World's Best Travel + Leisure Readers' 5 Favorite Cities in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific in 2023 Heart-pumping adventure, delightful food, and thriving communities — these are the best cities in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, according to T+L reader votes in our “World’s Best Awards” survey for 2023. By Samantha Lauriello Samantha Lauriello Samantha Lauriello is a New York City-based writer and editor, and the host of Travel + Leisure’s TikTok channel. Her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, MSN, Yahoo Life, People magazine, Popsugar, Health, InStyle, and Food & Wine. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines Published on July 11, 2023 In This Article View All In This Article How Voting Works What Readers Loved The Winner The Full List Many U.S. travelers view a trip to Oceania as a once-in-a-lifetime feat. Then they get there and experience the unparalleled natural beauty, adrenaline-rush adventures, dynamic culinary scenes, and lively metropolises, and they quickly realize this isn’t a region you visit only once. Plenty of travelers end up venturing back time and time again, unable to resist the colorful alleyways, pristine urban beaches, and all there is to explore just beyond the city limits. How Voting Works Cities were specifically rated on the criteria below: Sights/landmarksCultureFoodFriendlinessShoppingValue For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses. Yunaidi Joepoet/Getty Images What Readers Loved A number of destinations make our list of the best cities in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific year after year, like Melbourne, which came in at No. 4. “Beautiful, clean city, with extraordinary options for dining,” one voter wrote, noting the many scenic rooftop bars and outstanding restaurants for “every type of cuisine.” Farther north you have Sydney, second on our list, where it’s common for locals to go from a morning swim on Bondi Beach to a morning meeting in the CBD — a lifestyle beyond compare. Queenstown is also a reader favorite, partly because of its year-round appeal. “The outdoor adventures in the summer are diverse and expansive,” wrote one reader, who also advised visitors “do not pass up the opportunity to visit in winter,” when there are fewer visitors and everything seems to move at a slower pace. Plus, the surrounding mountains take on a whole different kind of beauty when covered with snow. Read on to see which other cities were voted as the best in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, including which locale nabbed the top spot. The Winner Hobart, Australia Caroline Duncan/Getty Images Just 150 miles off the coast of Victoria lies the island of Tasmania, or “Tassie,” as the locals call it. It’s only about an hour flight from Melbourne to Hobart, the island’s capital, but the city offers an experience all its own. A typical day for travelers might look like a morning swim at a beach just outside of the city, coffee at a locally owned cafe in the center, an afternoon hike on a nearby mountain trail, and back to town for oysters and wine on the waterfront. For a city with a population of just over 200,000, there’s a lot to see and do. The Full List 1. Hobart, Australia Reader score: 88.44 2. Queenstown, New Zealand Reader score: 87.83 3. Sydney, Australia WBA Hall of Fame honoree. Reader score: 87.39 4. Melbourne, Australia WBA Hall of Fame honoree. Reader score: 86.95 5. Wellington, New Zealand Reader score: 85.96