Conde Nast readers share travel favorites

New York — San Francisco, Santa Fe and New York won top honors among U.S. cities in the annual Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.

Charleston, S.C., Chicago, New Orleans, Honolulu, Boston, Carmel, Calif., and San Diego rounded out the top 10 list.

Best European cities were Florence, Rome, Venice, Paris and Salzburg. The top five Pacific Rim cities were Sydney, Kyoto, Melbourne, and Queenstown and Christchurch in New Zealand.

“The Americas” category, which includes Canada and Latin America, had Vancouver, Victoria and Quebec City in first, second and third place, followed by San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Buenos Aires.

Top five cities in Asia were Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Shanghai.

In Africa and the Middle East, winners were Cape Town, South Africa; Dubai and Marrakesh, Morocco; followed by Jerusalem and Fez, Morocco.

Best Caribbean islands were Bermuda, St. John, British Virgin Islands, St. Barts and Anguilla.

The results were based on responses from more than 20,000 Conde Nast Traveler readers. Cities were rated for ambience, friendliness, culture, restaurants, lodging and shopping.

A complete list of winners, including top hotels, resorts and safari camps around the world, will be available in Conde Nast Traveler’s November issue, on newsstands beginning Oct. 26.

Children’s museum begins expansion

Rochester, N.Y. — Strong Museum, already the second-largest children’s museum in America and home to the National Toy Hall of Fame, recently embarked on becoming the most-visited family attraction in upstate New York.

The downtown museum broke ground on a two-year, $33 million expansion that will add a literature exhibit to allow children to act out adventures from stories and a glass atrium filled with butterflies.

Strong Museum, which opened in 1982, boasts the world’s largest collection of toys and dolls — more than 70,000. It also features circus memorabilia, children’s books, household furniture, miniatures and various objects of American culture dating from the 1820s.

For details, visit www.strongmuseum.org or call (585) 263-2700.