the many tapas bars, a fine party town, and it has beaches. My favourite city by far.

Wonderful city but too many thieves. We got our camera stolen and I know many others who suffered the same experience in this city.

Watching the sun go down from Victoria Peak has to be one of the most stupendous views on Earth. My personal highlight was taking a very long bumpy busride to a place called Tai-O, a fishing village that had not changed in 500 years (except for the occasional "Drink Coke" signs)

I later found out it was about 5 miles from the Airport.

...I love Edinburgh too, but I'm a sucker for the whole bookshop-central / Inspector Morse / dreaming spires / Tolkieniana mystique of Oxford. Any time I've visited (maybe only 3 or 4 times, from memory, all for only a day a time) I've managed to spend the bulk of the time in Blackwells or Borders (as was). You must understand, coming from NI - where large bookshops are non existant - that this is a big deal. I'd love to live there. I'd love to have enough money to live there...

Absolutely fell in love with the place.

Medieval historical centre ringed by a more modern town. Incredible architecture and astonishing cultural collisions, thanks to neighbours kicking the country around like a football.

It helps if you're a bit of a history junkie - visiting the Soviet war memorial directly next door to a cemetery used by the Nazis can send chills down the spine. As well as a specially built museum (all the other museums in Tallinn were housed in existing buildings) dealing solely with Estonia's history of occupation.

Beautiful location at the 'top of Europe', with the harbour looking north to Helsinki (only a boat ride away).

Brilliant.

In 1992, I was studying for a couple of A Levels at a college in the London borough of Kensington. Travelling up to Gloucester Road tube every morning I became aware that the capital was much larger than I had previously imagined; the small pieces of it that I knew were tiny islands connected by god only knows what.

My interest sparked, I bought Secret London by Andrew Duncan and started attending the public lectures at Gresham College in Holborn. I saw the pianist, Joanna MacGregor, demonstrate John Cage’s prepared piano, in which heavy nuts and bolts are inserted at precise points in between the strings, transforming it into a weird percussion instrument. I saw Richard Holloway – then the Bishop of Edinburgh - expound on his secularised version of Christianity. Later at a book launch hosted by the college, he became probably the only bishop ever to quote the fervently anti-Christian philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, in a positive context before a roomful of senior clergy. He remains a compassionate and thoughtful man. The church could do with more like him.

I bought another Andrew Duncan guidebook titled Walking London. I‘ve followed all those walks, many of them several times. Simon Pope’s pocket-sized book London Walking outlined a journey in which you select a row from the city-wide grid map at the very front of the London A-Z and then walk from east to west, from sunrise to sunset, staying within the confines of the pages you have chosen. In this way you not only traverse a geographical cross-section of the city, but also a cross-section of a day in the life of the city - from the predawn deliveries of fruit and vegetables to the outlying grocers and supermarkets, to the bitter-sweet, post-work migration to the suburbs that Damon Albarn documented so well in his song Best Days. I used to do Simon Pope’s walk every year. It would always piss down with rain that would dissolve the binding in my A-Z. I would return home minus the front cover, my bag stuffed with loose, badly-wrinkled pages.

I still like to wander the streets of London; sit on the damp, snowy benches in the freezing cold and eat my poorly conceived sandwiches out of their Clingfilm wrapping. East London by the Thames feels more like home than Southend, where I have lived on-and-off for most of my life.

In a disused church in Dartmouth I chanced upon a second-hand copy of HV Morton’s anthologised London newspaper columns. Eventually I laid my hands on a meta-anthology containing three collections (I still haven’t tracked down ‘The Ghosts of London’). I keep it in a drawer next to my bed and read it often. Morton used his columns to paint vivid snapshots of London life: The homeless old lady asleep in the crypt under St Martin in the Fields, the young men who jointly rescued a child’s balloon from the ceiling of a teahouse, and the woman who called from the crowd at the wedding of a minor royal “Good luck dear,” have all passed away. If the boy who told his nanny that one day he would marry his sister is still alive, he would be very old now. I wonder if the little girl who embraced the puppy that had just been given to her and called it “Darling” is still with us and, if so, whether she still thinks about that dog.

Morton touched on a basic truth about the city – that it’s big enough and steeped in enough history to dilute tragedy or joy of any magnitude down to nothing. It’s the cumulative weight of all that human experience that becomes overwhelming when you think about it.

I love London. A couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to put my feelings about the city into words. Not in the way that you dash something off, post it online, and then, a few weeks, later forget that you ever wrote it. Instead something that would require an investment of time and effort and wouldn’t be good enough but would be honest. I’m a lousy historian so I made it all up. It’s not a flippant intellectual exercise in how far you can take an idea. It’s London remixed, but the essence is still pure London.

They include: in the UK: London, Oxford, Norwich (which hardly ever gets mentioned in this kind of context, but is a really lovely city); in the USA: New York, San Francisco, Boston.

But my very favourite city is: York. I was an undergraduate there &, after a gap of over twenty years, went back recently, and realised how much I love the place. Wherever you are in the city centre, your eye falls on something old, mysterious, beautiful or interesting. I would love to move back there.

'cause it's home.

I couldn't see if anyone had mentioned this before(?) I visited it about five years ago, and loved it. The Alfama is especially beautiful - it feels as if it hasn't changed all that much since Medieval times.

Agree about Edinburgh; it's beautiful and slightly melancholy at the same time, which appeals to me.

I've visited there more than anywhere else and it's so manageable and so cosy. Great bars and restaurants, nice shops, especially in the snow.

On an equal footing: Copenhagen. So utterly civilised.

Otherwise Stockholm, New York, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Chicago and Paris.

Hard to believe it is a Capital City - small enough to walk around easily and has some quaint ways about it.
Quite fancy Bergen, anyone been there and can recommend it?

that I've visited so far is Moscow.

Spent 10 days there, plus 3 in St Petersburg, in 1999. In my ignorance I thought I'd find a place filled with grim, shonky concrete towers. They do exist but crikey moses the historic centre is one of the most colourful places in the world. The Kremlin and its environs are painted in the lightest pastel colours; lemon, lilac, green, pink etc. It looks like Queer Eye For the Straight Guy were given a civic commission.

Flippancy aside it is (or was - never been back since) a delightful sight. Couple all those colours to the shimmering whites and golds of the Orthodox Cathedrals which festoon the place and it's breathtaking on a sunny day.

Cape Town for its wondrous situation,
Boston for its oldishness (by US standards),
Venice for its strangeness,
Dublin for its pubs,
Amsterdam for its quaint wealthiness,
Bristol and Bath and Brighton for their Britishness (in a nice way),
Berlin for its lippy talk, genuinely humourous,and
Belfast for its warm-heartedness (really!).

San Francisco, which was completely not what I expected of America when I first went there in 1990 and that was my entree, but then everywhere else I went in America was nothing like I expected either....except Daytona Beach perhaps. But SF - beer, food, wine, skiing (reasonably close anyway), atmosphere. Used to have jobs too....

Dunedin NZ, but I went when it was warm and I'm told that's not necessarily representative. Kind of like San Fran in the 40's or 50's, but as a small college town. One of the friendliest places I've ever been and was serious about moving there till I found out the weather patterns.

And Sydney. Can't imagine why I'd live anywhere else unless I was forced to. Wanted to come here since I was 8 (circa 1970) and it didn't disappoint.

Venice - romantic city par excellence and a great city to just "be" in

Manchester - ok. It's near home but I love it

Paris - see Venice.

Stockhom - especially the old parts. Beautiful. A tad expensive though

Prague - see Stochom. but much much cheaper.

York - helps if you're into history as I am.

Lisbon - very underrated. Great food. But vegetarians could starve

... FPO's hometown - my favourite place - easy (like a Sontag Morgen).

I love the mix of old and new buildings in Manchester (Bridgewater Hall and Manchester Central/Urbis and Victoria station), the mix of areas and 'quarters' (Chinatown and Northern Quarter) and how they all fit together so well in a city that's easy to get around.

I'm always fond of Sheffield - the way it always tries something new, not always without government cash (the Winter Garden and the Olympic Pool) and the lovely walk-up from the train station and its fountains through the art gallery and gardens to the city centre.

London is endlessly fascinating. Using an A-Z and the Good Beer Guide, I never failed to be amazed by how it changed within a train ride or even a 30 minute walk - from the bustle of Oxford Street to the peace of Mayfair, from dirty, lively Hackney to the cobbled streets of Hampstead with carol singers outside the boozers, from grim Bethnal Green to the sterile City with its huge glass buildings.

Leeds is Britain's most overrated city - Wakefield with delusions of grandeur and good PR. Ooooh they've got a Harvey Nicks. Whoop-di-do!

Yes it does have some lovely buildings and shops - and a few nice pubs. But the city's dominated by identikit bars, overpriced flats and some spectacularly ugly office buildings.

Spent time there on our honeymoon and I loved it...fascinating history and great food, and good transport system.

The friendliest people I have met.

Having moved to Sydney 6 months ago after 30 years in London i'm just loving it here. Much easier to get to gigs and all the bands do festival warm-ups at small venues the best of which is The Enmore in Newtown.
Damon Albarn said last night at the Gorrilaz gig that he loved this city so there you go. Mind you, he probably said that in Brisbane as well.
Sydney has some great art deco architecture, graet beaches and stunning views and a fantastic food and coffee culture. Plus it's the safest place i've ever lived. I do miss London and british humour though which is why this blogsite is a godsend. Still buying The Word although it's hellish expensive for the latest issues.

Got to say it's hard to beat Austin. Relaxed, vibrant music and arts scene and the weather is great (25c this week? And it's their winter). Got a real skyline and Texans are soooo hospitable. People I know there complain that the summer's too hot, but I guess you don't appreciate the weather unless you get the contrasts like we do in the UK.

Tons of space, nice lakes area, and it's a short drive from the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Good food if you enjoy Texan barbecue and Tex Mex.

House prices would make the average Brit weep. Haven't experienced any red-neck mentality yet but I daresay it exists - it's Texas. And of course SXSW and Austin City Limits on the doorstep.

hasn't Florence got a mention yet? The art, the buildings, the food, the very beautiful people

A wonderful place and very different from LA or the ususal image of California. A great setting and a relaxed atmosphere and great food. Has a slightly European feel to it although it is as about as far as you can get in America from Europe in distance

Big Cities:
New York - exciting, interesting and never, ever dull.
London - wonderful as long as you don't commute there and are as rich as Croesus.
Barcelona - not least because being at the top of Tibidabo having a beer at http://www.mirablaubcn.com/ is brilliant.
Cape Town - Table Mountain. A mountain in thee middle of a city - genius.
Berlin - it's got everything you could want (except mountains).

Small cities:
Seville - small, welcoming and hot in the Winter.
Bruges - preserved in aspic and all the better for it.
Edinburgh - a history lesson on every corner.
York - what England would have been like if there was no industrial revolution
Christchurch, NZ - Because you can have this view

and live less than thirty minutes from the centre of town.

My hometown, but still..Small enough to feel you own it, but loads going on.

Bangkok, where I lived for 4 years and still visit at least twice a year passing through to my permanent gaff, which is in Southern Thailand - flthy and overcrowded, yes, but endlessly fascinating.

How long do you have to spend in a city to truly know it? I tend to raise an eyebrow when people visit somewhere for a fortnight on holiday, visit a few galleries and restaurants, then claim to have 'done' it.

I'd say that to know a place, you have to live there.

'woman Who Loves Brazil Has Only Seen 4 sq.km Of It'

Why I didn't put down Edinburgh - some of my greatest memories are from there, but I've never spent more than a weekend..

is certainly one of my favourite places to be. All the best aspects of pan-Mediterranean culture in a Pacific setting redolent of the Northern California coast. Lovely. Great pubs, good eatin', excellent live music culture and probably the best coffee in he world.

I don't have as much to compare it with as many of the people who have posted their views on a diverse range of great-sounding places.

Never go to Kilmarnock though. If the chip fat and fags don't kill you the razor to your wrists will.