L.A. isn’t No. 1 or even No. 10 among Conde Nast Traveler readers

What does Charleston, S.C., have over Los Angeles?

The Southern charmer for the first time was selected top dog for U.S. cities, according to results released Tuesday in Conde Nast Traveler’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards. Los Angeles didn’t make the cut on the list, which, after Charleston, ranks these cities as the 10 most popular: San Francisco, Santa Fe, Chicago, Honolulu, New York, Georgia’s Savannah, tiny Carmel, Seattle and Boston.

California hotels and resorts, however, did well among those same readers. The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast was named the top resort nationwide (CordeValle in San Martin came in fourth and the Lodge at Pebble Beach, sixth) and the Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley and the Peninsula Beverly Hills came in sixth and seventh for top U.S. hotels (the Elysian Hotel in Chicago ranked first).

Other travel-worthy results include:

--Florence, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; and Rome selected as top three European cities to visit;

--The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai in China was chosen best hotel/resort in the world followed by the Peninsula House in the Dominican Republic and the Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt; and

--Singapore Airlines was voted best foreign carrier and Virgin American best domestic carrier.

The survey polled almost 30,000 readers online via a questionnaire with a list of candidates by categories. Check out the scoring and the full list that ranks hotels and cities by regions of the world.