AL ROKER reporting:
This morning on
TODAY'S TRAVEL
, the best
cities
in
America
. Maybe you're thinking about visiting one of these great
cities
here in these
United States
, but you're not sure which one to go to. Well, guess what, the folks at
Travel + Leisure
can help you decide. Their picks for their favorite
cities
in
America
based on everything from how friendly the folks are to where to find the
best music
, it's all in the December issue. And
Nilou Motamed
is the features director for
Travel Leisure
magazine. And can you see this now on your new
iPad
app?
Ms. NILOU MOTAMED (Features Director, Travel Leisure Magazine):
You can -- wow,
thank you so much
once again for acknowledging the
iPad
app. You cannot see it on this month's
iPad
app, but it is available for download.
ROKER:
Ah, OK. All righty. Well, let's get...
Ms. MOTAMED:
But this is more important. This is...
ROKER:
Yes.
Ms. MOTAMED:
This is not our picks of the favorite
cities
, it's...
ROKER:
These are your readers.
Ms. MOTAMED:
But not only the readers, but travelers. Anyone who's an enthusiastic traveler, who wanted to say something about great
cities
in
America
...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. MOTAMED:
...35 of them, they got to go on travelandleisure.com and cast their votes in over 50 different categories, and the results are being announced live here, and then they're going to be on our
Web site
.
ROKER:
All right. So
Charleston
,
South Carolina
, does pretty well.
Ms. MOTAMED:
They did really well this year. Not only did they get -- come in
number
one in friendliest people...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. MOTAMED:
...but they also came in
number
one in most attractive people.
ROKER:
Wow.
Ms. MOTAMED:
And they also came in
number
one in best
B&B
's and inns. So when you go to seek out those friendly, attractive people...
ROKER:
They're a triple threat.
Ms. MOTAMED:
They are. It's dangerous down there.
ROKER:
So they're really, really friendly, attractive people at a bed and breakfast.
Ms. MOTAMED:
Who can put you up. So one of our -- there are over two dozen
B&B
's and inns in downtown
Charleston
.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. MOTAMED:
And one of our favorites is
Wentworth Mansion
. And you can get tons of
Southern hospitality
and
Southern
charm there. So we love it.
ROKER:
All right. Next up, top city for ethnic foods. No surprise, right here in
New York
.
Ms. MOTAMED:
I know, there's no need for a drum roll. I like the fact that we got both ethnic food
number
one and also big-name restaurants
number
one. So I like...
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. MOTAMED:
We've got a balance of both.
Ms. MOTAMED:
But honestly, local people here, and you know this, when we go out we like to kind of spin the globe, decide where we want to go eat based on what we're in the mood for.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. MOTAMED:
So if I'm in the mood for
Korean fried chicken
, literally in the shadow of the
Empire State Building
,
Bon Chon
is delicious. If I want to have a bahn mi sandwich from
Vietnam
, I can go to the
lower east side
to
An Choi
. If I'm in the mood for ramen, for -- I don't have to
go all the way
to
Japan
.
ROKER:
Sure.
Ms. MOTAMED:
I can go to
Totto Ramen
, which is delicious. And if I'm in the mood for pizza, and
New York
has done fantastic with all the pizza.
ROKER:
We don't have many pizzerias here.
Ms. MOTAMED:
No, no, we have a lot of pizza. But now we have the...
ROKER:
Oh, the -- I was joking.
Ms. MOTAMED:
Oh, I'm sorry, that was a joke. Sorry. We have
Neapolitan
pizza at a place called
Motorino
in the
East Village
which is really as good as being in
Naples
.
ROKER:
OK. Now, best city for historical monuments, what a surprise,
Washington, DC.
Ms. MOTAMED:
Well, it was kind of a close race. We had
Washington
, we had
Charleston
and we had
Savannah
.
ROKER:
Really?
Ms. MOTAMED:
And then
Washington
pulled out ahead, of course, because we have everything...
ROKER:
Have people not heard of the
Lincoln Memorial
?
Ms. MOTAMED:
Well, and the
Washington Monument
.
ROKER:
Or the
Jefferson Memorial
?
Ms. MOTAMED:
And the
White House
. Yes, it's true, people really caught on...
ROKER:
The Holocaust Museum?
Ms. MOTAMED:
There's a lot...
ROKER:
I mean, all these places.
Ms. MOTAMED:
Yes.
Vietnam Memorial
also. Well, one thing that people may not realize is you can
go to the top
of the
Washington Monument
.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. MOTAMED:
I don't know if you knew that.
ROKER:
I did.
Ms. MOTAMED:
You can take an elevator up. But the -- people -- a lot of people wait in line for hours to get to -- to get their tickets, which are free. One thing that is a sneaky thing you can do is you can go online and buy your tickets and reserve a spot so you don't have to go and stand in line.
ROKER:
Ah.
Ms. MOTAMED:
The one thing is there's a $1.50 per ticket charge. But I think that's totally worth it.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm. Now, this one might surprise people. For best
live music
you might think, say, someplace like
New York
or
Los Angeles
.
Nashville
, which of course is known as
Music City
,
number
one.
Ms. MOTAMED:
Country music
capital is
number
one. And you had
Taylor Swift
on recently.
ROKER:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. MOTAMED:
And she is a
Nashville
resident. And she will sing about everything, including how much she loves living in
Nashville
.
ROKER:
You know who else is from
Nashville
?
Ms. MOTAMED:
Tell me.
ROKER:
Ke$ha
.
Ms. MOTAMED:
Oh, see, look at this. The list -- I mean, honestly, the list of amazing musicians from
Nashville
keeps on growing. And one fun place to go there is
The Station Inn
. Every Monday there is a band called the
Time
Jumpers, and they come on. They're an 11-piece country swing band, and they come on and they've been doing it for 10 years. It is one of the funnest things to do in
Nashville
to get a little slice of the
Grand Ole Opry
.
ROKER:
Wow. And finally, for folks who like the great outdoors, I can't disagree with this one, I
love this city
,
Portland
,
Oregon
.
Ms. MOTAMED:
Portland
,
Oregon
, has been doing so phenomenally well in terms of a great foodie destination. But -- and the
Pacific Northwest
is magical if you want to be outdoors.
Ms. MOTAMED:
And
Portland
,
Oregon
, with 36,000 acres of green areas in the city, is one of those places where you can't basically walk an inch without finding some beautiful
place to be
outdoors.
ROKER:
Oh.
Ms. MOTAMED:
We actually love the
Japanese garden
there. They're five acres and beautiful views of
Mount Hood
.
ROKER:
That's right
, great food and great mass transit.
Ms. MOTAMED:
And great micro brews.
ROKER:
Yeah.
Ms. MOTAMED:
They actually did
number
one for micro brews, as well.
ROKER:
Suddenly our director paid attention. But...
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