It's a funny thing, but from my British perspective both Ireland and New Zealand are as obvious, if not more so, than the USA. All of us speak English differently, but you Yanks speak it more differently than the rest.

Anyway, I'd like to make a shout for the cities of Wells, Exeter, and York. The three best cities I've ever visited and places I could quite happily settle down in.

Well, how anglocentric of you. Lindau Germany is the friendliest city in the first world and yet because it isn't an English speaking country you don't want to consider it. You do know Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece... These are all just from Europe whose beauty rivals anything offered by the English speaking world (save maybe New Zealand) and many of them have very friendly people (Germany and Italy especially).

But if you must be anglocentric and xenophobic - Western Canada and the cities around the Canadian Rockies are incredibly friendly and beautiful. I hope to one day go back to the Calgary area for a winter vacation in the mountains.

Good grief he was asking what are the best places in the English-speaking world, not that the English-speaking world was the bestest.

I haven't been to many English-speaking places outside of the US. But of the American cities I've visited or spent time in: Washington (DC), Milwaukee, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Charleston (SC), Minneapolis, and Providence.

Places in the Anglosphere I'd like to visit: York, Truro, Edinburgh, Dublin, Leeds, Blackpool.

@Draug:

"Well, how anglocentric of you."

To be fair, Draug, that kind of comes as advertised in a title about the Top 10 Cities of the Anglosphere...

NOT the whole of the West or the World. ;)

HOW am I being xenophobic...I've stated on numerous occasions I'd be all for MORE multiculturalism and multi-national organizations and states (though I'll admit that the EU's recent failings make me rethink that position...I still think it can and must be done, but perhaps there's a better way to do it, because the EU really is quite a mess now.)

And I'm also the one shouting out love for Tchaikovsky, Pushkin and Dostoyevsky (Russian) Mozart (Austrian) Nietzsche (German) and so on...

If you want to charge me as being EURO-centric...well, I do include quite a bit of US writers and thinkers as well...

If you wanted to charge me as having a Western bias--OK, I'll readily admit that, no escaping that charge, though I think that so long as it's not a malicious or bigoted bias it's somewhat justifiable and understandable living my whole life in the Western world and essentially being saturated with nearly all-Western ideas, art, literature and so on, at least primarily.

@Octavious:

"It's a funny thing, but from my British perspective both Ireland and New Zealand are as obvious, if not more so, than the USA. All of us speak English differently, but you Yanks speak it more differently than the rest."

Fair enough...though as we're 300 million strong, we Yanks would seem to make up a sizable portion (if not half or more, don't know the exact demographics) of native english speakers...

So maybe it's YOU who are speaking it differently! ;) (No, but I kid, we're...we're speaking it differently but in a LOT of different ways, a Texan will be "speaking it differently" with a slight Southern accent than someone from Boston/"Bah-stahn" rooting for the "Red Sawx," and here in Los Angeles county you have Spanglish, lol.)

And for my shout out, I'll save them for places I've been, so, California Dreaming as I am, born and raised...

Los Angeles (as much as I knock it, if you can get past the incredibly shallowness and artificiality of a lot of it...as well as the fact it's incredibly dangerous to walk the streets at midnight--though I've done it--and live to tell the tale, it's a really great metropolis with something of everything, not to mention its obvious show business connection)...

And

San Francisco (probably the most beautiful single city I've ever been to, I'd love to live there someday...a lot cleaner and a lot more quirky than Los Angeles, for whatever reason, and the views of the bay and nightlife there is great...compared with LA, instead of huge Latino population and the danger of being murdered on the street at night if you're walking through Downtown LA, in San Fran it's a huge Asian-American population and a lot of--often very tragic, really--bums out on the streets at night.)

In no particular order: San Francisco, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Sydney, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Delhi, Auckland.

DC? Really? outside the toursit areas, DC is a raging combat zone.

Chicago is nice, Love Boston. Philly is a dump.

Atlanta is alright, somewhat boring.

For a smaller city *(175,000) Chattanooga is shockingly nice, and has a great tourism industry, and the people are as friendly as you can find anywhere.

Loved San Fran, did not like LA.

new Orleans. it was ok, but once you left the French quarter, it lost its appeal quickly.

Cinncy is not bad, Columbus..meh, keep it. I love Ohio state, but the rest....

St Louis, didnt like.

Perth loved, London not so much, but I got lost twice, and ended up in areas that English appeared to be a 2nd langauge...lol

Torono was alright. I think thats about it.

If I had to live in ONE, it would be Boston, but damn city is too expensive.

Juneau, AK … no question if you've been there ;)

I'm going to ignore Australia and New Zealand for now. I'm sure they're both amazing places, but the fact that you're upside down is just too primitive for me.

My nominations:

- Bar Harbor, ME, London, Boston, Philadelphia, Sharpsburg, MD, Albany, NY, Adirondack Mountains, Nashville, TN

I've not traveled enough to judge too many places, but I will second support for Chattanooga, TN, and for the Frederick/Sharpsburg MD area. I'd add anywhere in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, and Charleston SC

I'd also add Ithaca, NY to nice locales.

And add Ottawa to places I want to visit, but somehow haven't despite being so close for 4 years.

As for DC being a "raging combat zone", that's ridiculous.

So far it seems like The City By the Bay is getting the most love, interesting.

Yes it is, Putin.

I think Niagara, NY is an awesome place. Food is too pricy, but that's Niagara Falls' fault, not the city's.

I'll also add Seattle if not yet listed. Juneau was mine on the wrong account >_>

Chattanooga is fun, but the word that comes to mind is "sleepy".

That's because SF is awesome, obi.

I've been to Juneau. I wouldn't say that it is one of the top 10 cities in the primarily English-speaking world. Same for Niagara (and I like the Canadian side better than the American side).

City: Lunenburg
Region: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova scotia, the whole east cost :D
as well as British Columbia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunenburg,_Nova_Scotia

@ Putin

Edinburgh's great. Truro is a nice place, but if you're doing Kernow then you'd be better off visiting the likes of Falmouth, Tintagel and Looe. Leeds is a great city, better than most in the UK, and possibly the best of the big cities... Manchester gives it a good run for its money though.

Blackpool is hell on Earth. The illuminations might be worth seeing as the last surviving example of what was once a great British tradition (from a historic perspective at least) but the rest of the place is damned depressing. If candy shaped like a penis and postards of fat women in suggestive poses tickles your sense of humour you'll love it, but I don't think it does. Don't go there or, if you do, don't plan on staying long.

lmao

Niagara is the butthole of the NA. Just a fucking stew of sleaze, grime, and shittiness. If I never have to set foot in that town again I'll be thrilled.

I did get a tour of the hydro plant once though. That was really cool.

Putin, Ottawa? Why?
It's not the worst place in the world but there's very little reason to ever visit there. Skating on the canal is a cool novelty but you have to brave ungodly temperatures in the winter there. The museum (not actually in Ottawa but still...) is pretty cool but not enough reason to make it a destination.

You know what's a raging combat zone? THe whole state of Arizona - where you can bring M-16s (and people routinely do) into places like Babys R Us and Starbucks. Washington? Wonderful city. People very literate and civic minded. Plenty of nightlife. Tons of events all of the time and not just in the "tourist" areas. I always have a blast.

I put Ottawa just because everyone who has visited has enjoyed it. I don't know much about it.

@ Octavious

Perhaps I'd just visit the little industrial towns in Lancashire and avoid Blackpool. I have some personal/family reasons for visiting that area that have nothing to do with tourism or scenery.

This all reminds me of my pressing need to visit the UK.

Sealand

^And as an addendum to that...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2012/10/19/how-washington-d-c-got-off-the-most-dangerous-cities-list/

D.C.'s statistically a far safer city to live in now than the "war zone" it was before.

I can imagine people would enjoy it but, if you're travelling to Ontario/Quebec, (not sure if you've been around here at all), first stop would probably be Montreal or Toronto if you're looking for a fun metropolis or Quebec City if you're looking for a smaller city. Quebec City is a little far but it's a really beautiful and interesting city.

"instead of huge Latino population and the danger of being murdered on the street at night if you're walking through Downtown LA"

For a minute I thought Krellin was speaking.

I love Montreal. Have been meaning to visit Quebec City (I grew up supporting the Nordiques :( ) but it's quite a hike from my present location. In Canada I've only ever been to Kingston, Toronto, London, and Montreal.

Wow! I caught two fish with that troll!

Ok... So my personal top 10 in no particular arder but with reasons:

Philadelphia and the surrounding area all the way Chadd's Ford, Media, and Wilmington, DE. History and landscape and the Winterthur Museum.
Pasadena to Santa Monica. Lots to see and do.
Vancouver and Calgary have the most spectaculaf nature.
Key West for the partying and water fun.
DC for the Smithsonian and the history.
Virginia Beach for the beaches.
Chicago for the museums.
Vermont for the scenery.
New Zealand - never been but dying to go.

London is the greatest city on earth.