DURHAM has been voted as the best city in the UK by readers of a travel magazine.

The historic market city, which boasts an impressive castle and cathedral, pushed Edinburgh and London into second and third place respectively.

It is a new entry in the Cond Nast Traveller Readers' Travel Awards, which took place at Claridge's in London tonight.

Durham was singled out for its user-friendliness, value for money and being the cleanest city.

Sarah Miller, editor of Cond Nast Traveller, said: "For this jewel of a city to pip both the capital cities of Edinburgh and London is a major achievement.

"Our readers loved how user-friendly the size of the city was and also felt it offered best value for money.

"But perhaps more importantly they love the aesthetics.

"It is an extremely pretty university town and they also thought that the people and the cleanliness of the place makes it an amazingly nice place to visit."

The awards showed readers felt Bath has the best architecture and Oxford is best for culture.

Manchester is the friendliest while London has the highest scores for accommodation, food and nightlife, but was marked down for cleanliness, value for money and safety.