Speaking of great cities, great perceived beauty can, of course, make up for several problems. Not least, size (too small) or atmosphere (too chaotic).

How else to explain Bruges and Rio de Janeiro’s appearance on this list of the world’s 10 most beautiful cities?

The list runs as follows:

Venice

Paris

Prague

Lisbon

Rio

Amsterdam

Rome

Budapest

Bruges

Interestingly though, the same compilers take only ‘world capitals and major cities’ for this other (surely more contentious) list: The 10 ugliest cities in the world.

And it runs as follows:

Guatemala City, Guatemala

Mexico City, Mexico

Amman, Jordan

Caracas, Venezuela

Luanda, Angola

Chisinau, Moldova

Houston, USA

Detroit, USA

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Los Angeles, USA

Imagine, not a single American city qualifies for the first list and three are firmly in the second!