It's not surprising that the Mother City with its spectacular views, pristine beaches and beautiful people, was voted among the top 10 cities in the world to visit by the readers of the Travel + Leisure magazine and has consistently managed to retain it's position on the list over the past few years.
The awards are put together by the New York based publication and is based on a questionnaire completed by a segment of it's 4 million strong reader base between December 2012 and April 2013. Their readers were asked to rate each category (hotels, cities, islands, cruises and spas) by a list of characteristics on a scale of 1 to 5. A minimum number of responses was necessary for a candidate to be eligible for inclusion in the Worldʼs Best Awards listings.
Cape Town is the the only African city to make it onto the top 10 list and was voted best destination in Africa. The city is joined on the list by several South African establishments in the hotel category, with Singita in the Kruger National Park coming in at third place (up from seventh last year). The most notable jump in rank from last years awards, in the hotel category for a South African establishment, is the Cape Grace which comes in at 26th place, up from 44 the previous year.
Cape Town also boasts other hotels in the top spots of the Africa and the Middle East category. The Mount Nelson was ranked 6th, the Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa at 10th, the One&Only Cape Town at 11th and the Victoria & Alfred Hotel was named at 13th position.
World’s best cities in 2013
1. Bangkok, Thailand
2. Istanbul, Turkey
3. Florence, Italy
4. Cape Town, South Africa
5. Kyoto, Japan
6. Rome, Italy
7. Charleston, South Carolina
8. Barcelona, Spain
9. Paris, France
10. Chiang Mai, Thailand
The city's rank remains unchanged at 4th from the 2012 awards.
It's not only the readership of Leisure + Travel that share these sentiments but other well known and credible companies too.
TripAdvisor ranked Cape Town as the best destination in Africa and 16th best destination overall in their Traveler's Choice Awards for 2013.
The Telegraph surveyed their readership and, based on 17,000 submitted surveys, have voted Cape Town as their favourite worldwide city, which features prominently in the Telegraph Travel awards.
The accolades speak for themselves. Cape Town is and should be on all travelers' list of destinations to visit around the world!