Monocle magazine annually ranks the cities with the highest quality of life. Each year, critics then feel called upon to discuss and question the criteria. The choice of criteria can only be subjective.

We think Monocle, with its 60 criteria, lists many valid points that make us see our own city in a new light in times when traveling has lost its self-evidence.

For example, the evaluation criteria include the cost of public transportation, safety in the city, the number of parks and cultural facilities, bicycle paths, the unemployment rate, the number of independent booksellers, rental prices, the number of international air connections, and an assessment of the restaurant scene.

The ranking is an inspiration to contribute to increasing the quality of life in one’s own city and to cycle to the bookseller, even though Amazon is only a click away. So in addition to buying a book, you can have a nice conversation and take another book recommendation with you on the way home or to try out in the newly opened café.

Despite Netflix, it’s worth seeing the latest from the Berlinale or the Cannes Film Festival on the big screen in art house cinemas. And so in a pleasant way to maintain the quality of life in their own city.

Zurich gives the choice and is therefore a good choice

First place in the current June 2019 ranking of cities with the highest quality of life went to Zurich. This choice may be considered obvious, because when the continental plates shifted and the Alps folded about 40 million years ago, the unique topographical position of the city was already foreseeable. The view of the mountains, the path of the Limmat River through the city, and the location on Lake Zurich are a sight that immediately opens the heart at any time of year.

But that alone is not what makes Zurich so attractive as a city. Zurich is still a city that is easy to explore on foot, with many corners and squares that allow you to linger in peace. The old, partly excellently restored building structure, makes an important quality of this city. While in other cities one rushes through the rows of houses driven by winds, here the pace automatically becomes quieter.

And if, after the extensive exploration through alleys, colonnades and charming courtyards, the step becomes heavier after all, change to the streetcar or ferry transport, because attractions such as art galleries, good restaurants and bars can be found in many parts of the city.

The Maserati, which now and then roars loudly around the corner from its respective somewhat too proud owners, is not necessary here. On the contrary, it reduces the pleasure that can be had strolling here.

Of course, this city has the luxuries you’d find in London, Paris, or New York; but Zurich also has plenty of small specialty stores where you can spend hours perusing sheet music, books, antiques, or creative jewelry. Rondo and Rolex – both have their place and their lovers here.

The lake beckons, inviting you for a swim

We will soon report in more detail in the Travel&Culture section about the many things that GloriousMe also considers worth living and experiencing in this city.

Here and now it is about the quality of life and to appreciate and preserve what we ourselves also find in our hometown, so that the bar, the snack stand or the small district cinema do not have to close to give way to an interchangeable standard offer. However, one of the most luxurious attractions of Zurich should be mentioned: swimming in Lake Zurich.

From May to the end of October, every visit to Zurich should include a bathing suit in your luggage. At the nice cobbler in the passage of the main station you can buy the equally necessary padlock and with 8.00 francs admission per person you are in for a swim in the lake Utoquai.

Once tried, you will love swimming in the velvety lake while enjoying the panorama of the city on every future visit. And Utoquai is just one of the many attractive seaside resorts in the city of Zurich.

As soon as the current virus pandemic is hopefully over and there are reasons to celebrate again, this can be done excellently in Zurich with a cultivated lunch and interesting wine from Switzerland in the Brasserie Baur’s of the Hotel Baur au Lac in very quiet surroundings or with a veal bratwurst, a Goldbürli and a cool beer at the Foifi Sterne snack bar on Bellevueplatz.

Tokyo follows in second place

Tokyo, a city that GloriousMe loves as well. Because from experience, it is precisely the following factors that Monocle finds so livable in this city of over 9 million inhabitants: A low crime rate and a public transport system that works every day and is both punctual and affordable.

A variety of art museums and bookstores, as well as a range of restaurants that offer both exceptional experiences – Tokyo tops the Michelin Guide with 226 Michelin-starred restaurants – but also a wide range of good, affordable food.

And last but not least, the politeness that Tokyo’s inhabitants cultivate. Even as a tourist, you learn these in a very helpful way when you want to communicate with gestures in the noodle store, are interested in the tea in the specialty store, or ask the bartender in the evening, exhausted, to simply serve your favorite sake cocktail because you yourself are still fully occupied with processing all the impressions of this fascinating metropolis.

Many parks invite you to relax within the city. Tokyo has not only a lot of skyscrapers to offer, but behind them are often traditional shopping areas with a number of interesting stores, both for everyday needs and for the things that make life beautiful.

Parents don’t have to worry incessantly about their children growing up in a huge metropolis because of the city’s high security and social fabric, and in addition to the energy and speed of a cosmopolitan city, Tokyo is home to many oases of peace and tranquility.

These are the other positions in Monocle’s 2019 rankings:

1. ZURICH
2. TOKYO
3. MUNICH
4. COPENHAGEN
5. VIENNA
6. HELSINKI
7. HAMBURG
8. MADRID
9. BERLIN
10. LISSABON
11. MELBOURNE
12. STOCKHOLM
13. SYDNEY
14 AMSTERDAM
15 VANCOUVER
16. HONG KONG
17. KYOTO
18. BARCELONA
19. PARIS
20 DÜSSELDORF
21 AUCKLAND
22 FUKUOKA
23. BRISBANE
24. OSLO
25 SINGAPORE

Maybe tomorrow we will look at our local park, our streetcar and the snack bar on the corner with different, enthusiastic eyes.

Your city is not included in the aforementioned ranking of cities with the highest quality of life? No need to be sad. There is also already the list of smaller cities with outstandingly high quality of life.

According to
Monocle
are these: 1. Lausanne (Switzerland), 2nd Boulder (USA), 3. Bergen (Norway), 4 Hobart (Australia), 5. Chigasaki (Japan), 6. Bolzano (Italy), 7. Bordeaux (France), Innsbruck (Austria), 9. oporto (Portugal) and 10th Aachen (Germany). Well, if your current place of residence is also not included here, then this small list can serve as an incentive to stop by there and enjoy a relaxing stay without encountering graffiti on which one moans about too many tourists.