TripAdvisor travelers choose Istanbul as the world’s best city

Istanbul. Turkey, beat out Rome and London as the world’s top city in TripAdvisor’s 2014 Travelers’ Choice Destinations released this week. The city jumped to the top spot despite a corruption scandal surrounding the country’s prime minister and high-profile street protests last year.

In the awards released Tuesday, several Asian cities made a leap into the top 10. New York City, which was chosen the No. 1 U.S. destination, fell to No. 12 on the international list.

TripAdvisor users ranked these international cities as best in the world:

2. Rome
3. London
4. Beijing
5. Prague, Czech Republic
6. Marrakech, Morocco
7. Paris
8. Hanoi
9. Siem Reap, Cambodia (gateway to Angkor Wat temple)
10. Shanghai

In U.S. destinations, three California cities made it into the top 10, and Los Angeles jumped two places over last year to come in at No. 6.

After New York City, top cities in the country were ranked as:

2. Chicago
3. San Francisco
4. Las Vegas
5. New Orleans
6. Los Angeles
7. San Diego
8. Seattle
9 Washington
10. Orlando, Fla.

The lists were compiled by applying an algorithm to the millions of online reviews gathered over a 12-month period.

TripAdvisor also polled more than 3,000 users on where they wanted to visit this year. Europe was the top choice (32%) followed by the Caribbean (18%) and North America (10%). The poll was conducted online from Friday through Monday.

Mary.Forgione@latimes.com
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