What are the world's snobbiest cities?

Answer 1

It's far too vague of a topic to narrow it down to a few cities because each is completely different from the next.

Also, I am not saying that all residents of these cities are snobby, I am simply taking into account my experiences and making a judgement based on the behaviour of people that occurred the most.

North America

1. Beverly Hills, California - a disgusting cesspit of superficiality, materialism and falsity that is disguised underneath ostentatious architecture and spurious personalities of the filthy rich and famous.

I personally don't see the attraction to Beverly Hills or the neighbouring Los Angeles. I think that although the weather and geographical locations of the cities are idyllic, they are both, in general, shabby and paltry. The downtown area of Los Angeles is dwarfed by plain, unsophisticated blocks of glass which reflect the superficiality of the city and show that it is steered completely by money.

2. New York (Manhattan) - a small, overcrowded island populated mostly by unimpressive and architecturally inferior blocks of concrete (like most major American metropolises). Manhattan is only concerned with business, enterprise and finance. The people are also always in somewhat of a hurry because they lead chaotic lives and have demanding jobs, meaning that 9 times out of 10, they are trying to get to their next destination as quickly as possible and do not want to stop to help tourists with directions or socialise.

3. Montreal, Quebec - The leading city of the only French-speaking province of Canada. I wouldn't deem Montreal as snobby based on conservative reasons but in my experience they are unwelcoming to the surrounding provinces and cities because they have a unique culture and language that makes them quite different to cities outside of Quebec which they are intent on preserving. However, as a result of this desire to protect their uniqueness, they also make themselves appear as disinterested and haughty towards non-Montrealers/Montréalais.

(I would include cities of South America and the Caribbean but I haven't visited those areas).

Europe

4. London, England - London is perhaps (and has been ever since it rose to prominence) the headquarters of snobbery and snootiness in Europe. In fact, I was born in London and grew up around it.

London is absolutely huge and I'm afraid it's impossible to avoid generalisation in answering this question, so I would like to point out that there are some areas of London that are very friendly down-to-earth, like Southwark, or Greenwich or Hampstead. However, this deviation is outweighed by the tremendous snobbery that exists in places like Kensington & Chelsea, Central London (financial district), Westminster and several other parts of West London, which have always been home to affluence because of their aesthetic opulence and exquisite architecture. London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and has served as the centre of high society for hundreds of years - an archaic tradition that has been retained. Apart from this, London is also one of the most populated cities on Earth and reigns as the most important city in terms of finance (recently beat New York), meaning a lot of Londoners, much like New Yorkers, are travelling to work and are in a hurry because of their hectic lives. Another reason for London's snobbery is actually down to the misinterpretation of the attitudes of the cities' residents by visitors. London is the most visited city in the world and thousands of tourists walk our ancient streets everyday, so it is understandable that Londoners may come across as unconcerned and feel disconcerted if a tourist asks for directions.

A trait that is quite unique to Britons is emotional restraint and reservedness. Yes. In London, we are perceived to be cold, disinterested and intolerant to what others has to say. However this is sometimes down to the fact that we are mostly independent, over-polite and are simply keeping ourselves to ourselves (which has a reverse effect). In terms of being reserved, we are also on the whole not as frank as the rest of the world and are rather stoic in comparison. Hopefully our stiff upper lip softens.

5. Paris, France - Paris is similar to London and New York in the sense that people generally lead busy and hectic lives and have demanding jobs. Parisians may appear as careless of visitors and tourists which could be a result of the thousands of tourists that visit the city.

The French are also on the whole rather determined to uphold their culture and so may be very unwilling to communicate with people who cannot speak French or have a basic knowledge of it. This doesn't necessarily make them bad people, however. In fact, I think behind the unfortunate general sense of overbearing snootiness as a result of pride, Paris is a magnificent city.

Oceania

6. Sydney, Australia - The most populous city of Australia. Also it's financial capital. I find that the general attitude in Sydney isn't exactly snobby per se, but there is some sense of that Sydney is more important than other Oceanian cities like Melbourne, Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra etc and as a result, there are a significant amount of Sydneysiders that believe they are superior.

This probably exists in those other cities however I feel that as the most economically powerful city in Oceania, Sydney believes itself to be better than its counterparts.

Apart from this, Sydney is one of the most friendly cities on Earth. I just think there is a sense of this among its populous.