Cape Town has been named the third greatest city on Earth. A ranking using objective measures has put the Mother City above heavy hitters including Paris, Tokyo, London and New York. The UK’s Telegraph newspaper says it has finally settled the debate on which is the greatest city on Earth. Barcelona took first place followed by Sydney then Cape Town.
The newspaper went on a mission recently to find the answer. Starting with its own pick of 50 contenders for the top spot, it whittled this down using an annual reader survey plus input from a panel of travel writers.
Next it assigned each shortlisted city a score based on a range of factors, from the number of museums and galleries, Unesco Heritage Sites, Michelin restaurants and five-star hotels counted in each city, to air cleanliness, to how they measure on safety for members of the LGBTQ+ community (based on the Asher and Lyric LGBTQ+ Danger Index).
Bonus points were awarded for cities with a beach, canal system or river; a symphony orchestra; and a sophisticated metro system.
The top 10 cities are:
- Barcelona
- Sydney
- Cape Town
- Lisbon
- Venice
- Los Angeles
- Dubai
- London
- Vancouver
- Florence
The newspaper says its topography and geography alone makes Cape Town stand out above the others and that its beaches, copious sunshine hours and towering Table Mountain, the latter providing the highest view and the biggest green space out of any city in the list, bumped it into a podium position.
If it weren’t for the city’s poor safety record (Cape Town has the highest homicide rate on the list), it would have come in at number one overall. If you’re looking for an exciting career opportunity in Cape Town, make sure you click through to our job section.
