A trip to India wouldn’t be complete without experiencing the grandeur of Old City, a near cinematic journey through the colors of the vast City Palace complex, the pink-hued Palace of Winds, and the gigantically geometric sculptural instruments of Jantar Mantar. These were built by King Sawai Jai Singh II in 1734, and today are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Alongside the city’s rich and deep history, you should also stop by the Jewelry District, including its stunning Gem Place (known to have been frequented by Princess Diana and Elizabeth Taylor both), and pick up a talisman of your own.
For pure, unadulterated drama and craggy romance, Edinburgh and its seaside settlement, Leith, make a strong case for being the most beautiful city in the UK. Home to the world’s largest annual arts festival, the city houses a robust collection of gorgeous Victorian streets (such as the stately Royal Mile), charming pubs and markets, and high-flying architecture, not least iconic Edinburgh Castle. Leith, the city’s port, has become the area’s trendiest new neighborhood. Once a down-at-heel area made famous by the film Trainspotting, it has been transformed in recent years into an exciting hub of bars, Michelin-starred restaurants, galleries, and performance spaces.
Bruges, Belgium –
This former seaport in Western Flanders remains a waterborne city to this day, despite the shifting of the coast; a network of charming canals link this small polis of beautiful belfries, tottering houses, and bucolic squares to the vast waters of the North Sea. From the Groenerei (or ‘green canal’), with romantic 17th century manses, trees, and fronds lining its banks, to the gilded glamor of The Burg—the city’s Baroque central square, where the commercial and civic heart of the city still beats—this city paints a vivid tapestry. Magnificent architecture and exceptional people watching is best enjoyed from Bruges’ myriad street-side cafes, a not inappropriate place to partake in Belgium’s obsession with trappist, or monk-brewed, beer.
Cape Town, South Africa –
For those who live in London and New York, it is easy to become accustomed to the idea of a ‘city’ as a place of sprawling development, where nature can seem very far away. Cape Town tells a different story: shadowed by the magnificent beauty of Table Mountain and its penguin-thronged beaches, the great outdoors are a vital part of daily life in this buzzing, energetic city. From the green lungs of the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens to the electrifying nightlife along the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town is one of the most dramatic and exciting urban locations in the world. And in 2014, it was tapped as a World Design Capital, demonstrating its conscientious blend of natural beauty and human creativity.
Charleston, South Carolina –
Poised on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina, Charleston possesses a near magnetic allure for its residents and the myriad visitors who make their way to this dazzling, colonial city each year. Despite the boulevards of The Battery (a street lined with grandly charming houses) and the Bermudian limestone and cobbles of Chalmers Street, this city—founded way back in 1670—is no ossified relic. Rather, it is home to a glamorous and burgeoning creative set who have fueled its proliferation of buzzy bars, award-winning, nouveau southern cuisine, world-class distilleries, and stylish hotels.
St. Petersburg, Russia –
Before there was St. Petersburg—Russia’s own “Paris of the East”—there was an area of uninhabited swampland. From these humble foundations, Peter the Great, tsar until 1728, raised a Russian city to rival the Baroque and Renaissance fortresses of Europe’s West, drawing heavily on the regality of Paris. It is remarkable for its many discreet islands, for the pulsing artery of Nevsky Prospekt, and for the gilded, imperial towers of the Hermitage, a museum containing so many works of art you could spend a life walking its halls and still never glimpse all of them.
Florence, Italy –
While Rome may get the credit for being Italy’s most historic city, Florence holds the flame for sheer, unadulterated Italian beauty. A walk down any cobblestone street will reveal astonishing piazzas and cathedrals—and the skyline dominating the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is a cannot-miss. Also a must-see? The museums and galleries packed to the rafters with some of the world’s most exquisite, and enduring, art; not least Michelangelo’s iconic David, poised beneath a specially designed portal to the heavens themselves.