In a survey conducted by The Daily Telegraph, Cape Town was ranked third best city on the planet, behind Barcelona and Sydney.
Cities were assessed based on the following aspects:
- Population density in urban areas
- Disabled accessibility
- Homicide rates per the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- Annual hours of sunshine
- Biggest park size
- Age of oldest building
- LGBTQ+ safety
- Museums and galleries
- Highest observation point – including natural vantage points
- Five-star hotels
- Michelin-starred restaurants
- Distance between city centre and closest airport
- Unesco World Heritage Sites
- Clean air per Carbon Disclosure Project environmental performance index
Bonus points were given to cities with a beach, a bike or scooter-sharing scheme, a metro system with more than just buses and railways, a canal system, harbour or river and a symphony orchestra.
Barcelona fared well on all factors, scoring 588 out of a possible 810 points, but was marked down due to its green-space ranking and its high population density, which is roughly about 10 times that of Cape Town.
Cape Town’s outstanding topography and geography made it stand out from other cities, but because of a high crime rate and poor safety record, it did not place higher on the list.
Cape Town is the only South African city on the list:
- Barcelona
- Sydney
- Cape Town
- Lisbon
- Venice
- Los Angeles
- Dubai
- London
- Vancouver
- Florence
- Stockholm
- Paris
- Seville
- San Francisco
- Melbourne
- Vienna
- Madrid
- Singapore
- Dubrovnik
- Beijing
- Tokyo
- Rome
- Berlin
- Dublin
- Istanbul
- Auckland
- Edinburgh
- Tel Aviv
- Havana
- Copenhagen
- New York City
- Rio de Janeiro
- Mexico City
- New Orleans
- Amsterdam
- Prague
- Bruges
- Toronto
- Buenos Aires
- Krakow
- Las Vegas
- Shanghai
- Hong Kong
- Budapest
- Chicago
- New Delhi
- Athens
- Bangkok
- Mumbai
- Marrakesh
Picture: Getaway Gallery
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