In the 2008 “Best Cities in America to Have a Baby” survey of the Fit Pregnancy magazine, Portland (Oregon) moves back on the top spot, after missing one year  from the top 3. It is followed by the always present San Francisco and Minneapolis. The winner of last year’s survey, Boston (Massachusetts), moves on the sixth place.

The survey looked at different criteria, such as doctors, hospitals, doulas, midwives, breastfeeding success rates, birth and health risk, stroller-friendly trails and parks, and affordability. So if you want to start a family or simply intend to have another child, take a look at the rankings below. Continue reading »

Repeating the 2006 experiment for Most Wired Cities in North America, Forbes Magazine ranked again 30 American cities, based on the broadband adoption (the percentage of home Internet users with high-speed connections), access options (the number of companies providing high-speed Internet access) and Wi-Fi (public wireless Internet hot spots per capita). Atlanta (Georgia) was awarded again the top spot, followed this time by Seattle (Washington) - on the third place two years ago - and Raleigh (North Carolina).

Orlando (Florida), the surprising second place in the last survey, moved on a tie for the fifth place with Baltimore (Maryland). Continue reading »

If you were wondering where you can find the Most Attractive People in America, the 2008 America’s Favorite Cities survey, organized by Travel+Leisure Magazine and CNN Headline News, where more than 125,000 travelers voted for, may have an answer for you: in Miami! But don’t hesitate to check out San Diego and Austin too, as well as other American cities than follow closely.

These rankings came from the People-Attractive category, as voted by both visitors and residents. Rankings in other specific categories, such as Nightlife, Culture or Quality of Life, will continue to be presented separately. Continue reading »

More than 125,000 people (visitors and residents) voted for the 2008 America’s Favorite Cities survey, organized by Travel+Leisure Magazine and CNN Headline News. They asked their subscribers to rank the top US cities below in several categories, based on food and shopping, people, culture, nightlife, and other criteria. After four weeks, eliminatory rounds declared Boston as overall winner, which trounced San Francisco to win the 2008 title.

Rankings in specific categories, such as People, Type of Trip, Nightlife, Culture, Shopping, Food/Dining, Quality of Life & Overall Visitor Experience, Holiday Travel, will be separately presented. Continue reading »

The 2008 World’s Best Award of Travel+Leisure Magazine for World’s Best City went to Bangkok, followed by Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Cape Town (South Africa).

A questionnaire was made available online to subscribers. Respondents were required to rate hotels, islands, airlines, destination spas, and rental-car agencies. In another category, they were required to rate cities, cruise lines, tour operators and safari outfitters. Finally, a third category concerned the hotel spas. The scores were indexed averages of responses concerning applicable characteristics. Continue reading »