Edinburgh is the UK’s favourite city!

IMG_1447Edinburgh has been voted favourite UK city in the prestigious Conde Nast Readers’ Travel Awards 2010.

Edinburgh scooped the top spot with high scores across the board particularly for aesthetics/architecture (93.72) and user-friendliness (90.46).

Edinburgh came second in the same awards in 2009 with a total score of 90.88 and this year took the top spot with a total of 91.76. Readers were asked to score each city out of a maximum of 100 according to criteria such as service, culture and value for money.

No stranger to accolades, Scotland’s Inspiring Capital was voted as one of the world’s top ten cities by travel magazine Wanderlust in 2008 as well as voted as the UK’s favourite city break destination by readers of Guardian/Observer for 10 years in a row.

Kenneth Wardrop, Chief Executive of Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance, (DEMA), the city’s promotion body said:-“Not only has Edinburgh been highly commended by the Readers Travel Awards as a great place to visit, but we were recently awarded the second spot in Britain’s best university cities by MSN Travel and the Best small city of the future for inward investment by Financial Times fDi magazine. ”

Council Leader, Councillor Jenny Dawe, added: “This result is great news for the city and confirms what we all know: Edinburgh is a great place in which to visit, invest, live, work and study.”

“The city truly has the best of everything; historic buildings and great atmosphere, a vibrant leisure and retail offering, abundant green space, outstanding schools and universities – the list goes on. Little wonder, then, that people continue to think of Edinburgh as a must-visit location.”

DEMA’s current marketing campaign, This is My Edinburgh, runs until 31st September. Featuring a mix of real-life Edinburgh residents – from a B-boy dancer, to a Warhol-inspired model – the This Is My Edinburgh campaign focuses on the contemporary and creative sides of Scotland’s majestic capital.