It’s no surprise tech cities are surging in interest as vacation destinations. Due to the interest in the latest gadgets, travelers like yourself tech accessibility. Indeed, even your hotel has to be high tech. Even further, tech-minded travelers like you enjoy prefer techy entertainment in a smart city. To illustrate, watching robots prepare your food or virtual reality gadgets at your hotel. Here are five of the most technologically advanced cities to consider exploring on your next urban vacation.
The World’s Most Technologically Advanced Cities
LondonÂ
Despite being best known for classic landmarks like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, London has emerged to become one of the world’s leading tech centers. That notion is never more evident than in East London Tech City, the location for one of the world’s most advanced technology clusters commonly known as Silicon Roundabout. In fact, high profile companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft all have offices there. With new tech emerging often, it’s clear that London is among the world’s most technologically advanced cities.
London’s Tech Attractions
Although Facebook, Google and Amazon maintain corporate offices in London., you might be more interested in tech related attractions. For example, Piccadilly Circus, ArcelorMittal Orbit and Pyramid Tower at Tate Modern. Of course, there’s the London Eye Ferris wheel, along the River Thames. Lastly, if you have time, visit the National Museum of Computing (TNMOC), featuring the world’s largest collection of working historic computers. TNMOC is in Bletchley Park, also known as the “Home of the Codebreakers”.
New York
The Bay Area may have Silicon Valley, but New York City has its own sizable share of advanced technology. In fact, its Silicon Alley is second only to Silicon Valley in importance. Some of the city’s top landmarks are quite obvious, such as Times Square, with its glittering spectacle of sights and sounds. But you shouldn’t miss the solemn 9/11 Memorial Museum or the majestic One World Trade Center. If that’s not enough, check out the Vessel and the Edge, both in the dazzling new Hudson Yards.
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Additional High Tech Attractions in the Big Apple
Naturally, in America’s most populous city, you will have several other tech related attractions to enjoy. To give you a better idea, consider visiting Skyscape, Hayden Planetarium and the New York Hall of Science. Of course, if you need more things to do, visit the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, as well as the Nintendo Store. If that’s still not enough, there’s also the Harry Potter Store near Madison Square Park.
San Francisco
Quite possibly America’s most advanced city, San Francisco has experienced incredible growth as a result of the current tech boom. Although it’s not technically part of Silicon Valley, SF helped lead America way out of the recession era. That’s because it’s a center for new high tech businesses, jobs and office space. Furthermore, many of the biggest tech attractions are nearby, like Google, Facebook and Apple. Are you bringing your kids along for this trip? If so, visit the Exploratorium and the Walt Disney Family Museum.
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Additional San Francisco Tech Attractions
As one of the world’s leading tech cities, San Francisco always has something interesting for you to do. For instance, you can see the statue of Yoda at the Letterman Digital Arts Center, not from the iconic Palace of Fine Arts. In fact, it’s also close to the Walt Disney Family Museum. Also on the grounds of the Palace of Fine Arts is Palace Games, with an escape room. Of course, there are several tech headquarters based in San Francisco. Therefore, you may be interested in seeing the headquarters of Twitter and especially Salesforce.
Silicon Valley Attractions
If you can venture further south of San Francisco, you have many more tech attractions to see. Among the recommendations are NASA Ames Research Center, Apple Visitor Center, Google Android Statues and the Computer History Museum. If that’s not enough, there are also the famous HP Garage, Tech Interactive, Stanford University campus and the Intel Museum, if open.
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Seoul
As the capital and largest metropolis, Seoul is also the world’s most connected city. After all, South Korea currently offers the world’s fastest internet speeds. Moreover, free public Wi-Fi can be found most anywhere in the city. Already the base for such prominent companies as LG, Hyundai, Kia and Samsung, Seoul further has a strong American technology presence. For instance, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple maintain offices here. For high tech attractions, visit the Samsung Innovation Museum and Samsung d’Light. Lastly, the Robot Museum is expected to open in 2022.
Tokyo
A world leader in innovation for decades, Tokyo has often been cited as the world’s most advanced city for technology. In fact, Tokyo is home to many recognizable names in consumer and professional-grade electronics. For example, Sony, Nikon, Canon, Hitachi, Toshiba and Panasonic are headquartered here. Japan’s most advanced city is awash with high tech attractions, brilliant lights and an ever growing legion of smartphone users. For attractions, see Miraikan, Unicorn Gundam statue and Tokyo Skytree.
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About The Author
Randy Yagi is an award-winning freelance writer who served as the National Travel Writer for CBS Local from 2012-2019. More than 900 of his stories still appear in syndication across 23 CBS websites, including CBS New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. During his peak years with CBS, Randy had a reported digital audience reach of 489 million and 5.5 million monthly visitors. Additionally, his stories have appeared in the Daily Meal, CBS News, CBS Radio, Engadget, NBC and Radio.com.
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