Kaohsiung has been named the fifth-best city in the world to visit next year by travel guide book publisher Lonely Planet.
Kaohsiung, a port city and Taiwan’s third most populous city after New Taipei City and Taichung, was among Lonely Planet’s list of top 10 cities in the world it recommends travelers visit next year.
The list was published on Tuesday as part of the publisher’s Best in Travel 2018 package, which also identified the world’s top 10 countries, regions and best value destinations for travelers.
Photo: CNA
The top cities list included Seville, Spain, at No. 1, followed by Detroit, Michigan, Canberra, and Hamburg, Germany. In sixth place was Antwerp, Belgium, followed by Matera, Italy, San Juan, Guanajuato, Mexico, and Oslo.
“Kaohsiung is surging with possibilities: Visit before the world gets wind of it,” Lonely Planet said. “Warehouses by the harbor are morphing into galleries and theaters. World-class architecture is sprouting along the shore, from a beautiful public library to a spectacular concert venue that, when ready, should be among the best in Asia.”
“The cultural calendar is packed full of exciting new festivals, and young chefs are injecting fresh ideas into southern Taiwanese cooking,” it said.
Other highlights included the “spectacular” cruise terminal and light-rail system under construction and an 88m high “Eye of the Mountain” skywalk in Siaogangshan (小崗山) Recreation Area, which hosts a view of the Taiwan Strait.
In a statement previewing the article, Lonely Planet writer Piera Chen, who prepared the section on Kaohsiung, said: “Wherever you go, whether by metro or the city’s burgeoning fleet of public bikes, Kaohsiung greets [tourists] with a laid-back maritime charm.”
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