Our trip to Iceland & Ireland was a good mix of days in the countryside (7 days) and time in Reykjavik & Dublin (4 days).
Some people like the sights & buzz of the big cities, while others would spend all of their time in the small villages and rural areas if they could. We like to see a bit of both.
That said, if you know me, you know that I like checklists. I recently saw this list of the World’s 50 “Best” Cities on social media. I’m not really sure exactly who or how it was put together, but I liked it.
I’ll acknowledge that the rank order is a bit odd. It was probably put together by AI. I wouldn’t put Madrid in the Top 5 – above Los Angeles, Rome, or Beijing. Perhaps ignoring the order, and just thinking of them in no particular order is best.
Still, I highlighted in yellow the cities that we’ve visited. Our count is 21 of the Top 50. We’ve also been through 2 others: Madrid & Zurich, but we mostly were just traveling through on our way to other places.
I’m a “list person”, but I don’t have a goal for how many big cities I’d like to visit. I guess it would be cool to get to half of them, if we had the opportunity. Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Oslo would be on my list.
How many of these have you visited?
I’ve been to 25. We should knock off a few more with a river cruise planned for next year. I’ve been to the 4 on your wish list and loved them all. One of the best parts about Singapore is its airport, which is a tourist attraction. Hong Kong has terrific hop on hop off bus tours and the best hotel executive lounge we’ve ever visited. We added in Oslo as an 18 hour layover flying home from Greece-would love to go back. In Sydney we had a hotel room with a balcony view of the Opera House. My husband had to drag me off of there to make it to the airport on time! One tip for Australia and New Zealand-build in a stopover in Fiji for a night or two two. It is a nice way to break up the long flights. In addition, I loved Melbourne just as much as Sydney-it is built in a grid pattern and is very easy to get around. After 3 days, I felt like a local.
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Wow – that makes me excited for ALL of those places on our wish list! While we used Icelandair as a connection “gateway” to Iceland this time, I haven’t thought about doing that too much. I like the idea of using Oslo as a stopover – I bet there are others I could work into our travel plans. Great idea.
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23 but it will be 24 next month.
I agree with Beth about Sydney and Melbourne. They don’t get as much attention as other places due to being remote. They likely are higher on the preference list for me as they speak a language close to American English!
I also find it interesting how places get on such lists as I find Boston, Quebec City, Cairo, Jerusalem and Athens superior to Chicago and they aren’t even on the list.
Places like Quebec, London and Sydney have great open spaces in the form of parks or water adjacent to quality as filling the needs of nature while having the access to everything that comes with great cities. They also provide the opportunity of a quick day or half day trip to rural areas.
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I have been to London, NYC, Paris, Rome, LA, Toronto, Miami, SF, Mexico City, Munich, Chicago, Milan Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro and Montreal for 16. I agree with 1027 that the list doesn’t make sense. A lot of the cities that made it are big cities with big city problems. I prefer the countryside.
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I preferred the countryside when I was younger, but my allergies have worsened with years. As an example, I was in Lake Tahoe from 4:00 on Tuesday to 3:00 Thursday and between the wind blowing stuff that my respiratory system dislikes and the lack of humidity, I was on the verge of getting sick. 48 hours in such an environment is about my limit. I miss rural areas as well as backpacking, but our bodies make our decisions for us.
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I can relate to that. My allergies were bad when we got home this time. I was outside almost the whole day on Monday & Tuesday when we got back. Mowing, biking, patio dining, and top down on the car. By Tuesday night, I felt like I had a bad head cold.
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I like a mix of big cities and small towns/countryside. Generally, we do the big cities first, then start on the more rural areas. Our trip to Iceland & Ireland were disproportionately small towns/countryside, but we did enjoy our few days in Dublin.
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Looking forward to Sydney & Melbourne next year for our 2027 trip. I need to get planning! We drove a little too much in Ireland this year, I like your idea of day (or half day) trips out of the cities we visit. Less unpacking.
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