The world’s friendliest cities: Melbourne and Auckland named the best places to put a smile on your face

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It's great to be a tourist down under, as travellers name Australia and New Zealand among the best vacation destinations - their cities of Melbourne and Auckland are the friendliest in the world.

These cities in neighbouring countries tied for first place in Conde Nast’s annual reader’s survey of friendliest cities in the world, with visitors enamoured of the friendly and funny locals and wowed by the culture on offer.

Readers praised Auckland for its “clear air, fresh food, and amazing culture,” and called Melbourne “one of the classiest cities in the world” with the locals “a friendly bunch” with a “wonderful sense of humour”.

Melbourne's abundance of national parks and public art are given special mention by readers, and the magazine itself calls it the "capital of cool" for its cuisine, its happening night-life and its world-class arts scene.

Sydney also placed high (no. 5) as that corner of the world established itself as a premier vacation hotspot.

No British city made the list, and neither were any considered particularly unfriendly, but Dublin tied for number five, with readers calling it a “vibrant city”.

On the other side of things, global cities such as Beijing, Moscow and Paris were voted the most unfriendly places to visit, with Johannesburg in South Africa elected the least friendly city in the world.

“It is not safe to travel in Johannesburg independently,” warned one reader, and safety seemed the consistent complaint levelled against the city otherwise considered “one of the most beautiful” in the world.

According to the survey, Moscow has “unfriendly people,” Parisians are “downright rude” and Beijing’s pollution is “terrible”.