2019
23
May
If you could visit any city in the world for 1 week, where would it be? Vancouver says...
23
May
Recently, someone in the YVR Deals Facebook Group posted the following question:
With over 300 replies so far, it's obvious that it's a fun question to think about. There's also a large variety of opinions - over 100 different cities were mentioned in those replies.
In some ways, a one week trip is kind of an awkward length. We all know the cities that make for a great weekend getaway, or even for up to 5 days. They are usually relatively short flights, almost always in North America, and they give us enough time to enjoy the destination.
However, a one week trip can sometimes feel a bit long for certain cities. Or we would rather use that one week to go somewhere a bit further, a bit more exotic. Somewhere outside of North America.
But one week can also feel too short for visiting cities that require a long travel duration to get there.
I was curious about which cities were mentioned the most often by Vancouver travellers as the one city they either a) loved visiting - or b) would love to visit, and entered the cities into a spreadsheet.
And then I added a bit more data to help analyze the results. This data included...
Travel Time
How long it would typically take you to get from Vancouver to the city in question. There is obviously a strong relationship between the distance of the city geographically, and how long it takes you to get there.
But since you can't get to every city with a non-stop flight, sometimes places that are relatively close to Vancouver geographically, can take as long to get to as a place that is much further away.
For example, Savannah, Georgia (SAV) in the United States typically takes nearly as long to get to as Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS), which is over twice as far away from Vancouver.
This is because to get to Savannah, you need to connect somewhere in the U.S. (or Toronto) - while to Amsterdam you can take a non-stop flight from YVR. For every hour you sit in a connecting airport, you could have been flying somewhere 1,000 km further away.
Typical Flight Price
I factored in the relative flight prices of a typical roundtrip flight.
Jetlag
I factored in the relative jetlag a person would get, based on the time zone difference. Obviously there's usually a relationship between jetlag and places that are a long ways away, but not always.
When you're flying south, such as to South America, you could be flying to Santiago, Chile - a place that is 1.5X further away than London, England - yet with only a 3 hour time difference from Vancouver.
The Results
The 10 cities that received the highest number of votes
1. Paris, France (CDG) - 26
2. Barcelona, Spain (BCN) - 26
3. Rome, Italy (FCO) - 25
4. Prague, Czech Republic (PRG) - 23
5. Florence / Tuscany, Italy (FLR) - 18
6. London, England (LHR or LGW) -16
7. Istanbul, Turkey (IST) - 14
8. Venice, Italy (VCE) - 13
9. Budapest, Hungary (BUD) - 11
10. New York City, United States (JFK or LGA or EWR) - 9
Not too many surprises here, they are all amazing cities.
Of these cities, Paris, London, and New York City have the fastest travel times, thanks to their non-stop flights.
Westjet and Air Canada (/ Air Transat?), if you're reading this, you may want to consider Barcelona, Rome, or Prague as your next non-stop destination from YVR.
From this point on I'll use the term 'Very Popular' to describe the cities that received the most votes (top 25%). 'Pretty Popular' is the next level below that.
10 popular cities with relatively short travel times
1. Paris, France (CDG) - very popular
2. London, England (LGW or LHR) - very popular
3. New York City, United States (JFK or EWR) - very popular
4. New Orleans, United States (MSY) - very popular
5. Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) - very popular
6. Tokyo, Japan (HND or NRT) - very popular
7. Mexico City, Mexico (MEX) - pretty popular
8. Dublin, Ireland (DUB) - pretty popular
9. Montreal, Canada (YUL) - pretty popular
10. Beijing, China (PEK) - pretty popular
With the exception of New Orleans - all of these destinations have non-stop flights from YVR, and the assumption is that you would be flying on a non-stop flight to consider it a relatively short travel time.
7 popular cities with relatively little jetlag
1. New York City, United States (JFK or LGA or EWR) - very popular
2. New Orleans, United States (MSY) - very popular
3. Cartagena, Colombia (CTG) - very popular
4. Havana, Cuba (HAV) - very popular
5. Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE) - very popular
6. Mexico City, Mexico (MEX) - pretty popular
7. Montreal, Canada (YUL) - pretty popular
Cartagena, Colombia is the one that stands out here for me. The one drawback of Cartagena though, is it takes a relatively long time to get to due to poor connections from YVR.
10 overall 'best' cities for a week long trip, after factoring in popularity, typical travel time, flight prices, and jetlag
1. New York City, United States (JFK or EWR)
2. New Orleans, United States (MSY)
3. Havana, Cuba (HAV)
4. Mexico City, Mexico (MEX)
5. Montreal, Canada (YUL)
6. Paris, France (CDG) - bit of jetlag
7. London, England (LHR or LGW) - bit of jetlag
8. Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) - bit of jetlag
9. Cartagena, Colombia (CTG) - long travel time
10. Barcelona, Spain (BCN)
We've seen all of the above cities mentioned already in individual categories, since that's what factors into our definition of the 'best city' overall.
This list might be more interesting...
10 next 'best' overall cities that weren't mentioned in any category yet
1. Bruges, Belgium (BRU)
2. Edinburgh, Scotland (EDI)
3. Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH)
4. Seoul, South Korea (ICN) - heavy jetlag
5. Berlin, Germany (TXL)
6. Vienna, Austria (VIE)
7. Bangkok, Thailand - heavy jetlag, long travel time
8. Lisbon, Portugal (LIS)
9. Taipei, Taiwan (TPE)
10. Kyoto, Japan (KIX)
Highest number of total votes, by country
Italy - 70
Spain - 36
France - 31
Czech Republic - 24
United States - 24
Japan - 21
England - 17
Turkey - 16
Portugal - 14
Croatia - 10
Ireland - 9
Hungary - 11
Netherlands - 9
Israel - 9
Greece - 8
Scotland - 8
Belgium - 7
Mexico - 7
Austria - 6
Colombia - 6
Germany - 6
Malta - 6
South Africa - 6
Italy dominates this list, which is no surprise, with 3 cities that people love (Rome, Florence/Tuscany, Venice).
Most countries can attribute their high ranking primarily to a single city. The exceptions...
United States: (New York City, New Orleans)
Japan: (Kyoto, Tokyo)
Croatia: (Dubrovnik, Split)
Ireland: (Dublin, Belfast)
Mexico: (Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, Tulum, Oaxaca)
Malta doesn't have a specific city that people mentioned, but it's such a small country, I made an exception.
The spreadsheet - data for all cities
If you would like to download the spreadsheet and play around with the data for all cities, you can find an Excel spreadsheet here. Or here is an online version using Google Sheets.
To begin with, the spreadsheet is sorted by the '# of Votes' column.
Use the 4 columns at the end to sort the data in the way that you want.
Flight Price - points
(sort by this column to see the cities with the lowest typical flight prices)
Travel Time - points
(sort by this column to see the cities with the lowest typical travel time)
etc, etc.
Things are color coded like this:
If there are any other cities you feel deserve consideration, you can comment below or give me a shout.
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6 Responses to "If you could visit any city in the world for 1 week, where would it be? Vancouver says..."
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Your statistical report was quick and detailed, a governmental with such information would take months and millions of dollars with credible, highly educated individuals with no practical experience. Please, if asked, do not take on any work for the government as it would surely ruin you!
Haha thanks RK, I can't say I have any plans to leave the private sector. :)
Anytime we look at where our next vacation we look at and review your articles and suggestions. You have not failed us at all..
really enjoyed reviewing all the statistical work you did. We are fortunate that we have been able to travel. Still on my bucket list is a cycling trip from Amsterdam to the Black Sea. Few hills incredible sites and as many weeks as it takes.
Thanks all the information you provide it's always valuable and appreciated.
Thanks
Thanks Maureen, I really appreciate that and I'm glad the info has helped! That sounds like a great cycling trip. Especially the part about having few hills :)
Great info! I'm just wondering why Canada didn't show up in the "Highest number of total votes, by country" list? It had to have had some votes for Montreal to show up in two lists, and rank 5th in one of them. Just curious. Thanks for doing this, it's very revealing.
Hi Jan,
Canada actually only received 4 votes overall. Montreal did well with relatively few votes because it earned points for just squeaking into the second tier of overall votes, but it also earned the maximum number of points for the 'time it takes to get there', 'typical flight price', and 'jetlag'.
Canada likely would have performed better if this question were asked to other cities in Canada - because then Vancouver would likely receive some votes.
But I think it's also just natural to think of places outside of your own country when someone asks 'If you could go anywhere in the world...'. I don't think it's really a slight against our great country.