Nancy Novogrod says, �Consistent with our mission of combining travel and lifestyle, we�ve designed this year�s World�s Best Awards issue to be a compendium of the most useful and usable travel information there is. In addition to a comprehensive address book providing contact information for all the winners, we�ve also made the world more visual�literally! The World�s Best cities and islands are color coded on a two-page map. Also new this year: a list of the top 100 domestic hotels, in addition to a complete guide to the best spas both here and abroad.�
 

The Oreintal, Bangkok Provides butler service for every room

The World�s Best Hotel overall is THE ORIENTAL, BANGKOK. The RITZ-CARLTON, LAGUNA NIGUEL in California was selected as the Best Hotel in the Continental U.S. and Canada. Once again, the MALA MALA GAME RESERVE in South Africa has been named the World�s Best Small Hotel. For the fourth year, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA is the World�s Best City. Here�s how readers ranked U.S. cities: SAN FRANCISCO was voted the #1 city in the United States. NEW YORK CITY is #2 (sorry, Rudy!), SEATTLE climbed to #3, NEW ORLEANS moved up to #4, and CHICAGO is #5. Where�s Washington, D.C., this year?  Some surprises: San Francisco and New York were both rated as having better restaurants than Paris; of the cities with

The World�s Best Tour Operator and Safari Outfitter: ABERCROMBIE KENT. The company leads more than 100 trips on all seven continents.

The best spa in the United States and overall is CANYON RANCH HEALTH RESORT, TUCSON. Abroad, the best spa is LES THERMES MARINS DE MONTE CARLO. In a separate list for hotel spas, THE ORIENTAL, BANGKOK ranks #1 abroad and the FOUR SEASONS RESORT HUALALAI, HAWAII is first in the U.S. When asked to rank spa treatment programs around the world, readers gave the FOUR SEASONS RESORT BALI AT JIMBARAN BAY the highest marks.

How do you get to the World�s Best places? The World�s Best in transportation:

• RADISSON SEVEN SEAS CRUISES: Best Small Cruise Line (less than 350 passengers).
• CRYSTAL CRUISES: Best Large Cruise Line
• ALASKA AIRLINES: Best Domestic Airline

HERTZ continues to be the Car-Rental agency of choice.

The World�s Best winners:

Methodology: A questionnaire developed by the editors of Travel Leisure, in association with the research and polling group Yankelovich Partners Inc., was sent in the spring of 1999 to thousands of subscribers, asking their opinions of hotels, spas and spa hotels, cities, islands, airlines, cruise lines, rental-car companies, and tour organizers. All responses were returned to, and kept confidential by Yankelovich Partners.
 

Travel Leisure, Food Wine, Departures, Travel Leisure Golf, and Travel Leisure Family magazines are part of the American Express Publishing Corporation, a subsidiary of the American Express Company managed by Time, Inc. under the terms of an agreement signed in March 1993. The company, which also publishes SkyGuide and a variety of cooking, travel, wine, time management, and financial books and products, recently launched a custom publishing group.