Kyoto Voted "Best Big City in the World"

Above, the stage of Kiyomizu-dera. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

We must be getting close to the end of the year (in the case of 2020, that's a very good thing) and that means the Condé Nast Reader's Choice Awards results are starting to be released.

During the past several years, Tokyo, Japan had been named the "Best Big City in the World" (even though we can't go there right now). This year, Kyoto replaced Tokyo at the top spot.

According to Japan Today:

TOKYO - There are plenty of exceptional places to travel in the world, but we’d like to think that Japan is one of the best. Beautiful landscapes, delicious food, friendly people, extensive history, and quirky culture make Japan an ideal travel destination not only for us, but for people across the world. In fact, Japanese cities have been voted as the world’s Best Big Cities by readers of the travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler for the past five years.

This year, as part of Condé Nast’s Readers’ Choice Awards, Kyoto was chosen as the Best Big City in the World, replacing Tokyo, which had claimed the top spot for the last four years. Tokyo still remains a top choice, though it dropped to number six, beaten out by Lyon, Singapore, Sydney and Vienna.

But Kyoto has also been a popular travel destination for almost a decade. It was consistently ranked as the most or one of the most popular cities in Asia for almost 10 years, and in 2015, finally broke the top 10 in the world. After that it was quickly recognized as one of the best of the best, since it climbed to second place the next year, and since then it has been hovering just behind Tokyo in popularity among Condé Nast readers, claiming the second or third spot for the last four years, until finally reaching number one.

To read more, go here.