Perth has shaken off its “Dullsville” tag with a global travel guide calling it a “city of immense charm and stunning physical beauty” and comparing part of the western suburbs to Italy’s Amalfi coast.

 


In what is tipped to be a boon for tourism, the first edition of The Escapist has highlighted Perth as one of 10 cities worth visiting, alongside Italy’s Trieste, Spain’s San Sebastian and Anchorage in Alaska.

 The eight-page article, published by Monocle and distributed to more than 100 nations, is now on sale.

A spokeswoman for the publisher said the travel list was based on cities that recently came of age and had something special to offer, but were not necessarily on top of most of their readers’ travel lists.

“We've certainly noticed that Perth gets a bad rap, not just internationally but domestically as well, ” she said.

“To really put the city through its paces, we assigned our Tokyo editor to cover the city and she was blown away by what was on offer.”

But like the New York Times review that last year caused a backlash when it claimed Perth was hipper than the hippest parts of Brooklyn, there are concerns the article has oversold some aspects of Perth.

The article quotes locals calling Perth “God’s Country” and claims The Coombe on Mosman Park’s foreshore is an “antipodean Amalfi, an exclusive pocket of real estate with properties hugging the riverside”.

The Amalfi is the UNESCO-listed section of the Italian coast lined with small pastel-coloured villages and rugged mountains.

The Amalfi coast, Italy. Picture: www.italy-positano.com

The article calls Perth Australia’s sunniest city with the fastest-growing population of 20-somethings in the country, mentioning its thriving economy, dazzling white, sandy beaches and its “open skies and bright, bright light”.

Local architect Nic Brunsdon is quoted as saying: “If aliens put a pin in a map and chose the best place to live, they’d pick Perth.

“It has a great climate, it has money, it’s politically stable and it’s developed, but not too much.”

The article’s only criticism is about Perth’s car culture and urban sprawl. But it notes the efforts to inject extra vibrancy and density.

Lynda Dorrington from arts organisation FORM, who is quoted in the article, said it was a fair portrayal of Perth, despite some artistic licence in some sections. “You won’t find me complaining, ” she said. “It’s good to find we are making it into magazines like this.”


THE TOP TEN

1. San Sebastian, Spain

2. Sapporo, Japan

3. Córdoba, Spain

4. Chiang Mai, Thailand

5. Anchorage, Alaska

6. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

7. Trieste, Italy

8. Perth, Australia

9. Warsaw, Poland

10. Bangor, US

 

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