Every summer Travel + Leisure asks its audience to pick their favorite travel experiences for the World’s Best Awards. In 2025, nearly 180,000 readers cast more than 657,000 votes on hotels, cruises, islands and cities. When it came to U.S. cities, respondents rated each destination on sights and landmarks, culture, food, friendliness, shopping and value.
Travelers consistently favored walkable towns with vibrant culinary scenes and a strong sense of history. The Southeast and Southwest dominated the list, but one West‑Coast newcomer also made a splash. Below is a breakdown of the top U.S. cities and what readers loved about them.
A new champion: Santa Fe tops the list
After 12 years of Charleston holding the crown, Santa Fe, New Mexico took the No. 1 spot for the first time. Readers raved about the city’s inventive New Mexican cuisine, abundant art galleries and markets, and its high‑desert setting at 7,000 feet near the Sangre de Cristo mountains, which boasts more than 300 days of sunshine. One voter called Santa Fe a “true gem of a place in America,” while another noted that “every trip exceeds the last, with so many new things to discover”.
