Bangkok: 2013 world's best city award winner and best city in Asia

For the fourth consecutive year Bangkok has won the World's Best City Award in 2013. Bangkok also received the Best City in Asia Award for the seventh time - from 2005 to 2013 (with the exception of 2009). I am currently in Bangkok, Thailand, as the country’s newspaper, The Nation, announces the awards, organized by the New York based Travel and Leisure magazine (The Nation, Thailand, July 20, 2013). Bangkok’s governor accepted the awards in New York.

The magazine ranks countries and presents a list of top-10 countries each year. Criteria include: tourist attractions, culture and customs, food hygiene and taste, shopping availability, hospitality, and value for money (monetary worthiness).

Bangkok received 90.4% of votes for the World’s Best City Award, followed by Istanbul, Turkey (89.9%) and Florence, Italy (89.8%). In fourth position was Cape Town in South Africa, followed by Kyoto in Japan (5^th), Rome in Italy (6^th), Charleston in South Carolina – America (7^th), Barcelona in Spain (8^th), Paris in France (9^th), and Chiang Mai in Thailand (10^th).

With Bangkok and Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) in the top 10 world’s best cities, the governor of Bangkok announced that more road and other signs would become bilingual, and public safety would be boosted.

Vietnam and Cambodia are also on my itinerary in July.

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