READERS' TRAVEL AWARDS 2006

Anyone after value for money should catch the next flight to Singapore: you awarded the city 87.27 out of 100 on that criterion, and a respectable 80 for cleanliness (the highest you could muster for any city). For a culture fix, you can do no better than Barcelona (96.21), while Rome clearly isn't in decline, with consistently good scores (including 95.87 for architecture/aesthetics) sending it to first place. Elsewhere, Melbourne is the most user-friendly (88.24) and Paris has the best food/ restaurants (95.41) and nightlife (93.89). And the safest city in the world? Venice, which scored a very reassuring 94.36 on that criterion.

When it comes to UK cities, you have taken Scotland to heart, with Glasgow and Edinburgh in first and second places (with less than a percentage point between them). You singled out Glasgow for its people/hospitality (95.90) and lively nightlife (95.38) and Edinburgh for safety (88.14) and cleanliness (89.77). In England, Newcastle is the easiest city to get around (93.13 for user-friendliness), London has the best food/restaurants (93.60) and range of accommodation (91.60), but perennial favourite Oxford scored highest this year for both culture (93.33) and architecture (94.87).