Conde Nast Traveller awards announced

Conde Nast Traveller magazine has announced the winners of its 2008 Readers' Choice Awards, which compiled the opinions of more than 32,000 regular travellers.

For the seventh consecutive year, Sydney was voted the world's top city, followed by San Francisco, Florence, Cape Town and Bangkok.

Other cities to receive high ratings included Buenos Aires, Chiang Mai, Rome and Melbourne.

In the 'top islands' section of the awards, Maui was the overall winner, while the Maldives, Bermuda, Vancouver Island and Mykonos all came top in their regional categories.

Conde Nast Traveller readers also gave their opinions on the world's top airlines, with Singapore Airlines taking the top award, followed by Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

Conde Nast Traveller editor in chief Klara Glowczewska said: "These awards celebrate the destinations, lodgings and modes of transportation that manage to exceed our expectations.

"The Readers' Choice Awards, with over 32,000 readers voting, are a credit to the worldly expertise of our readers – passionate travellers for whom no island is too remote, no city too challenging and no hotel too untested."

• Less than a week until Esta launch
• US connecting flights proving popular at Bristol Airport
• Record year for London City Airport
• Virgin Atlantic to celebrate 25th year
• Record passenger growth for Etihad in 2008
• KLM to turn 90 this year
• Continental to launch new Heathrow flights
• Aer Lingus to launch flights from Gatwick Airport
• British Airways orders 11 new aircraft
• Milestone reached in Birmingham Airport pier project