NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans has been named the second favorite city in America in Travel + Leisure’s 2017 survey of locals about their home towns.
Every year in the magazine’s annual America's Favorite Places survey, Travel + Leisure readers dish about their hometowns — the place they grew up or have lived in and know better than anywhere else on Earth.
Unlike Travel + Leisure’s World's Best Awards (where New Orleans was named fourth in America), which encourages readers to weigh in on travel experiences across the globe, the America's Favorite Places survey is a way for locals to share what their hometowns do best. Readers ranked their hometowns and cities across a range of categories, from the friendliness of the locals to the quality of the pizza.
To find out which hometown was most loved overall, a composite score of all the individual categories was calculated, from the top city for things to see and to do, to the one with the most exciting places to eat and drink.
One Travel + Leisure survey respondent reports, “There is no other city like New Orleans. So much history. A beautiful city. The people know how to make visitors feel welcomed.”
Another described its color, incredible food and famous festivals.
This year, New Orleans took the top spot for bachelor or bachelorette parties, festivals, and dining and drinking.
Travel + Leisure’s Top 20 Favorite Cities in America are:
1 – Norfolk, Virginia
2 – New Orleans, Louisiana
3 – Buffalo, New York
4 – Santa Fe, New Mexico
5 – San Francisco, California
6 – Chicago, Illinois
7 – Indianapolis, Indiana
8 – Nashville, Tennessee
9 – Greenville, South Carolina
10 – Rochester, New York
11 – New York City, New York
12 – Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Minnesota
13 – Louisville, Kentucky
14 – Scottsdale, Arizona
15 – San Diego, California
16 – Washington, DC
17 – Portland, Oregon
18 – Fort Worth, Texas
19 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
20 – Cleveland, Ohio
