Edinburgh voted UK's favourite city

Edinburgh has been voted the UK's favourite city at this year's Guardian/Observer Travel Awards 2003.

The Scottish capital came out on top for the fifth successive year and was joined in second place by its neighbour Glasgow which moved up five places from last year.

Joining those two in the top five were Newcastle, Belfast and Winchester.

Based on the votes of more than 24,000 tourists, the Guardian/Observer Travel Awards is now in its 17th year.

Readers were asked to rate the quality of service they received on their holidays by ticking one of four boxes in a coupon which was published in January in the Guardian, the Observer and Guardian Unlimited.

Readers were asked about their holidays and told to tick the following boxes which were marked either: excellent, good, fair or poor. This figure was then translated into a percentage.

Among the other recipients at this year's awards were Trailfinders who won Best Travel Agent and British Airways who won Best Low Cost Airline.

The other winners were: Laskarina Holidays, Best Tour Operator; Virgin, Best Online Booking Service; Inntravel, Best Short Break Company; Waymark, Best Ski Company; Royal Carribean, Best Cruise Line; Singapore Airlines, Best Leisure Airline; Virgin, Best Business Airline; P&O North Sea Ferries, Best Ferry Crossing; Eurostar, Best Train Company; Arnold Clark, Best Car Hire Company; Hotel du Vin, Best UK Hotels; Shangri-La, Best Overseas Hotel; Sydney, Favourite Overseas City; Iceland, Favourite European Country; Chile, Favourite Long Haul Country; Original Travel, Best Brochure of the Year; and Trips Worldwide, Best Travel Website.

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