World's Best Cities: Celebrating 220 Great Destinations

by National Geographic Society, Keith Bellows (Foreword)

Delving into the heart and soul of more than 225 cities around the globe, World's Best Citie s is a glossy, glorious tribute to cosmopolitan life. In photos and words, this irresistible volume showcases long-established great cities like Paris, Rome, New York, London, and Tokyo, as well as exciting up-and-comers, including Denver, Asheville, Oslo, and Abu Dhabi. As readable as it is beautiful, this expansive travel guide offers a playful, informative mix of inspirational personal narratives; photo galleries, and fun facts; plus sidebars on oddities; where to find the best food and shopping; novels that capture a particular city's atmosphere; local secrets; and more. Many additional cities appear in illustrated lists, such as eco-friendly cities, foodie cities; and happiest cities. The twenty-first century is the Century of the City, and on-the-go visitors and armchair travelers alike will make World's Best Cities a must-have volume to accompany all their urban adventures.

Genres: Travel, Cities, Nonfiction, Coffee Table Books

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2014

About the author

The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society's logo is a yellow portrait frame—rectangular in shape—which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines and as its television channel logo. Through National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company), the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website, worldwide events, and other media operations.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of motivation here to get out and see the world through it's some of it's greatest cities. Some that are going on my bucket list are: New York, Istanbul, Paris, Montreal, Rome, Lisbon, Vienna, Florence, Prague, Oslo (all of which are on the main list), plus these cities that are highlighted in themed Best cities lists: Trogir (Croatia), Lubeck, Tallinn, Bruggge, Carcassonne, Toledo, Pingyao, and Dubrovnik (also Croatia). I know, heavy on cities designated as "one of the best preserved medieval cities" but what can I say, I like human scale cities that are walkable and have great food and history. This was easy to read and fun. I was interested to see that I have been to almost all of the cities on the list from the US and a couple internationally.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tonight I was feeling sad that COVID-19 killed my vacation, and so instead of sitting on a Mexican beach, I spent 2 1/2 hours pouring through National Geographic's World's Best Cities. The text is pretty scattered, throwing out tidbits of unconnected information, and I didn't read everything. But the pictures are amazing! It was so fun to reflect on the cities I've already visited (70 of the book's 220), and dream about when I'll once again be able to venture out into the great wide world. I really liked the selection criteria, which allowed for some less-obvious destinations to be spotlighted. For example, there were sections such as "best night-life" and "oceanfront," "high altitude" and "walled." For the major featured cities, they were arranged in order of descending population, from Tokyo to Vatican City.

3.5 stars rounded up to a 4.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photography and fun descriptions of cities. Definitely feeds wanderlust!

[Bernard Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. Though the book is very US centric.

[Diane B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to see my home city Toronto listed here along with other international cities I've visited. Of course, the book made my travel list grow longer!

[Beth Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprised that I liked the text so much (not that it's heavy on text--the text is breezy reading). Photos were great. Saying it features 220 cities is a bit misleading. There are a number of two-page spreads on "the best spa cities" or the "best water cities." Those have a paragraph on each city. And it's VERY U.S.-centric. Not sure Asheville, North Carolina is one of the 220 "world's best cities." But it was a nice armchair travel/coffeetable book. I did like the "novel introductions" feature, blurbs about books featuring certain cities. I have a feelng, though, they could've dug around for more local writers.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about celebrating the world's best cities and 220 great destinations. The photographs are beautiful and there is commentary explaining every spot. My favorite photos were the Empire State Building, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Red Square, The Great Sphinx, Miami, Las Vegas and San Francisco. I loved this book but the entire book is a work of art and every place they list is nice. I learned so much about the world which is why I read in the first place.

[Jim Blessing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book on the greatest cities in the world. The pictures are beautiful. It makes one want to visit all of them.