San Francisco Voted #1 U.S. City to Visit

  • March 27, 2010
San Francisco Voted #1 U.S. City to Visit
This year marks the 17th consecutive time that San Francisco has won this category in the magazine's annual survey, a first-time accomplishment for any destination or property. San Francisco was followed by Charleston, SC (#2) and Santa Fe, NM (#3).

San Francisco, with a total of 84.8, scored higher than Bangkok (82.2), Hong Kong (81.3), Florence (84.6), Buenos Aires (81.9) and Vancouver (82.3). The only city that scored higher than San Francisco was Sydney, Australia, with 86.9. One of the factors contributing to San Francisco's ranking was its worldwide high restaurant score.

The San Francisco-area based airline, Virgin America, also earned top honors, coming in as the #1 U.S. Domestic Airline for the second year in a row.

"The big news is that, undaunted by tough times, our readers are still out there, discovering the coolest experiences and reaffirming an enduring passion for travel," said Condé Nast Traveler Editor in Chief Klara Glowczewska. "It's clear that our readers are as devoted to the worldwide diversity of travel as ever."

"San Francisco continues to be recognized for its scenic beauty, diverse neighborhoods, restaurants and cultural attractions by travelers worldwide," said San Francisco Convention & Visitor Bureau President and CEO Joe D’Alessandro. "We are grateful to the readers who took the time to participate in the Condé Nast Traveler 2009 Readers Choice Survey and for helping make San Francisco the #1 city for another consecutive year."

Methodology
Every year since 1988, a select sample of Condé Nast Traveler readers have taken the Readers' Choice Survey. In 2009, the questionnaire was available to all readers through a secure Web site. The final tabulations of 25,008 responses were done by Mediamark Research, Inc., of New York City. Poll categories (Cities, Hotels, etc.), and the criteria for each appear at the bottom of the first page in every category. Questionnaires contained lists of candidates (individual cities, hotels, etc.), and write-ins were allowed. Only candidates that received a required minimum number of responses were deemed eligible for an award. Each candidate was rated, by various criterion, on a five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, poor. Criterion scores, which represent the percentage of respondents rating a candidate excellent or very good, were averaged to determine the final score—e.g., in the category of Islands, Maui's 90.1 is the average of its scores for Activities, Atmosphere/Ambience, Beaches, Friendliness, Lodging, Restaurants, and Scenery.

More information: San Francisco's best luxury and boutique hotels