Another list of the world’s best is the Viator Travel Awards, based on votes by travelers (from http://travelblog.viator.com/top-50-travel-destinations )

Their top 10 in 2011: New York City, London, Paris, Las Vegas, Rome, Sydney, Barcelona, Venice, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro

Their top 10 in 2010: Paris, Las Vegas, Rome, New York City, London, Florence, Tokyo, Sydney, San Francisco, Melbourne

Travel + Leisure magazine does an annual reader survey of World's Best. This is the list for 2015 (with 5 prior years rankings):

TOP 10 CITIES

2015.2014.2013.2012.2011.2010.rank....city

1..........1........5........9.......--.......--.......Kyoto

2..........2........7.......--.......--........--.......Charleston, South Carolina

3..........4........3........2........2........3......Siem Reap, Cambodia

4..........3.......--.......--........--.......--........Florence

5..........5........6........6........3........5.......Rome

6..........1........1........1........1........--.......Bangkok

7.........--........--.......--........--........--.......Krakow, Poland

8..........8........--......--.........9........--.......Barcelona

9..........4........4........6........--.......--.......Cape Town

10..........--........--.....--........--.......--.......Jerusalem

--..........2........3........5.........--......--.......Istanbul

--..........7.......--........--.........--......--.......Seville

--......... 9.......--........--.........--......--.......Mexico City

--.........10.......--........--........--......--...... New Orleans

--.........--........9.......10.......10.......--......Paris

--.........--........10......--........--........2.......Chiang Mai, Thailand

cities showing a -- ranked above 10 that year by Travel + Leisure

The T+L list is no longer like Van's best list. I feel they rate Kyoto, Florence, Barcelona, and Mexico City too highly, and ignore the universal favorite of Paris.

In islands, Bali kept its #2 ranking from 2011 to 2012 by T+L readers. Other islands in the top 5 come and go. Galapagos was #1 in 2010, but down to #10 in 2011. Santorini was #1 in 2011 and in 2014. 3 Hawaiian islands were ahead of Bali in 2014.

T+L Top 10 Cities Overall in 2009 and 2008

2009 Rank 2008 Name of City Rank in 2010

1 - Udaipur, India over 10

2 3 Cape Town over 10

3 1 Bangkok #1

4 2 Buenos Aires #7

- - San Miguel de Allende, Mexico #4

5 - Chiang Mai , Thailand #2

6 5 Florence #3

7 - Luang Prabang , Laos over 10

8 8 New York #10

9 7 Rome #5

10 10 San Francisco over 10

11 4 Sydney #6

12 - Jaipur

13 - Oaxaca #8

- - Barcelona #9

14 9 Istanbul

15 - Fez

16 6 Cuzco

17 - Jerusalem

18 - Siem Reap

19 - Quebec City

20 - Kyoto

2009 Rank	2008	Name of City	Rank in 2010
1	-	Udaipur, India	over 10
2	3	Cape Town	over 10
3	1	Bangkok	#1
4	2	Buenos Aires	#7
-	-	San Miguel de Allende, Mexico	#4
5	-	Chiang Mai , Thailand	#2
6	5	Florence	#3
7	-	Luang Prabang , Laos	over 10
8	8	New York	#10
9	7	Rome	#5
10	10	San Francisco	over 10
11	4	Sydney	#6
12	-	Jaipur
13	-	Oaxaca	#8
-	-	Barcelona	#9
14	9	Istanbul
15	-	Fez
16	6	Cuzco
17	-	Jerusalem
18	-	Siem Reap
19	-	Quebec City
20	-	Kyoto

The scores for a city are strongly influenced by the quality of its top hotels. When a fancy new hotel is built, a city sometimes gets a spike in its scores, making a chageable list with some popular cities of the moment for wealthy travelers. Cusco in 2008 is an example.

In their top islands list, Bali was number 1 in 2007, number 2 in 2008, and back to number 1 in 2009.

Other unique cities in the United States: Santa Fe, Newport, New Orleans, Charleston. For attractive USA cities more typical of their regions, try Providence, Memphis, Madison, and Salt Lake City.

USA places best in season- Spring: Monterey Peninsula (for flowers), Yosemite (waterfalls) Summer: Maine coast, Fall: Vermont, Winter: southern Florida

Most comfortable countries For those who like travel but think that many of the above places are too exotic: If your primary language is English, you should enjoy these ten countries, listed in an order of increasing challenge: United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom (Britain), Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland (But as an Australian said to Sloan in Phuket, Thailand: "Why spend all that money to travel to the USA, which isn't that different from Australia?" Neither he nor I had then been to each other's country. We both agreed that Thailand was definitely different from home.

Most enjoyable countries in regions of the world - balanced lifestyle, good climate, sense of history, quality services, fun/ relaxation. Good examples for other countries in their area. (These are Sloan's thoughts)

1. Italy

2. Australia

3. Turkey

4. Mexico

5. Botswana

Most scenic cities in the world

1. Rio de Janeiro

2. Cape Town

3. San Francisco

4. Vancouver

5. Sydney

Cities for intense and varied cultures
1. Paris (Christian and Rights of Man values)
2. Kyoto (Buddhist)
3. Marrakesh, Morocco (Muslim)
4. Ubud, Bali (Hindu)
5. Mexico City (Spanish Catholic and Aztec)

List of the 100 most visited cities in the world - from http://blog.euromonitor.com/2015/01/top-100-city-destinations-ranking.html
Sloan has visited the * cities below - and most of these have his photo albums at www.vansloan.shutterfly.com

City Country Ranking Arrivals 2013 (‘000) 2013/2012 % Growth
*Hong Kong Hong Kong 1 25,587.3 7.6
Singapore Singapore 2 22,455.4 5.4
*Bangkok Thailand 3 17,467.8 10.4
*London United Kingdom 4 16,784.1 8.6
*Paris France 5 15,200.0 4.6
*Macau Macau 6 14,268.5 5.1
*New York City USA 7 11,850.4 2.0
*Shenzhen China 8 11,702.5 -3.0
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 9 11,182.4 5.0
*Antalya Turkey 10 11,120.7 8.0
*Istanbul Turkey 11 10,486.3 11.8
*Dubai United Arab Emirates 12 10,458.3 6.9
*Seoul South Korea 13 8,619.0 3.1
*Rome Italy 14 8,608.3 2.2
*Phuket Thailand 15 8,035.0 11.3
Guangzhou China 16 7,630.1 -3.0
Mecca Saudi Arabia 17 7,512.1 9.6
Pattaya Thailand 18 6,986.2 6.4
*Taipei Taiwan 19 6,692.4 2.0
*Miami USA 20 6,275.1 4.1
*Prague Czech Republic 21 6,208.5 1.8
Shanghai China 22 6,089.7 -6.5
*Las Vegas USA 23 6,046.9 -0.8
Milan Italy 24 5,873.9 1.8
*Barcelona Spain 25 5,524.6 1.2
Moscow Russia 26 5,438.9 8.0
*Amsterdam Netherlands 27 5,204.1 1.2
*Vienna Austria 28 5,187.6 4.5
*Venice Italy 29 5,159.6 2.7
*Los Angeles USA 30 5,073.7 1.1
*Lima Peru 31 4,900.8 27.1
*Tokyo Japan 32 4,594.5 22.5
Johannesburg South Africa 33 4,512.2 3.3
Beijing China 34 4,502.5 -10.1
Sofia Bulgaria 35 4,448.5 7.8
*Orlando USA 36 4,379.2 3.0
Berlin Germany 37 4,312.5 4.9
*Budapest Hungary 38 4,222.0 7.5
Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 39 4,197.7 7.0
*Florence Italy 40 4,186.1 2.0
*Madrid Spain 41 4,006.4 -2.6
Warsaw Poland 42 3,987.0 8.9
Doha Qatar 43 3,773.0 21.2
Nairobi Kenya 44 3,755.7 9.3
*Delhi India 45 3,672.2 27.3
Mumbai India 46 3,643.9 22.4
Chennai India 47 3,581.2 1.3
*Mexico City Mexico 48 3,441.6 10.1
*Dublin Ireland 49 3,398.3 9.7
*San Francisco USA 50 3,252.7 2.0
Hangzhou China 51 3,158.9 -4.6
*Denpasar Indonesia 52 3,125.3 8.9
*St. Petersburg Russia 53 3,103.0 7.0
Mugla Turkey 54 3,062.7 2.5
*Brussels Belgium 55 2,990.0 3.5
Burgas Bulgaria 56 2,940.3 9.3
*Munich Germany 57 2,894.6 5.0
Zhuhai China 58 2,886.5 -3.0
*Sydney Australia 59 2,853.0 6.5
Edirne Turkey 60 2,840.5 5.3
Toronto Canada 61 2,785.2 -1.2
*Lisbon Portugal 62 2,785.2 5.7
*Cancún Mexico 63 2,761.4 5.7
Buenos Aires Argentina 64 2,693.1 -6.6
*Cairo Egypt 65 2,625.0 -25.0
Punta Cana Dominican Republic 66 2,591.0 7.5
Suzhou China 67 2,587.4 3.8
Djerba Tunisia 68 2,538.4 3.8
*Agra India 69 2,483.2 5.5
*Kraków Poland 70 2,450.0 8.9
Bucharest Romania 71 2,439.7 3.8
Siem Reap Cambodia 72 2,411.1 16.9
*Jaipur India 73 2,403.0 2.5
*Honolulu USA 74 2,369.7 3.1
Manama Bahrain 75 2,349.0 15.4
East Province Saudi Arabia 76 2,338.4 8.5
Hanoi Vietnam 77 2,309.1 15.0
Andorra la Vella Andorra 78 2,287.5 2.2
*Nice France 79 2,272.7 2.3
*Zurich Switzerland 80 2,259.1 23.6
Jakarta Indonesia 81 2,194.2 7.7
Manila Philippines 82 2,188.3 10.0
Chiang Mai Thailand 83 2,127.0 6.9
*Marrakech Morocco 84 2,119.1 5.2
*Sharm el Sheikh Egypt 85 2,046.0 -7.0
*Marne-La-Vallée France 86 1,995.7 -3.2
*Frankfurt Germany 87 1,963.1 4.7
Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 88 1,951.4 19.4
*Vancouver Canada 89 1,951.2 2.0 Guilin China 90 1,942.7 6.5
Melbourne Australia 91 1,929.0 8.4
*Rio de Janeiro Brazil 92 1,917.9 10.0
Riyadh Saudi Arabia 93 1,899.4 9.2
Amman Jordan 94 1,872.5 -2.3
*Sousse Tunisia 95 1,844.2 3.8
Kiev Ukraine 96 1,818.0 -3.0
Sharjah United Arab Emirates 97 1,801.1 6.5
Jeju South Korea 98 1,779.2 46.3
*Krabi Thailand 99 1,772.2 16.5
Artvin Turkey 100 1,732.7 26.9

Research World Heritage links When planning to visit another country, check out http://whc.unesco.org/en/list to learn about the UN World Heritage sites there. Often they are worthwhile, interesting places to see. Click on the individual site links to read more about them.
Good Food adds to the desirability of a place. Go to: World's Top 10 Most Tasty Cuisines - with photos. French, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Japanese, Spanish, Greek, Lebanese. It is interesting that all but Thailand and Mexico were once the world's leading civilizations. (But a top cuisine is not a feature of the most recent top countries: United States and Britain.)

A similar top 10 Cuisines of the World (by travel expert Hillman. His top 100 world sights discussed below). Chinese French Italian Indian Japanese Moroccan Spanish Thai Turkish Indonesian
Historical novels and related movies help us understand different cultures and times. Go to: 21 fine novels/ movies from Ancient Egypt to World War II.
Operas can give insights into leading or near-leading civilizations. Even if these operas do not reflect exact history, their music and lyrics have become symbols with that culture: Ancent Egypt - Aida by Verdi; China - traditional Beijing opera; Italy - Tosca by Puccini; Spain - Carmen by Bizet; France - La boheme by Puccini; Germany - Die Meistersinger by Wagner; Japan - Madame Butterfly by Puccini; Russia - Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky; Austrian Empire - The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart (or the movie Amadeus); Britain - HMS Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan; United States - South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein.

Places of a Lifetime

In October 1999 National Geographic Traveler showcased 50 of the world's top destinations, places that every curious traveler should visit in a lifetime. Now we're expanding our Places of a Lifetime franchise online, with personal essays on top destinations and the addition of a wealth of timely service information, from insiders' tips on the best places to stay and eat, to great books and music, to recommended walking tours. In our online Places of a Lifetime you'll find both inspiration and practical travel tips. Enjoy!