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TORONTO - San Francisco may not be the biggest US city or have the bright lights of New York, but it's once again captured the hearts of travellers, named the best US city in a survey by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.
Over 28,000 people voted in the annual Readers Choice Awards conducted by the magazine, which asked people to name their best cities, hotels, airlines, cruise lines and resorts.
"San Francisco, the No 1. US city, has also been No. 1 for 17 of the past 18 years," the magazine said in a statement.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, displaced San Francisco from the top of the list in 1992.
New York, which doesn't always make it into the list's top three, moved up one spot to be named second favorite US city after finishing third last year.
Charleston in South Carolina moved up from fifth spot to third in the rankings, a place it also held in 2005.
For the Americas overall, Vancouver, British Columbia, was bumped from the top spot it has held since 2005 and replaced by Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Vancouver had to settle for second place, with nearby Victoria, British Columbia, taking the third spot.
But while readers' preferences for American cities altered slightly in the past year, they remained firmly enamored with the same European and Pacific Rim cities.
For the third year in a row the European list was unchanged, led by Florence, with Rome second then Venice.
Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, took the first and second spots in the Australia/Pacific category, followed by Queenstown, New Zealand, for the third straight year.
Bangkok, Thailand, and Hong Kong were the top two Asian cities for the third year in a row, with Chiang Mai, Thailand, rounding out the top three.
Cape Town, South Africa, which has been the No. 1 choice for African/Middle East cities since 2005, is joined this year by Damascus, Syria, as No. 2 and Jerusalem, Israel, third.
The survey results can be found in the magazine's November issue which hits newsstands on October 25.
- REUTERS
