tranquil cities

Toronto was just ranked one of the most tranquil cities in the world

Between Toronto's never-ending infrastructure work and condo construction, incidents of stunt driving and other disruptive tomfoolery, stressfully exorbitant cost of living, and violence on busy thoroughfares and at public attractions, it may be hard for residents of the nation's biggest metropolis to imagine it as one of the most tranquil on earth.

But, that indeed is the case, at least as far as the experts at Icelandair are concerned.

A new study from the Nordic carrier assessed things like traffic and human congestion, light pollution, green space per capita, weather, average life expectancy and happiness levels in various downtown locales worldwide, and deemed the 6ix to be one of the most relaxing environments out of them all.

Though we didn't place quite near the beginning of the list, Toronto was the only Canadian city that made the top 20, and ranked higher than any North American destination, coming in 16th before Dallas, Houston and Washington.

Unsurprisingly, countries generally renowned for their superb quality of life — such as Finland, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand and Australia — had more than one urban area make the list, which, in full, is as follows:

  1. Bergen, Norway
  2. Perth, Australia
  3. Reykjavik, Iceland
  4. Helsinki, Finland
  5. Wellington, New Zealand
  6. Zurich, Switzerland
  7. Brisbane, Australia
  8. Melbourne, Australia
  9. Stockholm, Sweden
  10. Auckland, New Zealand
  11. Oslo, Norway
  12. Sydney, Australia
  13. Copenhagen, Denmark
  14. Tel Aviv, Israel
  15. Christchurch, New Zealand
  16. Toronto, Canada
  17. San Jose, Costa Rica
  18. Dallas, U.S.
  19. Houston, U.S.
  20. Washington, D.C., U.S
Lead photo by

PJ Mixer


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