Here we are – the finale to my (June 2016) New York City series. For those of you who havenāt been following from start to finish Iāll leave links to previous posts at the bottom, however the rest of you will remember I started this series with an introduction of my high hopes for NYC.
Iām London born and bred and consequently still consider the city my home. Iād always said it was my favourite city in the world but Iāve welcomed the challenge to find somewhere that surpasses that. I love big cities and at this point of my life (June 2016) Iād been to some incredible places. Some of my favourite destinations Iād visited included the likes of Sydney, Berlin, Edinburgh, Budapest and more but in my eyes all fell short of the high standard that London sets.
My dream city / destination growing up was New York City and in my mind, if anywhere could surpass my love of London surely this city was as worthy a challenger as any. Iāve always held high hopes for NYC so after finally getting the luxury of visiting, how did it measure up? I reflected on a wonderful trip, New York City is an incredible city and somewhere I knew I could easily call home. Did that necessarily mean it was better than London though? I sat and pondered it, weighed up the pros and cons of both cities and eventually reached the below decision.

The Challenger: New York City!
Letās begin with our challenger. I spent a week in the city and wow, what an incredible week. I went to NYC with high expectations and it didnāt disappoint. It lived up to the high standards I hoped it would do and as I said in my last post, Iād struggle to name just the one singular highlight.
It was a faultless week. There are a lot of similarities between New York City and London, both are cities I know I could visit time and time again and never get sick of. As a travel destination New York City has everything you could want from a city break and its diversity really does have something for everyone. I struggle to fathom that people would not enjoy New York City. Too loud? Visit Central Park or better yet, get out of Manhattan altogether. Brooklyn botanical gardens is still one of my favourite retreats in the city.

Maybe you didnāt mind the loudness but couldnāt find something that aligned with your interests. āWhat!!?ā Impossible. Iām not saying you have to like everything that NYC has to offer but if you found nothing on offer that you enjoyed then you werenāt looking very hard. Museum person? World class museums. Theatre ā NYCās perhaps the most famous Broadway on Earth. Sports? Pretty much every major (American) sport on display at the very least. Nightlife? City that never sleeps. Shopaholic? High end department stores, markets and antique places everywhere. Foodie? Multicultural city with every type of food on offer. I could honestly go on and on and on. NYC has EVERYTHING! Iāll give you a pass on saying you wouldnāt want to live there but visit? I canāt comprehend the logic in not wanting to.
āSo itās a faultless city?ā
Ah, well no. I was desperate to look for some cons to NYC and the easiest came to me from a friend that once claimed New York City to be the best city in the world. Hang on though mate, didnāt you stay in New Jersey?
āYeah to save..ā ā too late. Ha! How can NYC be the best city in the world if you canāt afford to say there? London wins!!

The existing champion ā London!
Wait a second, Londonās extortionate too! Damnit! Iām back to square one!
The one con I could genuinely find for NYC is the one con I have of London too. I love everything about London. Itās home and finances aside, it is faultless in my eyes. NYC can offer everything but similarly what does London lack? Museums, theatre, sports, nightlife, great food, multicultural etc etc etc.

NYC is without doubt an incredible city and worthy challenger to London but as far as I was concerned London could match anything thrown at it. Equal in pros, equal in cons.
āSo itās a tie? You pesky little fence-sitter!!ā
Hang on, hang on. I didnāt say it was a tie now did I? Yes, it was an incredibly difficult call and I scratched my head long and hard over which city I considered my favourite and there was one surprising, and perhaps harsh, deciding factor that Iād yet to consider.

The decider
*drumroll*
āNew York City isnāt London though..ā
Thatās right. Iād overlooked this city-defining criteria in my impartial adjudicator role. NYC wasnāt London, that definitely has to go down as a con against the former.
āGreat system Jason, well done!ā
Being objective, the two cities are incredibly difficult to split but my somewhat flawed system means that sadly NYC does fall just short of my favourite city in the world. Was it ever really in doubt?
New York City rose to the challenge and threw everything it had at me to sway my thinking but ultimately that emotional attachment means London is perhaps never likely to be surpassed as my favourite place in the world.
Nevertheless I couldnāt have loved NYC any further and itās definitely somewhere Iāll be returning to.
Hopefully youāve enjoyed the series, for those of you that havenāt caught my previous NYC posts you can read those below but itās time for me to wrap this up.
Stay tuned for whatās next!
Jason
P.S – All other New York City posts
NYC Introduction
Manhattan
Empire State, Top of the Rock and a surprising encounter!
Brooklyn
Liberty and Ellis islands
Coney Island