It's official. Cape Town (South Africa)is the best city in the world.

Don't take our word for it - that accolade comes from thousands of international travellers polled for one of the world's most prestigious travel surveys, the UK's 2004 Telegraph Travel Awards.

If you don't believe the Brits, take the Yanks' word for it. The American 2004 Condé Nast Top 100 Readers' Choice Awards has also placed Cape Town at the top of the heap in the Best City category for Africa and the Middle East.

And if that isn't enough, in the 2004 High Life Travel Awards, British Airways voted Cape Town the best city in the world in which to eat out, pipping New York, Sydney, London and Paris to the post.

The Daily Telegraph has published its travel poll for the past seven years. It is an independent market research survey of 25 000 Telegraph readers.

In its poll Sydney and Venice take second and third places.
Cape Town is also home to one of the best hotels in the world, according to the survey. The Mount Nelson Hotel was voted third-best city hotel in the world behind the Waldorf Astoria in New York City and the Shangri-La in Singapore.