After being crowned as the third best city in the world, then soon after being slighted with the title of seventh best big city in the U.S., you could say our ego was a little bruised. But now, we’re on top for a brand new ranking of the most interesting places in the world, and yes, NYC is number one!
The Wikipedia study by Exploreworldwide raked through millions of entries to uncover the most interesting places in the world. More specifically, data experts sorted through 1.2 million articles on Wikipedia coded with ‘primary location’ (a tag used on Wikipedia articles for when it’s about something that belongs to or happened in a certain place).
Research led to some interesting results, ranging from the northernmost settlement, Longyearbyen, where there’s a law banning cats, to the current title holder for best city in the world, London.
But in the end there had to be one winner, and that of course was New York City. With an overall interest score of 5,431, New York City beat out the second most interesting city, London, by just 102 points.
Interestingly enough, New York City’s high ranking can be accredited to one unique neighborhood specifically. That neighborhood is none other than Gramercy Park.
The glitzy area between 14th and 23rd streets bound by Park Avenue South and Third Avenue is associated with tons of notable figures from Julia Roberts to Oscar Wilde, has an exclusive park and a “well-documented origin story.” All aforementioned factors made Gramercy Park a main location for 2,700 Wikipedia articles.
The top 10 most interesting places in the world
- New York – 5,431
- London – 5,329
- Tokyo – 1,526
- Washington D.C. – 1,495
- Toronto – 1,372
- Dhaka – 1,348
- Hong Kong – 1,332
- Taipei – 1,294
- Singapore – 1,196
- Longyearbyen – 1,183
Find the full ranking here.