I created this rating system to avoid the problems and associataions that come with known ones like 1-10 and A-F. These rankings suffer from grade inflation -- numbers themselves have shifted in meaning, a 5/10 is below average, a 7 is just okay. Plus, things like cities deserve to be graded differently than multiple choice assessments. If a city does, say, 58% of things right, it shouldn't deserve a "failing" grade. And, of course, every city is different, and a less functional city might leave a better impression.
The list below only consists of "decently large" cities that I've been to for "enough" time (it's hard to get down to a science). For some other cities I've been to but that I can't be bothered to write a full review on, have a look at these pages:
The number (and the positive or negative sign before it) is the basis of my rating. It's more emotional than objective. The number is on a scale of -3 to +4 and denotes how I feel when I go there, taking into account culture, history, climate, geography, people, safety, mobility, and in general, how interesting and dynamic the city is.
To give a sense of the numbers: +4 is a city that uplifts you just by being there. +2 is a city with personality that's nice to be in. 0 is a city that leaves you neither invigorated nor drained. -2 is a city that might have redeeming qualities, but you realize pretty quickly that you want to escape. -3 is reserved for Dubai.
After the number I add plus or minus signs as necessary if I feel that the facts of a city make it a better or worse place to live than my vibe meter suggests. This intentionally avoids putting ratings on a linear scale. A +2+ and a +4- are not to be compared overall, but by each component separately.
Been: Once, 2 days, 2023
Amsterdam had quite a reputation to live up to when I got there. It's consistently praised as a bike/urbanist heaven, especially in my social circles. My verdict: mostly true. Extremely bikeable, though the culture is more impressive to me, as well as how well the bike infrastructure covers the most distant of the hinterlands. Trams are great too: fast, good coverage, pretty reliable, and all despite quite a lot of single-tracking.
My main issues with Amsterdam's streets are to do with the pedestrian experience. First, the plazas around Centraal Station are an expanse of concrete and tram tracks that's actually pretty unfriendly for the millions of tourists trying to walk between the station and the city at any given moment. Second, many of the sidewalks, especially those beside the canals, are far too narrow for said tourists -- often just about a meter wide. Walking by the canals is beautiful, but a bit of a pain in the peak of summer (when I went), because bikes and cars take up the road while you're stuck behind 100 tourists stopping to take pictures as they try not to trip over a bike someone locked to a tree.
In terms of big-picture urban planning, Amsterdam is quite monocentric: almost all the transit leads to Centraal, and most of the commercial activity seems to be in Binnenstad, the neighborhood immediately to the south. Tourists generally spend most of their time here or around the Vondelpark and museums. It's too bad because the residential areas are, from an objective standpoint, some of the best in the world: served very well by transit, great density, and rarely far from a handful of places to eat. The only problem is that they can get a bit boring, especially the more apartment-block-dominated neighborhoods further out, which are mostly mass-planned on grids without any defining features whatsoever.
Back to the plus side, Amsterdam is wonderfully integrated into the NS regional rail network, which runs clockface-scheduled intercity and commuter trains. All transit in the country uses the same fare system, which is amazing, although it's a little expensive. Not too much to say on the metro other than it works. Amsterdam has its problems, and is definitely a bit overglazed in the urbanism community -- if this review sounds negative, it's only in opposition to how perfect people like Not Just Bikes make it out to be. But it's very pretty, very well planned, and from what I could tell, an excellent place to live.
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux
Been: Many times, ~1 month total
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux
Been: Many times, ~4 months total
this place sux
Home (August 2025-present)
Moving here from New York for college, probably the most sudden and consequential change in my entire life, was shockingly easy in hindsight, and continues to teach me about what I value in a city.
Home (2007-2025)
Hey, right under Montréal, how poetic. This is going to be an incredibly difficult city to judge properly and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do it well.
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux
Been: Once, 2 days, 2024
I never really bonded with Tokyo or Osaka, and Sapporo showed me why. I don't particularly like the Japanese city geography -- it's very flat -- or the look of the typical Japanese apartment building that lines the streets of all three aforementioned cities. Sapporo is all of this, and I found it kind of depressed (Hokkaido has always been this way), albeit in a very quaint Japanese way. On the plus side, the metro is really fun, the city is generally walkable, the food is amazing, and nature is very close by. I recommend visiting the overpass at Naebo station at sunset -- the view of the tracks, the city, and the mountains is beautiful.
this place sux
this place sux
Been: Once, 2 days, 2024
Taipei feels homey, which I can pin to a few factors. Markets, especially night markets, are a large part of the city's commercial activity and identity, which is great. The dirty safety of the urban core and dense satellite towns is delightful too: although most of the city at street level is pretty dilapidated, it's definitely built for the people it houses. Most sidewalks are covered either by trees or by what my New York brain really wants to call reverse setbacks, all of which is great for the extremely hot and often rainy summer weather. Abundant neighborhood parks add to this. Oh my goodness the parks! Green space is one of my favorite things about this city. Taipei respects its natural geography with an excellent mix of landscaped and wild parkland that, if you're lucky, might slide right up next to a neighborhood without making you cross an 8-lane road. The mountains right around the city are beautiful, and they house incredible little villages like Shifen just over an hour from Taipei Station by train.
Quite commonly for East Asian cities, navigating Taipei on foot or by bike is hard. It's too bad when there's so much to see. But it's doable -- light cycles are alright (plus the walk signals are adorable) and the widest boulevards are just as fat as your average Beijing thoroughfare. The hardest parts are finding the crosswalks and not getting killed by a scooter. I appreciate how socially acceptable it is to jaywalk, at least compared to Japan.
The transit here is honestly just okay. The bus network is great and fast, but individual routes can be infrequent and the vehicles are kinda old. The MRT is reliable, but the interiors of the trains are really quite uncomfortable and unwelcoming. The countdown clocks tell you when the train is coming to the nearest 5 seconds, but it's not nearly accurate enough to be useful. Some more notes I took that don't pair nicely with another opposing note: wayfinding is great, there are some cross-platform transfers, the Wenhu (Brown) line is cool but kind of awful if you want to sit down or walk down the train, and the entire system's quite cheap and easy to pay for.
I enjoyed my time in Taipei and I'd absolutely go back because there's so much I missed. This was partially my fault; I followed my parents around for about half a day, and in five hours they checked off the Palace Museum and a tea house.
Been: Once, 6 days, 2024
What do tourists go to see in Tokyo?
this place sux
this place sux
this place sux