Edinburgh named in world's top 20 friendliest cities

Edinburgh has been voted one of the friendliest cities in the world. Picture: Steven Scott Taylor

The survey of 128,000 people was carried out by Conde Nast Traveler magazine, and saw Edinburgh just miss out on a world top 10 slot by placing 11th, behind Nashville in Tennessee.

The magazine said that Scotland’s capital had a “’great mix of ancient and modern’ with ‘great energy’ - be it on a typical Tuesday or during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.”

The magazine also shared an anecdote from a reader, who said: “Just down the Royal Mile from the Castle we happened on a little restaurant with eclectic/offbeat décor, interesting food, and presentation.

“After lunch, when we left, my husband was jostled and fell - several people stopped to help and were very concerned about his well-being.

“They even offered to drive us back to our accommodation - what great people!”

Edinburgh was ranked ahead of Austin, Texas and Santa Fe in New Mexico and was the only UK entry in the top 20.

South Carolina city Charleston was ranked as the world’s friendliest city, beating Sydney into second place, while Irish cities Dublin and Galway were named third and sixth respectively.

Queenstown in New Zealand and Park City in Utah made up the rest of the top five.

Just six European cities made the top 20, including Edinburgh, Dublin and Galway, with Krakow in Poland, Belgian city Bruges and Icelandic capital Reykjavik also making the grade at eighth, ninth and 16th.