Top 5 Cities For Night Views

I was browsing in a camera shop tonight and got thinking about taking photos at night. I suddenly realised that of all the outdoor photos I have uploaded on here, about 95% of them are daytime! So here’s 5 of my favourite cities by night, for views.

The thing about night photos is they need to have decent lighting, and therefore the big skyscraping cities will feature on this list rather than rural farms. Starting with Asia’s “World City”, Hong Kong.

1. Victoria Harbour, HONG KONG:

For views, you cannot really beat Hong Kong. And I know I’m only basing this on places I’ve actually seen at night, but I love it. A pretty, clean, shiny harbour reflecting boats, skyscrapers and with mountains in behind, it is hard not to love the busy night time appeal of the Kong. For the best night views, it’s either

(a) go to The Peak!

(b) get a mate who has a flat with a view (in 3 places in Hong Kong I have stayed, all had decent night views!)

(c) head for dinner in a high restaurant such as Aqua or Sky 100 . Please note that Sky 100 costs to get to the top, whereas Aqua you can just pop in for a cocktail, which I have done a couple of times!

2. Tokyo, JAPAN:

Although I’m not a fan of Tokyo (for whatever reason I am not sure – I normally love all the big cities), at night it livens up and the amazing lights give the city a whole new buzz. At night I visited Shinagawa, Shinjuku, Roppongi, Shibuya, Shinkiba and Ginza and was impressed by the bouyant array of lights, people doing whatever they wanted (mostly eating and shopping). For a travelling Northern Irishman, I did find Tokyo a little bit crazy and actually haven’t even written about my trip there at all yet.

3. Sydney, AUSTRALIA:

What can I say? Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour etc. Sydney at night is fantastic. I spent 1.5 years living on the western edge of Sydney and loved it. Although by night I was busy working in pubs most of the time, I still caught the amazing New Year’s Eve fireworks display in 2009.  You can climb the Sydney Tower at night for a great view, but seriously I prefer just chilling in a bar or restaurant down by the harbour front.

4. St. Malo, FRANCE:

This might seem like an odd choice, and actually even for me it is, but I always feel like I leave Europe out of my travel stories (despite the fact I come from Northern Ireland!) so St. Malo at night has so many fond memories for me. Best of all, I got paid to watch St. Malo by night as I worked there numerous times! This gorgeous old style walled city in on the Brittany Coast in the north of France. At night, the local streets serve up amazing crepes, lush French wine and have a lively yet respectable vibe about them.

I spent a fair few nights in the city itself, but most of my views of the gorgeous St. Malo were from the bow of the ship as we sailed in or out of this splendid French Port! If you live in the south of England, hop on a Condor Ferry and spend a night at least in St. Malo! Or if you want to do it faster, check out this site for cheap flights to France !

5. Budapest, HUNGARY:

What? Another European one? Yes, as the view of Budapest from the hills at Gellert is stunning! I was lucky enough to get driven by a local girl up to the hills to view the city by day and night, at night the stunning two sides of Buda and Pest meet, split by a wide river, the gleaming island of Margit Sziget in between and the incredible Budapest Parliament. Don’t forget to pop for some sweet Hungarian wine and Goulash after your trip to Gellert Hills!

Best website on it: Budapest Guide.

So that’s just a snapshot of my top 5 cities for night views. Of course I’ve left lots of them out, I can think of New York, London, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg and Caracas as other decent cities by night, will maybe do some more night posting in future.

Don’t Stop Living!

Here’s a video I made of Hong Kong by night from The Peak:

 

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