Our beloved Seattle just made it onto another top 10 city ranking thanks to Condé Nast Traveler’s readers.
When you love a city as much as we love Seattle, it’s normal to be torn between wanting to shout its praises and wanting to keep it to yourself so it doesn’t become overly crowded. The secret is out of the bag now, though: Condé Nast Traveler’s Reader’s Choice Awards just included Seattle in their top 10 city ranking. The results of their 2022 reader’s choice survey were divided into small and big cities, with 10 best cities named on each list.
Read on to see where Seattle ranked!
On the top 10 best big cities list, Seattle was ranked at number 10. Nearly a quarter of a million Condé Nast Traveler readers voted on this year’s survey.
By way of explaining Seattle’s draw, Condé Nast Traveler points out: “Perhaps no major city in the U.S. has a more close-knit relationship with the water than Seattle.” This is true; as any Seattleite can tell you, there’s nothing like opening your windows and catching a whiff of the fresh tang of Puget Sound.
Some of the water-based perks in Seattle that Condé Nast Traveler called out included the fresh seafood that you can get at both high-end restaurants and Pike Place Market, the seaplanes and ferries as regular modes of transportation, and even the fun of hot tub boats and free rowboat rentals.
As Seattleites know, in addition to our lakes and beaches we are also blessed with easy access to mountains and even a rainforest. With three national parks and 124 state parks to choose from in Washington, Seattle provides a convenient jumping-off base for outdoor adventures.
Of course, there’s also plenty of options for those of us who are more “indoorsy.” Condé Nast Traveler singled out the National Nordic Museum and Chihuly Garden and Glass as two cultural bright spots in our city.
The other nine cities on the best big cities list that were ranked above Seattle were Washington, D.C., New Orleans, San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Nashville, San Diego, Honolulu, and finally Chicago in the number-one spot. Our ranking on the list—included in the top 10 but not too high up—feels just right. As Seattleites like to say somewhat jokingly, “Don’t come here—it rains all the time!”