City Rankings

We travel a lot. Kind of on the lookout for great places to live more permanently someday. Here we write down some of our thoughts on those places.

These are ranked roughly from favorite to least.

Currently living in Denver, CO.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands (June 2025, earlier)

This city really charmed us on our recent stay. We had both been before, but this time we spent our first week outside the central tourist district, in Amsterdam Zuid (Amsterdam South), south of Vondelpark.

This area is filled with new high rises, and features a major transit station that provides easy access to the rest of the city. In nearby directions are higher-income neighborhoods. Everything is walkable, everything is bikable, there is greenspace everywhere.

We spent another week in Amsterdam-Noord (Amsterdam North), staying in a hotel next to the futuristic Eye Filmmuseum. A free, frequent ferry crosses the IJ River. This part of the town is largely new, featuring many high-rise apartment buildings. More townhouses appear as we ventured deeper into the residential areas further north.

Restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores are conveniently integrated into the living areas.

The public transit is the best we have experienced, surely rivaled only by some in East Asia. There are trams, subways, busses, and trains, and they are extensive, and they can all be accessed by tapping just your credit card. It is so easy.

Cars are not prominent here; bikes are everywhere. Most roads have separated pedestrian, bike, and car lanes. It is amazing, but the bike traffic patterns produce their own kind of confusion and require perhaps even more awareness from pedestrian than car traffic.

The architecture is surprisingly modern and bold compared to other European cities we've visited, with no two buildings looking alike.

They have unusual elevator systems. Both hotels we stayed in required us to tap our room card on a tablet. The tablet would then indicate which elevator would open for us and take us directly to our floor. There were no buttons inside the elevators.

The food was middling: nothing impressed us tremendously, but nothing disappointed. We did star a few places that were good enough to recommend. They love french fries here and many places serve it as a matter of course, which I am ok with.

The weather is mediocre. We were there in June, which I take is a good season. It was hot and humid.

Weather: 4/10
Walkability: 8/10
Public transit: 9/10
Green space: 8/10
Food: 6/10
Culture and activites: 7/10
Safety and cleanliness: 8/10
Affordability: 4/10
Overall: 8/10

Population (metro region): 2.4M

Suburb: Haarlem

Similar in most respects to Amsterdam, except much smaller.

There is a brewery here we like called Uiltje Brewery. And their great grahpic design is cute. We didn't actually drink at their taproom, but we did try their beers elsewhere.

Berkeley, CA, Jan 2025

Cool and chill at the same time. We love the uphills and downhills. It's small and walkable to trails, downtown Berkeley and the campus.

New York City, NY, Jun 2024

The most diverse city in the world. Everything is here.

Borough: Manhattan

So much energy in the city. People comfortably express themselves. Aimee loves it immediately.

Borough: Brooklyn

Another city within a city! If we moved here we would probably choose Brooklyn over Manhattan.

Prospect Park is far more relaxed than Manhattan's Central Park, and even the downtown area feels less intense. We found it comfortable to walk around without constantly getting in other people's way.

We particularly enjoyed dinner at French Louie. It's a cozy restaurant with a great neighborhood vibe, and the food was delicious – surprisingly more affordable than any decent meal we had in Cherry Creek, Denver. The beer and food from TALEA Beer were good as well.

Aimee felt that people here are unpretentious and friendlier than those on the West Coast.

And of course we had to have some authentic Chinese hot pot when we were in NYC.

However, we haven't found any decent Mission-style burritos in town.

San Francisco, CA, various

Brian lived here for a long time. Hard to love for visitors. Best part is access to culture, surrounding bay area, mountains, public transit.

San Diego, CA, Nov 2022 - Jan 2023

Too much to appreciate about. We visited several coastal suburbs: La Jolla, Solana, Oceanside. Del Mar was our favorite.

City is a planning disaster: poor waterfront usage, airport over Little Italy, awful city park that is mostly an obstacle to drive around.

We had the best burritos here.

Madrid, Spain, March-April 2024, Sept. 2023

We liked Madrid more than Barcelona. More authentic, less touristy. Weather was not as good though.

We stayed in La Latina, an old winding neighborhood, and in Salamanca a new rich neighborhood, and liked both.

La Latina is very dense, and every Sunday there is a huge open-air antiques market, extremely dense.

Park Retiro, near Salamanca is one of our favorite urban parks.

Portland, OR, Oct 2024

Downtown Portland is lovely designed. Walk into Washington Park, then into the mountains. Great food and beer. Some pleasantly yup neighborhoods.

Milan, Italy, May 2024

Brian visited Milan for work. Favorite Italian city. Humid. Will visit again.

Barcelona, Spain, March 2024, 2019

Good weather, orderly street layout. La Sagrada Familia was a tourist attraction worth seeing.

Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, various

Aimee lived here 10 years. Brian a few months.

It's huge, bigger than most US cities.

West Lake, Longjing Mountains in middle of city. Dragon Well villiage produces top tier green tea. Ancient historical neighborhoods. Train access to Beijing and Shanghai. Great subways, green space.

Denver, CO, Jul 13 - Nov 2021; Apr 2023 ~ Now

The summer weather was great.

Baker has the most unruly growing plants.

Cheery Creek is great (update 2025 - we have lived in Cherry Creek for two years and it is pleasant and clean but artificial - compares negatively to somewhere like Berkeley. No culture.)

City Park farmers' market is the best in town.

Grand Rapids, MI, Jun 2021

We couldn't find many Airbnb options in this city. The only two locations were managed by one organization. We chose the uptown location.

It was the perfect location for us. There was a fine grocery store with nice ham, cheese, wine and enough fresh vegetables for cooking. Turning the corner, there was a charming bakery and a cool coffee shop sitting next to each other. We had breakfast at the outdoor table.

It was walkable even out of this neighborhood. We walked to the closest brewery, then farther, to the xx, yy, zz breweries.

We did a picnic there too. With our proud brie sandwiches.

It was humid though. There were bugs in the air when we walked in a park.

Santa Barbara, CA, Dec 24-26, 2021

The buildings were beautiful. So close to mountains and the ocean. We walked along the beach, smoothly passed into mountains and neighborhoods there, and then resulted into downtown.

Pretty walkable. The weather is great.

Except for orange and lemon trees everywhere, there are some banana trees and avocado trees.

The restaurant we went to was super. The local wine we chose was delicious, probably the best pinot noir we ever had. There are more great restaurants to try.

State Street is gorgeous. It reminds me of Boulder's Perl street.

Wine tasting rooms everywhere. Expensive.

The Funk Zone was not funky.

Boulder, CO, Sep 2021

We visited Boulder many times when we were in Denver and Fort Collins. Boulder is small but dense. It's a college town. Downtown Perl street is pleasant and has modern brands. The dining vibe is inviting. There are good options for fine dining. However, the regular food scene isn't special.

The downtown area isn't far away from mountains. When we stayed there, we could walk to parks and mountains and do a small hike, then come back for lunch. Very walkable.

Lisbon, Portugal (June 2025)

Lisbon has geographic similarities to San Francisco: built on hills near the ocean, more-or-less Mediteranean climate. It has a bridge that is nearly identical to the Golden Gate Bridge, designed by the same designer.

The core city neighborhoods like Alfama and Bairro Alto are similar to other old world European cities, especially those in Spain and Italy; with ancient narrow winding alleys that intrigue and reward exploration: any time you can get just a few blocks off the tourist path is immediately evocative. The biggest aspects that elevate Lisbon above similar cities are the pervasive characteristic tilework on buildings and the hilly verticality of the city.

It is both extremely walkable and barely walkable, with tiny inconsistently-sized sidewalks clinging onto the historic alleyways, and tourists scrambling on and off, around the cars and mopeds, and everybody generally getting in everybody else's way. The city seems locked into its iconic cobblestones that are at once charming, but also not good for walking nor driving: they are undulating from ages of shifting ground, and slippery smooth from erosion.

It is definitively a tourist city, at least the central part of the city that most would identify as characteristicly Lisbon. But the character of the city changes as you leave the tourist districts: the old world charm dissipates, but the streets get wider, the buildings newer and slightly cleaner.

There is strikingly little green space. The main park, Park Eduardo VII, was not well maintained. The area around the park was were we stayed for half of our trip. It is more modern than the old city and we immediately felt more comfortable there.

Most of the food we had was good, unlike similer meditteranean cities e.g. Barcelona and Milan.

Most public spaces smelled like urine and decaying human filth.

Weather: 7/10. We were there in June, a good season. Humidity was 60%, 70-90 F, but breezy and cool in the shade or cloud cover.
Walkability: 5/10. Walking is the best way to get around, but the street conditions make it unpleasant.
Public transit: 3. There are some trams but we didn't use them.
Green space: 2. There are some trees. There are a few parks but they are poorly maintained.
Food: 8/10. Many options from diverse cultures and generally yummy!
Culture and activites: 4/10. The hilly old world unplanned city design and the pervasive Moorish tilework are the highlights. I'm not sure how much there is to actually do here besides hang out and party.
Safety and cleanliness: 4/10. Public spaces smell like urine. Most spaces are probably not particularly dangerous, but supposedly pickpocketing is a problem.
Affordability: 8/10. Ubers were cheap, food was cheap. This is the most attractive aspect.
Overall: 5/10. It was a bit disappointing.

Population (metro region): 3M

Fort Collins, CO, Mar 2022 - Mar 2023

College town.

We lived here for a year. It is lovely but there's not a lot to do, and access to Denver by bus is a little too inconvenient.

Provo, UT, Feb 20 - Jul? 2020

Where Cocoverse was created. We start picnic at a park within walking distance. We drew the cocoverse city planning.

Coconut song and adventure time. Spent some time at the campus. Beautiful campus.

Church reconstructed apartments.

Dragon's Milk.

Cincinnati, OH, Mar 3 - Jul 11, 2021, various.

Not walkable. Driving is crazy and tense. Street parking is normal.

To get some exercise, we drove to the closest park (name?) and walked there. A lot of blossoms in spring.

Brian grew up here, family and friends are here.

Solana Beach, CA, Jan 2023

Pleasant area, but small. Train access to San Diego, but local access is mostly by car, with some walkabality.

We walked to Del Mar and back, and liked Del Mar a lot.

Pacific Grove / Monterey, CA, Dec 30, 2021 - Jan 27, 2022

We lived in an Airbnb house one block away from the ocean. There were one coffee shop and one grocery store within walking distance, and some restaurants on the walk.

There were way too many golf courses for such a small neighborhood. You just walk into a golf course easily without a clue, and then another. Oftentimes, we saw deers chilling on golf courses, and sometimes on trails.

The weather was amazingly good. The daily AQI was around 15-35. Humidity was high, 70-90%, though. But it doesn't matter that much in winter. Summer could be uncomfortable.

There were no insects here. We left our backdoor open all day sometimes, there weren't any flies, bugs, or other insects. There were some ants crawling. But, that's all.

We loved sitting at home and listening to the ocean every day.

In the afternoons, when we visited the beach, we saw beach squirrels, which look similar to regular squirrels, they ran like rats instead of jumping like "real" squirrels. They seemed to live under rocks. We don't know, though. When waves came up over and over, bringing food from the ocean, petite birds jumped and ran, chasing the waves and their food. Anemones on the shore looked like worms, gross. They stuck on the rocks, and they reacted when you touched them. They look much better under the water, with their mouths or faces open like sunflowers.

There was a wildfire in Big Sur during our stay: Fire Along California’s Big Sur Shuts Part of Scenic Highway 1.

Luckily the fire was under control and we were not affected.

On the day of leaving, we Ubered to pick up our car. Our Uber driver was chatty. She asked about our experience in Pacific Grove and introduced us even more about it. She reversed our question of "when is the tourist season" to "when isn't the tourist season", and said we were here right in the off-season, for which we felt pretty lucky.

She said the city is always fully packed in the summers, and the weather wouldn't be as pleasant as now. She knew a lot about this area and the local lives. We now know that the cutie birds chasing ocean waves are sandpipers.

Madison, WI, Jan 20 - Feb 10, 2021

A city sitted in two big lakes.

Downtown was lovely but empty because of the pandemic.

Dense houses. We had difficulty to finding a parking space in our neighborhood.

Said hi and goodbye to Mr. Yummy.

Long Beach, CA, Dec 2021

The trail along the beach is very well planned. There are seperated lanes for biking and walking.

The food was great.

Downtown is depressing, however, and the buildings are ugly.

The weather in Long Beach isn't always pleasant... Possible pollution is from floating boats at the harbor.

Air is bad.

Southern California’s Container-Ship Backlog Moves Farther Out to Sea

Kalamazoo, MI, Jun 2021

We started with a picnic not far away from downtown Kalamazoo. We were so happy with the picnic and we felt we already love Kalamazoo.

Our Airbnb instructions suggested we go in and out of the apartment from the parking space rather than the front door on the street because there were cameras in the parking lot.

Everything was closed except (the cat brewery). Most things were closed on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and look like to be closed forever.

We finally made it to Bell's. Disappointed at their experimental beers. Two hearted is the best. (link to the brewery trip page)

At least our Airbnb apartment was nice.

Rochester, MN, Sep 9, 2020 - Jan 21, 2021

It's the home of Mayo Clinic.

The city planning was healing.

The coffee roaster we liked a lot.

Brian had surgery there.

It was cold and grey in winter. Sunset was about 2:30 pm during our stay.

North Platte, NE, Oct 2022

We got stranded here on a road trip, and had to take an 8 hour bus trip back to Denver. Not a lot here.

Lost Hills, CA, Jan 28, 2022

We just drove through on the way from Pacific Grove to Bakersfield, but it was an oil rigged hellscape.

Bakersfield, CA, Jan 2022

It is what it is.

Portland, IN

Everything was closed. The main street with everything closed was more like a passthrough tunnel for cars.

We only met one guy and he was moving a standing blackboard back to his cafe. That cafe was our only hope for food after walking around for about ten minutes. When we found nothing and decided to eat at that cafe. It was closed. Maybe it wasn't even open.

It doesn't seem to have live things there. The city was dying.

Below are ranked less thoughtfully.

Boston, MA, Sep 2022 & July 2025

We visited in September 2022, hoping to catch the vibrant colors of fall foliage. However, most of the leaves were still green, with just occasional hints of red. We attributed the delayed color change to global warming. However, when we returned home to Denver after the trip, we were surprised by beautiful fall colors in our own neighborhood.

We stayed in what was supposed to be one of the best neighborhoods in Boston -- Somerville. While it was quiet, the houses felt quite old, and the sidewalks around our area were poorly maintained. Overall, we weren't very impressed.

Davis Square, on the other hand, was a charming little commercial district where we enjoyed a pleasant dinner with a friend.

One of the highlights of our trip was the Museum of Fine Arts. The experience was fantastic -- many galleries prohibiting photography, which made the space feel peaceful and respectful. No one interrupted us or squeezed in front just to snap a photo. We appreciated the chill atmosphere. We wish every museum would ban cameras in galleries.

Boston felt incredibly dense and tightly packed. Streets were narrow and most of the homes appeared to be multi-family units with very little garden space. And they looked pretty old too.

We frequently waited in line at several places, which left us feeling that there still aren’t enough cafés or restaurants to meet t the demand. Competing with others just to get a simple meal became exhausting.

San Louis Obispo, CA, Dec 28-30, 2021

Hotel San Louis Obispo. Modern, good service, good food.
There was a China town and we can still see some Chinese characters on some signs.
Everybody wore a mask on the street.

Logan, UT, Aug 1, 2020

Beautiful church on top of the hill. Gorgeous park with a designed water flow for children to play in.

Phuket, Thailand, January 2020

Super nice beach and clean ocean water. Too many tourists.

Local car tuk-tuk.

Chiang Mai, Thailand, January 2020

Not walkable. We had to take a car/taxi/tuk-tuk? in and out of the hotel. Buildings outside of our hotel looked poor and broken.

The weather was great in winter. The food was delicious. We had almost the same type of food every day but never tired of it.

The restaurant we found (in the old part of the town) had a good vibe.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, left on Feb 17, 2020

On the way back from Phan Thiet we stayed again here at a BnB on a tiny island.

We almost missed our flight out of the country, and right as borders were shut down for the start of the pandemic.

Mũi Né, Vietnam, February 2020

A little tourist town like many others in the region, beaches filled with dozens of cheap hotels and resorts.

The first place we stayed, Takalau Resort, was run down and depressing and we only stayed a night before leaving early.

We spent the next three weeks at Bamboo Village Resort, which was lovely, while we tried to figure out how to get out of the country and where to go, the pandemic becoming a serious thing, and travel routes between countries closing.

We ended up flying to San Francisco through Japan, which was pretty much the only route anywhere that both of us could take together, given our differing visas, passports, and travel restrictions.

Torrey, UT, Mar 10-14

We saw deer. Beautiful stars are especially obvious during dark nights without light pollution.

The only grocery store was closed. We made avocado toast.

We hiked at Sunset Point and around. Love it!

Livingston, MT, Aug 7, 2020

Cool cabin.

We saw deer and blinking stars.

We presented our hackathon product The Big Announcement.

We had a morning hike at some valley. Lovely pinky-purple wildflowers.

Jackson Hole, WY, Aug 2, 2020

Beautiful natural views but too crowded.

The national park.

We started carrying bear spray.

Rapid City, WY, Aug 17, 2020

We went hiking to the mountain behind our backyard and we were lost.

We cooked mushroom steak and meatballs.

We probably started cooking with wine from that time. lol.

Mason, OH

First time eating at a restaurant since the pandemic.

Most of the time, we hid in our room or stay at the hotel's empty patio.

We did lots of picnics in different parks. Picnics with friends were relaxing during the pandemic.

Sonder (name is right?) brewery is cool. We like that big open space.

Culver City, Los Angeles, CA

Also Santa Monica. The city is dirty. Cars only.

Haven't found the love for LA yet.

Marcus, IA, Aug 24, 2020

We lived in a church reconstructed house. A neighbor came by reminding us our car tie needed to be fixed and he provided the contact.

We made bread and cookies.

Park City, UT, Jul 13-16, 2020

It's a ski town. We went in summer. It was whatever.

Solvang, CA, Dec 26, 2021

Tourist trap.

The architecture here is Dutch-inspired. We planned to stop and see it, but when we drove through, the crowds were massive, and we passed.

Santa Ynez, CA, Dec 26-28, 2021

A tiny town with few resources. Some good restaurants but they were packed full of covid and we did not want to use them.

Santa Ynez Inn. A decent upscale place with an early 20th century vibe. We had a big room with huge ceilings.

Below are unranked.

Shanghai, China

Beijing, China

Lake Andes, SD, Aug 21, 2020

Some farmland between Missouri River and Lake Andes. There are apple trees. A lot of annoying flyings.

We went picnic/walk at the North Point State Recreation Area.

We found a lost road covered with water. The "Speed Limit" sign was still there.

Wabasha, MN

A German style town nearby the Mississippi river

St, Charles IL, Feb 10-17, 2021

Urbana-Champaign, IL, Feb 17-14, 2021

Indianapolis, IN, Feb 24 - March 3, 2021

We lived in a modern house right beside the highway. It was super noisy and the location was only convenient for driving. We tried to walk around the neighborhood one day. And we soon went back to drive our car instead. The kitchen was fashionable, and the master room was comfy.

We found delicious donuts.

Wofford Heights, CA, Jan 2022

Santa Clara / Saint George, UT

Annabella, UT

Grand Junction, CO

Vail, Silverthorne, CO

Loveland, CO, Feb-Mar 2022

Portsmouth, NH, Oct 2022

Pleasant little tourist city with old east coast fishing vibes. We saw Ron Carter play in some jazz club.

Concord, NH, Oct 2022

San Marcus, CA

Escondido, CA

Big Island, Hawaii, Dec 2022

Not very impressive. Rich resorts and poor shacks, like Phuket. Depends entirely on how much you pay and which resport you stay at.

Cheyenne, WY, Oct 2022

Badalona, Spain, March 2024

A beach town north of Barcelona, accessible by subway. We only spent a day there but it was pleasant.

Segovia, Spain, April 2024

Neat old castles. Tourist city, visit once.

Lake Como, Italy, May 2024

Local vacation destination. Very neat mountain lake, but overbuilt. Would probably not return.

Seregno, Italy, May 2024

Cute town outside of Milan, accessible by train. Probably too small for us.

Cody, WY, Aug 10, 2020

Devil's Kitchen, WY, Aug 14, 2020

Sheridan, WY, Aug 15, 2020

A lot of cutiepies! Every house seems to have a bunny. Aimee got videos of deer.