Which city do you think is better: London or New York?

They're both great, OP.

Nylon

Too feckin’ funny.

I love both cities but I think NYC is a better destination if you're a tourist. The subway is cheaper than the underground, there are more mid-range/inexpensive non-chain dining options, Central Park is better than anything in London, hotels are cheaper and restaurants/bars are open much later. London's big advantage is that it's a foreign city and therefore feels more exotic to an American visitor.

London's status as a national capital doesn't give it an edge unless you're going there to tour government buildings. Completely irrelevant point.

I prefer London... more history, more charm, doesn't make me feel claustrophobic.

London is my choice as well.

I like London too but NYC is easier to get around if you're a tourist.

NYC —fewer dumb white folks

To add: more interesting and better variety of food, much better weather, current museum exhibitions don’t compare, West Endfalls short of Broadway and off-Broadway, finding a toilet is much easier, the police won’t bother you…etc etc.

It's not even close for a hundred reasons -- London!

Yet you didn’t list a single one ;)

London. Tower Bridge, St Paul's, Westminster Abbey .. the skyline is iconic and historical. London was founded in the tenth century.

Manhattan - grim. Soaring skyscrapers with barely any light filtering down. Very badly designed.

London. Tower Bridge, St Paul's, Westminster Abbey .. the skyline is iconic and historical. London was founded in the tenth century.

Manhattan - grim. Soaring skyscrapers with barely any light filtering down. Very badly designed.

Manhattan’s so nice—you had to repeat a London post twice. We get it …😵‍💫

New York is head and shoulders above London — so much more cosmopolitan and vibrant, a city that matters so much more. The capital of the world. London is the biggest city of a largely irrelevant country.

Entirely irrelevant*. FIFY

Are you kidding? London, PLEASE.

Must everything be a contest?

New York has too many angry people on the verge of snapping, subway is grimy. The pizza is the one thing I would miss. I love the green parks in London, but everything is too damn expensive there. I vote for Paris.

New York has a tiresome sameness - about four architectural looks. And the West End is Broadway's equal. R9 is absurd. London has food, the arts, history, majesty and size.

Size?! NYC is a big swinging dick. London is a clit.

I just came back from two weeks in London and could have stayed another two easily.

Another two minutes…or hours?

Years, Rose, two more years.

Is that how they write in England?

Be precise. —Strunk & White

[quote] London has food, the arts, history, majesty

Majesty?

Assuming you ever leave the UK, if you’re ever in DC, and driving on the beltway, you may pass a huge five-sided building.

Look at it carefully. It’s where your foreign policy is being decided.

Smell, r26, reader of Tom Clancy.

Oh you poor creature at r27. You think it’s only in techno-thrillers? Where does one even start with a babe in the woods like r27? 😂

NY by a mile. Just a better, more modern, more vibrant and multicultural vibe.

The surrounding region is also better, warmer, and nicer with amazing beaches etc.

NY is certainly a better place to live as the costs of both cities are similar but the salaries in London are paltry. I honestly don’t know how the Brits do it.

Definitely London, for me.

New Yorkers have tunnel vision and can only see … New York.

And there is a weird quality about music & arts in NYC: as cutting edge that you’d think it would be, it always feels stuck in the 90s to me.

R28, you're the kind of Yankee Doodle, jingoistic, big wallet small dick boasting loudmouth that makes even America's friends enjoy the coming hubris. Sure we're all going down together, buyt god damn it'll be satisfying to watch you fools figure it out once China's finished your lunch.

[Quote] [R28], you're the kind of Yankee Doodle, jingoistic, big wallet small dick boasting loudmouth that makes even America's friends enjoy the coming hubris.

No Mary Poppins at r31, facts are not small dicked or jingoistic. Your pathetic has-been pound-store country is now a satellite of the United States. Deal with it.

Jingoism has nothing to do with it. I marched against the idiotic, destructive war in Iraq in 2003. You know what might have complicated U.S. efforts to invade? If your pathetic country wasn’t such a lapdog toady state and had told Bush to go fuck himself. But of course the only way the uk is relevant now is if it’s doing stuff with the USA, even dumb stuff.

How can London ever hope to be relevant at all under those circumstances? Sad!

London is a puddle of shit with amazing bits of solid gold corn stuck in.

New York is a glittering Art Deco glamour-making machine that is essentially all the same thing.

You will hate London for the first three months and then fall in love with the people.

You will love New York for the first three months and then encounter July.

There is more art in New York than London.

There is more artistry in London than in New York.

London was meant to be seen from the gutter, New York from the parapet.

Georgian interiors vs. Art Deco exteriors.

That said, London is always a little too anxious to shock you, and will resort to schoolboy tactics if necessary.

New York - gloriously - doesn't care.

[quote]New Yorkers have tunnel vision and can only see … New York

Agreed, R30.

I like both cities, but prefer London. And to live there...definitely London.

Both cities can be difficult in that there is a significant degree of self-satisfication with what one has achieved or accumulated or dodged (often a humble background), yet no matter what stratospheric gains one achieves, they realize there are upper levels they will never touch. Both inspire a sometimes desperate ambition, an ambition that inevitably comes up against the reality of limitation in one's rise. There's always someone who has 1000x more than you do. This clawing completion is tiresome to witness and casts a bit of a sad pall on both cities

The other downside is provincialism, but NYC loses by winning in this category: it is the city more filled with people intensely smug by being New Yorkers, as if that were an accomplishment in itself rather than merely a situation. New Yorkers are often too wrapped up in their own cult if living in NYC that they take no time to know anything else - as though going away for a few weeks would risk their status as New Yorkers, risk learning about all those inferior and unworthy lesser places. London is the more international of the two cities - a good thing, though New Yorkers often claim it is not. New York is a bit ruined by being American and thinking that NYC is still an engine that drives the world culturally and financially -- an offshoot of "USA Number 1!". (Answer: There isn't any one city that drives the world or is a significant driver except in very narrow criteria.)

London has more depth, more variety, more ability to surprise, better people.

[QUOTE] The surrounding region is also better, warmer, and nicer with amazing beaches etc.

In your dreams. The sea is freezing year round and the beaches are polluted.

London is just a two hour flight from some of the best beaches on the planet in the Balearics. Translucent turquoise water that is 27c in the summer. Flights are incredibly cheap too - £60 return midweek.

Both too expensive. I prefer other cities.

Let's face it, you can find art museums in any major European and American city, I'm personally not into theater. I adored Madrid.

I have only been to London when I was a teenager and my father was living a kind of nomadic hippie life over there. At the time (70s) NYC was an extravaganza of cool clubs, after hours places, and sex on the hoof. I like to get out of the city and NYC has miles great beaches like Jones Beach and pristine mountain lakes within a short drive. London, not so much, but I loved the people and of course the Brit accent. Hard to choose between the two.

R35 Gotta love a poster defending his favored city by telling us how easy it is to get away from …🫥

I love London unreservedly. I love NYC as well, but as a place to visit occasionally. I spent 3 years there back in the 80s and enjoyed my time, mainly because I lived on the company dime (no rent, no utilities, paid garage space). I saw how hard it can be for someone to exist in NYC/Manhattan if you are accustomed to a fine lifestyle if you're on your own, even if you're what other people consider rich. Life is not easy there no matter who you are.

London on the other hand gives me a feeling of calmness, even the more densely populated sections. The abundance of foliage in London gives me joy. The architecture of much of London, as opposed to so much harshness in NYC, takes me back to a time when the problems of modern society did not exist.

R33 Mary!

The surrounding areas comparison is interesting. NY has more appealing destinations that are easily reachable now, as well as 20-30 years ago. But with the cheap flights available these days London wins easily. If your schedule is a little flexible you can fly from London to dozens of European destinations for $30-$50. While a peak MetroNorth ticket to Beacon is $24.

But, for me, it’s hard to let go of my mindset regarding what is “close.”

R34 please. I’ve lived in NYC for 25 years and I don’t know anyone who thinks NYC is the center of the world or gives a fuck about “being New Yorkers” or whatever you’re arguing. Maybe I’m lucky enough to surround myself with grounded people and I work for a nonprofit where we have bigger issues to deal with, but this stereotype that DL has of people in NYC has never matched my reality.

80% of the people who live here are just going about their lives. No one is jacking off about how amazing it is to live here, how it’s the best place on earth, how they are better than everyone else, etc.

If anything, the thing I mostly hear from other New Yorkers is everyone claiming they are going to leave and move elsewhere. But then we always stay. Because we do love the city, work keeps us here, we have friends and family here, etc.

And for the record, I vote London 😂

NYC….London is basically Tehran now

One thing I found out quickly when I spent my time in NYC is that most native New Yorkers think of one main thing. The day they can get out and have a better quality of life. They have very little good to say about the city. It's the transplants from flyoverland who prance around acting as if they were born and raised in NYC and as if there is no intelligent life outside of NYC. The live this pretense until they get a little maturity and the struggles of life there finally get to them and they realize living in a ratty prewar 5th floor no elevator building and paying $4000 a month for that privilege just isn't worth it anymore.

I want to move to London and fall in love again.

[quote]. I’ve lived in NYC for 25 years and I don’t know anyone who thinks NYC is the center of the world or gives a fuck about “being New Yorkers” or whatever you’re arguing

Ask a New Yorker to visit the family for a week in Denver, Dubuque or Detroit, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

[quote]. No one is jacking off about how amazing it is to live here, how it’s the best place on earth

Yes they are. And you are too. Look at the “NY IS SO GROUNDED AND GREAT” jizz on your own hands.

New Yorkers (and Americans) are more competitive, much more inclined to the "my ____ is bigger/better/more important than your ____" view of things.

There are certainly Londoners boastful of London, but usually in some substantive way; otherwise they are quite content to personalize the statement and say "London is the best place for me, I wouldn't live anywhere else" -- a different stance than "New York is the best city in the world" boast of a New Yorker.

Londoners will talk their city down even as they exhibit great pride of place. New Yorkers are not content to suffer any criticism except when It casts a good light on themselves "NYC is so expensive, not everyone can make a success of the place."

The reluctance to blow the London horn too loudly is an attribute of the place, just as the eagerness to blow the New York horn doesn't do New Yorkers any favors.

Not everything in life is blind allegiance to a sports team.

The problem with the cheap flights from London is the riff raff invading these once lovely places and turning them into mini-English towns with drunk chavs fighting, puking and fucking in the streets. Lots of stories recently about locals fed up with their shit.

I've been to both cities, very briefly.

I would choose NY. Friendlier people, IMO. More to offer.

R47 Excellent point. And that is the difference between New Yorkers and Londoners and in a way American and Brit culture in a nutshell.

Sure they are. Passive-aggressiveness is a cultural trait …not pretty. Londoners’ politeness is fake.

This idea that London is full of polite people can be disproved rapidly by spending five minutes outside on a Friday in July after 7 PM.

Unless projectile vomiting is seen as a form of politeness, like the Inuit belching to show appreciation of an excellent meal?

Love them both, but I give NYC the edge if we’re comparing Manhattan to central London—main tourist center comparison and not full livable city comparison.

The guys in London have huge cocks.

Yea—the ones who aren’t English… duh.

Who said anything about Londoners bring more polite?

r48 Isn't that only certain Spanish and Greek towns? France, Italy, Germany etc. aren't in danger of becoming chav party areas.

[quote]NYC….London is basically Tehran now

That's a sane reply, R43.

Is the Ayatollah of London appointed by King Charles? Does he make public appearances? For safety reasons, which parks don't host public floggings of gay men?

No one R56. That’s the point ;)

r35 you twat. I was not talking about taking a flight to a beach destination. I was talking about taking a short train ride or car ride and spending an afternoon/evening/weekend at the beach on Long Island, in Connecticut or (god forbid) New Jersey.

Hey the beach in Jersey close to Manhattan is actually pretty nice. Beats the hell of anything London-adjacent.

A short ferry ride from Manhattan…ahem

New York in the early-mid 90s. London in the mid-late 90s. Both went to shit since.

New York adjacent beaches are shitholes (Jones Fucking Beach was suggested upthread???), the better, less populated beaches in residential areas are dumpy despite the high priced real estate adjacent.

In what way are they “dumpy” r64? Does this include places like The Hamptons, Montauk, Fire Island, The North Shore?

They are both such great and wonderful and vibrant cities. To each his or her or their own.

American here.

I'll take London and lived there until the class structure, the low standard of living and the nastiness of the English got to me.

Thank heavens for the Indian and Pakistani friends I made. Every time I met someone who I thought was English and turned out to be good and decent company, the person turned out to be Scottish, Welsh, or Irish.

Even then London's better than New York, which has lost much of it character and feels unwell, from Valhalla down to the Lower Bay.

Edinburgh.

Camber Sands. London adjacent.

Rye, where leave the train for Camber Sands.

What a sad, empty tidal sand dune….I bet it’s the only sand around, with rocky, pebbled beaches on either side. I also bet access requires a hike, and is not child or disabled friendly…a schlep from the car park. Amirite?

New Yorker here. Lived here since 1995. The city is completely different now. When I moved here, the gays were just starting to move from the village to Chelsea. Now they’re in HK. I’ve lived in HK since 1998 when no one even called it HK. Times Square is completely different. I mean unrecognizable if you were last here in 1995. The offerings on Broadway are completely different. I do miss some restaurants we’ve lost over time. But I still like it here. I’m a real estate agent and you can do better than a walk up for $4000. And I’m lucky. My rent stabilized apartment is only $1000. That’s why we can’t move if we wanted to. NYC is the cheapest place to live for us.

What is HK? Hong Kong?

Sophie's Choice

“I’ve lived in HK since 1998 when no one even called it HK” —You gave yourself away right there …nope. 0/10

PS the gay movement into Chelsea started a decade before you showed up. Double nope.

[QUOTE] sections. The abundance of foliage in London gives me joy. The architecture of much of London, as opposed to so much harshness in NYC, takes me back to a time when the problems of modern society did not exist.

Yes! Hampstead Heath is divine and there are so many huge parks in central London. Manhattan only has Central Park.

And Riverside Park, Hudson River Park, Fort Tryon Park..shall we go on?

R34-Perhaps but their food still SUCKS.

R20- London has food

In the past on a scale of 1 to 10 London food was a -30. I have no doubt it's improved since the 1970's and 1980's but it's still not in the same league as the food in NYC or ANY city in Europe.

NO ONE visits London for the food.

Their Indian food is good!

Their paassta, not so much. How hard is it to learn basic Italian pronunciation?

There's many beautiful parts of Mallorca and Ibiza, far away from the rowdy party towns. The sea is beautiful for swimming and so warm between June-September. No Great Whites either. There's nothing like it in the whole of the US. You guys have to fly down to the Caribbean and that's way more expensive.

Now your being ridiculous^^^. You’ve corrupted the entire thread. PS there’s nothing like it in the UK! Get it?!

You are*

London for state occasions. New York for everything else.

[QUOTE] it's still not in the same league as the food in NYC or ANY city in Europe.

You think the food in cities like Athens, Madrid, Budapest, Copenhagen is better than in London? Good luck with that, babe. Hope you like rabbit and goat.

Madrid? Copenhagen? Yes, the food in Madrid and Copenhagen is better than in London.

[QUOTE] Madrid? Copenhagen? Yes, the food in Madrid and Copenhagen is better than in London.

So you do like rabbit, goat, and dozens of fish with weird names like wolf bass. You're primitive.

You type fat gibberish.

I was in Madrid and never ate rabbit or goat or weird fish. What are you on about?

Ignore the lout.

This question is almost a Sophie's Choice. They are both world-class cities and I would have said either at different points in my life. I love them both, and have visited each city 20+ times (staying up to 3 weeks per visit). My brother has lived in Midtown Manhattan for over 3 decades, so I always have a free place to stay.

You never get bored in NYC - there is always dozens of things to do and see. But the hustle and overwhelming nature of the city (its pace, size and its people) can be exhausting. I much prefer NYC in 5 day increments (Wed - Sun) where I can go at breakneck speed and then go home to relax. When I was in my 20s, I was invigorated by the city. I am in my 60s now and I find NYC just too much of a sensory overload for an extended period. I've found that 1-2 long weekends a year is a better balance.

London is much more manageable to my pace in life now. Its scalability is more invigorating; life seems more precise and balanced. I could live for years in London if I could obtain permanent leave-to-remain visa status. Each time I leave London I can't wait to get back.

Thanks Bav^

[quote]What is HK? Hong Kong?

Hell's Kitchen, R73.

Since there was talk of beaches the Gunnison nude beach in Jersey is much nicer than the pebbly nude beach in Brighton. I prefer London though by a long shot.

R93 those English! Too funny

I wouldn't consider the beaches near NYC a large factor. (I would still choose NYC over London, overall, though.)

It was a Londoner who brought up beaches in the first instance. Spanish beaches, mind you, as evidence that London was superior. That’s how nutz they are over there.

London has superb food. (Bear in mind that British food is not superb; at best it can be hearty and tasty.)

Does the London underground still shut down at midnight?

Yes, midnight. Same as Tokyo.

You're out of date. The Night Tube has been running since 2016. The Night Tube is currently running on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines. 24 hours but services are only every 15 minutes.

R101, does this mean that central London is no longer populated by enraged drunks beginning at 7 PM?

Granted, it was the 70s, but I fell in love with London. I was living in NYC and had a chance to see England and I thought it put New York to shame. It was cleaner and friendlier and exciting. I still live in New York but I will always miss London.

I lived in London for a time in university. Had my partner not been tied to an American workplace I’d have elected to live there indefinitely. NYC, however, I can tolerate only in small doses. Three or four days and then I’m done. The public transit is grimier and ruder. The theater is less varied and more expensive. It’s just not for me.

New York is wonderful. London is wonderful.

New York is vibrant, alive.. Also crazy and ratchet. Beautiful bridges, Central Park is always a joy. Fantastic museums. Visit Manhattan but sleep in Brooklyn or Williamsburg.

London is charming, pompous in a good way.. Wonderful architecture, history.. Nice melting pot, but also quintessentially British. Great theatres and opera, museums..

Both have a fantastic restaurant scene.

You need a lot of cash for both places.

Thst's it R194, NY's miserable transit system and overall filthiness is draining. We're traveling there tomorrow for several days and look forward to the theater, museum and fabric shopping, and will feel great relief upon returning home.

R22was it affordable? What did you do?

We will alert the fabric store owner’s assoc of your concerns. 😳R106

London at present has 80 Michelin starred restaurants.

New York has 68.

You were saying about no food in London?

Im English and my cock size is just fine thank you. These cities are both disgusting overpopulated uncleaned rat cages with the rats hyper programmed to work and spend. Im embarrassed to be human in both of them. If i travel through them I take a shower to sanatize myself. The Museums are the only reason i would go to either.

I love all the great Indian food in London.

It has good Indian food R113 but so do many cities. Basically, any city with a large Indian community will.

I was just in London last month. LOVE that city, but I've visited Manhattan enough that I can get around easily, so NYC for the win.

[QUOTE] London at present has 80 Michelin starred restaurants.New York has 68. You were saying about no food in London?

Madrid has 26 Michelin starred restaurants, Athens has 31, Copenhagen 32, Budapest 7.

Tokyo is top with 194, Paris has 126 and London is fifth with 80.

Michelin stars are nice but most people don't care about those. Good food is enough.

HK is Hell's Kitchen

Gays were still in the Village so yes, the move to Chelsea was still taking place.

Yes, the name Hell's Kitchen goes back decades before the 90s, but it was not known as Hell's Kitchen in the mid-90s. It was midtown or its actual name: Clinton. No one called it Hell's Kitchen. I was here.

1985

London by far, if only for the easy access to so much of the continent. What easy access does NYC provide? New Jersey (you live in Jersey? What exit!).

Please R117. Don’t embarrass yourself. The migration from the Village to Chelsea started in the early 1980s. The neighborhood was known as Hell’s Kitchen going back to the Gilded Age.

Quit while you are behind.

Southeast England is one big airport runway.

How many cocks have you sucked? 0

London

I find these posts completely embarrassing.

My favorites:

r67 who claims familiarity with NY which has “lost is character from Valhalla to the Lower Bay” — what on Earth are you talking about? Did you look up landmarks on Google Maps. You are a twat.

r81 who is a brit who is proud of having travelled on a charter flight to Mallorca, which has warm water that cannot be experienced anywhere in the whole of the USA. Ever hear of the gulf stream? You are a double twat.

DL is disappointing me with all of this dumb faggotry.

R124, please familiarize yourself with the concept of parody and the definition of "scold."

Also, you cite two examples of "all" and then shit on gay men. You don't have the right.

An idiot who demands a comparison of two cities on the DL as if it's an assignment and then scrutinizes over a hundred posts to show your psych. issues and asocial disorder needs to back the fuck off.

[QUOTE] R81] who is a brit who is proud of having travelled on a charter flight to Mallorca, which has warm water that cannot be experienced anywhere in the whole of the USA. Ever hear of the gulf stream? You are a double twat.

Heard of it and heard of the Great Whites that plague Florida. The sea is rough all along the Eastern Seaboard. There's nowhere like the calas of Menorca and Mallorca or the Greek Islands.

[quote]which has warm water that cannot be experienced anywhere in the whole of the USA

False. Come to the Gulf. You obviously don't know a lot the water in the US.

"which has warm water that cannot be experienced anywhere in the whole of the USA"

Only because of the million Brit tourists peeing in it.

Is that wit or persuasion in your world, R128? Because you failed on both counts, ya dumb cunt.

Swimming in the Gulf is like being in a bath tub. Calm and warm. Sometimes the water isn't even cold enough to be really refreshing though I suppose going from 100 plus° on the sand to 82° water is still better than nothing.

I'm cynical about both, because I'm a Londoner and I recently visited NYC and found it so twee! It's cute but doesn't have much of a look. I was expected to be stunned considering the hype about it, but there was something rather meh about it.

That said, there's no such thing as a better city. It's all about what an individual prefers. For me, though, my heart lies with European cities (with history and art and architecture going back millennia and a centre where great things happened and suburbs that tell a bigger story).

If you live in London, then you can easily take weekend trips to anywhere in Europe. That alone makes it miles better than NYC.

New York is "cute but doesn't have much of a look."

All righty...

R120- you don’t live in NYC. Got it.

[QUOTE] False. Come to the Gulf. You obviously don't know a lot the water in the US.

We are talking about NYC and its proximity to decent beaches/warm sea. It's not two hours' flight time from the Gulf of Mexico the way London is from Spain.

r135 It's only an hour more. But the Gulf of Mexico has flesh eating bacteria in it.

You're right R135 but when has a DL thread ever stayed on topic and not devolved into two or more posters squabbling about something off topic?😁

"NYC is a big swinging dick."'

And two of the biggest dicks in the world are NYC born and bred: Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani.

Top that, London.

R131 “It’s cute but doesn’t have much of a look” about New York? That’s the dopiest thing I’ve ever read here and that’s saying something.

New York is not what I’d call a beautiful city. Some of it is pretty but much of it is harsh and ugly. The super tall buildings have ruined the skyline and the lack of alleys means there’s full to bursting garbage bags on the sidewalk all the time.

[QUOTE] It's only an hour more. But the Gulf of Mexico has flesh eating bacteria in it.

And Great Whites.

It's London for me. You can feel the history.

London, hands down. The entire NYC reeks of pee, and that's just for starters.

[quote]It's London for me. You can feel the history.

MAKE WAY FOR THE KING'S GUARD!!!

City on fire!!

NYC has bubonic plague.

Oh perfect R146. I'm due in NYC tomorrow morning. Note to self: Avoid subways.

When I was younger I loved NYC. Loved it. I especially loved walking around the city. I loved the Met and MOMA, and the theater offerings and the food and the history and lore of various neighborhoods. The energy suited me. But now I love London. Truly love it. And I don't miss NYC at all.