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These two SA cities voted best to ‘wake up in’ – Do you live in one of them?
Two South African cities were voted the most 'Instagrammable' among early birds. See some of the breathtaking sunsets here.
Whale Bone Pier in KwaZulu-Natal. Photo: iStock
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As the world returns to international travel, Premier Inn researched which cities gain the most traction from early birds, and two South African cities made it to the list.
The goal of the report was to highlight how peaceful exploring cities in the morning can be.
Best cities to wake up in
Methodology
The report was compiled by monitoring the amount of #goodmorning-related Instagram hashtags for popular city travel destinations in Africa and globally.
Premier Inn researched more than 250 of the most populated cities in the world on Instagram to find the places photographed during the early morning hours.
“Instagrammers are rising early and getting their cameras ready to catch a glimpse of Africa’s most beautiful cities to see the sunrise in,” the report states.
Best African cities to wake up in
Lagos in Nigeria was tagged the most, making it Africa’s most popular city to explore first thing in the morning.
Instagram users shared photos of Lagos’ “vibrant feel with people on their morning commute, making time to take a morning snap in front of Lagos Lagoon”.
South Africans will be delighted with Cape Town taking the second spot with 2,233 tags, and Durban landing fourth, with 467 tags.
Cape Town’s top photographers’ spots were sunsets captured from the Lion’s Head hiking routes, showing that the mother city “is even more beautiful from a great height”.
In third place is Cairo with #GoodMorningCairo posts showcasing the reflections of the sunrise on the Nile from Roda Island.
Rounding up the Top Five is Nairobi in Kenya with 407 hashtags.
Africa’s most popular morning cities
| Rank | City | Country | Insta hashtags |
| 1 | Lagos | Nigeria | 3,807 |
| 2 | Cape Town | South Africa | 2,233 |
| 3 | Cairo | Egypt | 768 |
| 4 | Durban | South Africa | 467 |
| 5 | Nairobi | Kenya | 407 |
| 6 | Casablanca | Morocco | 198 |
| 7 | Accra | Ghana | 54 |
| 8 | Alexandria | Egypt | 48 |
| 9 | Kampala | Uganda | 44 |
| 10 | Kano | Nigeria | 38 |
Best cities to wake up in globally
The report also includes a Top Ten for the best cities to wake up in globally. London is the crown jewel, with nearly 40,000 hashtags, followed by Dubai (28,200 tags).
The rest of the Top Five is made up of Paris with 22,500 hashtags, New York with 18,700, and Berlin with more than 16,400 #goodmorning-related hashtags.
Top 10 most popular morning cities around the world
| Rank | Top global cities | Country | No. of hashtags |
| 1 | London | United Kingdom | 39,600 |
| 2 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | 28,200 |
| 3 | Paris | France | 22,500 |
| 4 | New York City | USA | 18,700 |
| 5 | Berlin | Germany | 16,400 |
| 6 | Tokyo | Japan | 14,900 |
| 7 | Chicago | USA | 12,000 |
| 8 | Sydney | Australia | 11,000 |
| 9 | Rome | Italy | 10,700 |
| 10 | San Diego | USA | 9,500 |
The full report can be viewed here.
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