1. Markarth: beautiful design, i think dwemer ruins are awesome, sweet sidequests, especially the forsworn conspiracy (and its where ma house is)

2. Solitude: definately the nicest place to live in skyrim. Its the biggest city (i think), the natural arch think is really cool, castle dour and the blue palace are also really cool

3. Whiterun: i always find myself drawn back to this city, it seems like its the most alive, its the center of skyrim, and just feels the most.... cozy

4. Windhelm: most of the time the weather is nasty, but when its not snowing, windhelm has gorgeous mountain vistas surrounding the cities. I also find the architecture interesting

5. The ratways are awesome, but this city is just.... meh. Some parts are cool though

1. Solitude: Yeah, it's a bit small for a capital but it harkens back to the Imperial architectural style.
2. Whiterun: Central hub of the game. Looks absolutely dumbfounding with the foliage mod.
3. Windhelm: Arguably the most sizable city in the game, next to Whiterun. It's a bit bleak, but could a city be any more Nordly?
4. Markarth: Only because I despise Riften more. This city is far too mazy. What it loses in horizontal space, it makes up for it by being annoyingly vertical.
5. Riften... 'Nuff said.

1. Markarth. First for the community, archtecture, and because the have the "bloodiest beef in the Reach"
2. Why no love for the Rift? Takes second for its constant fall theme.
3. Solitude. The architectural style appeals to me for some reason.
4. Windhelm. Lands fourth only because of their treatment of the dark elves.
5. Whiterun. After constant trips to the city it just gets bland. Nazeem earns Whiterun its fifth place, even though he's sitting in an urn down in the crypts.

I'll take the hidden option #6 .....

Blackreach is a Dwemer major city, and depsite being in ruins - still the most awesome city ever designed by Bethesda.

i love blackreach to death, it blew me away

1. Riften- I like the layout of the city, and the people are rather... interesting once you do quests for them and they are friendly towards you. It's also where I keep my stuff. 10/10

2. Solitude- It's a beautiful city with plenty of shops and people. It has quite a few quests, infinite spiced wine and where you get the Wabbajack! 8.5/10

3. Whiterun- The layout is quite easy to get used to. It has all the essentials, a potion shop, a general store, weapon shops for archers and warriors and the court wizard for mages. It would be nice if the only arcane enchanter in town was a bit closer to the center of town. 8/10

4. Windhelm- Hmm, it has a lot of stalls open for dropping off your stuff, but the layout is a bit overwhelming at the first visit, and some of the people are jerks. Also, the Butcher. 5/10

5. Markarth- The city is a mess. The purchasable house is far away from the front gate, the multilevel setup is confusing for the first 3-5 visits (at least for me), the quests there weren't exactly interesting (Except Daedra quest, they're always good), the Thalmor can go as they please and Forsworn spies are around every corner. At least the architecture is Dwemerish. 2.5/10

i think you ment "windhelm"

I keep forgetting the name. So I just say the Hold's name. Thanks for reminding me.

1) Solitude. Tons of shops, cool layout, actually feels like a city.
2) Markarth. It's a creative city, and the Dwemer-ish feel. Also an interesting history. Quests not so much.
3) Windhelm has interesting quests, otherwise it's visually fuzzy.
4) Whiterun. Meh. Skyforge is cool.
5) Riften. I really don't like how it's laid out, and the thieves' guild quest is one of the worst. Arrrrrgh.

Also, I say Blackreach is one of the best environments Bethesda has ever made. EVER.

Going east to west:

Riften - nice climate, interesting design. Once thieve's guild quests are complete and the guild is 'reborn', it's a great place to own a house and dispose of loot because of all the merchants in the cistern area. Balimund can also train in smithing. Also: two alchemists!
Downside: no smelter.

Windhelm - so frigid.......but: decent merchant quarter. Like dealing with niranye and the alchemist. Both the waterfront/docks and the grey quarter are wasted opportunities, however. House is.....interesting, though it feels a bit haunted. The fact that the jarl assigned me a guy for housecarl is damn irritating. Plus side: a smelter! And - Niranye's enchanter table.

Whiterun - very sunny and bright. A happy place . Has it all - alchemist, general merchant, smelter, TWO smiths (including the best in the greater province.) Downside: I can't seem to find a thieve's guild contact to unload major portions of loot. House is nice, but limited (only alchemist table, no enchanter table.) Lydia is a fiiiiiiiiiine housecarl.

Markarth - forbidding city with an air of great menace and dread, located in a haunted, chaotic province with low, grey mountains. Veerrryy sinister, easily my least favorite city. The jarl and the silverblood family don't help.
But - there's a thieves guild contact, an alchemist, general merchant, TWO forges and a smelter. House is the least attractive, but still decent. Dude for a housecarl is a major turnoff.

Solitude - very, very attractive city. Picturesque, even more than Whiterun. Underused potential at port. Good selection of merchants; the fletcher is a great bonus. No smelter, though. House is gorgeous, probably the best of them all, and Jorlis the sword maiden is slurpalicious.

Ranked in order:
1. Riften
2. Solitude
3. Windhelm
4. Whiterun
5. Markarth

I'd say the cities most ripe for DLC expansion are Markarth and Riften. Markarth has several unexplored/unexcavated Dwemer tunnels; Riften is simply a great place for skullduggery, in addition to having access to Morrowind.

Riften- I know many people don't like this city, but it has a lot of personality to me and has the best "story" of all of the cities in my opinion. The corruption, greed, poverty that runs throughout the city is very interesting and that architecture suits the city nicely.

Solitude- Very pretty and sizable with an interesting character of its own. The houses are all really cool to explore and it's great for a thief (tons of expensive things nom nom nom ). Also, arguably the best player house in the game.

Windhelm- Very dark, depressing, eerie, and oppressive... but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad city! The fact that it elicits so many emotions speaks to its strong design and personality. The characters here are all very very interesting and the politics of the city are just as interesting.

Whiterun- A pretty chipper place but very one-dimensional. The characters here are all bland and boring for the most part (the exception being the city's Jarl). The layout is fine but this city doesn't really have a uniqueness and it certainly doesn't feel like the trading capital of the province. If anything, it's a bit empty in my opinion.

Markarth- As said above, this city is really a mess. I think Bethesda probably had a good idea when coming up with the origins of this city, but its layout is so confusing and random that I just avoid it all together. The characters here are very hit or miss. And while the architecture is cool it doesn't make up for the fact that I never know which way to go no matter how many times I visit.

Those are my opinions

Solitude

Markarth

Whiterun

Riften

Windhelm

1. Balmora
2. Skingrad
3. Sadrith Mora
4. Anvil
5. Any Skyrim "City"

Markarth - Beautiful, mysterious, and just well designed by the devs

Solitude - Awesomely large and beautiful but Radiant Raiment is located there

Whiterun - I love it for many reasons but it just doesn't have that edge that makes it amazing

Riften - Would be higher if not so rundown

Windhelm - It looks like a freezing cold slum and reminds me of old ruins and crypts that litter Skyrim

I decided to include all the hold capital in my summary.

1. Whiterun - Because of the steppes.
2. Markarth - The beautiful Reach and amazing architecture.
3. Windhelm - A massive fortification and constant freezing weather. What's not to love?
4. Falkreath - A cozy place, like Riverwood but bigger and surrounded by epic forests (especially with mods).
5. Solitude - A nice overall city and the arch is a unique idea but I dislike the architecture and it feels dead.
6. Winterhold - Very interesting place, if only it hadn't been destroyed it would've had great potential.
7. Dawnstar - Again, tons of unexploited potential but this time there's no excuse in the lore to make up for it's shallowness (a crying shame BTW, I really like the area).
8. Riften and the Rift - It just svcks, the whole city does and I hate thieves...honor-less scum. The constant fall theme of the Rift is also a bummer.



For the record, Oblivion cities svck big time. Absolutely no detail, it reeks of a quantity-over-quality sales pitch (as does the whole game, especially the countryside).

Same could be said about Skyrim's cities trade posts.

Lets be honest, Morrwind is the only one where they really went all out designing each town/city to be different and unique.

lol

Markarth
Windhelm- something about it maybe because it's so Nordic
Solitude
Whiterun
Riften

1. Solitude - Solitude seems fairly safe. The kind of place you'd want to raise a family. It being a large shipping city means the economy is probably good as well.
The rock arch Solitude is situated upon is quite a marvel as well.

2. Whiterun - Whiterun is another safe feeling city, though its centralized location makes it prone to attacks during times of war. Gildergleem seems to be the only interesting thing in the city to see.
Never really liked the plains around Whiterun.

3. Markarth - Markarth is one of the most amazing sites in all of Skyrim, and the surrounding area is not bad either. Sadly this beauty comes at a price. Markarth is prone to terrorist attacks by the Forsworn, and its filled with corruption.

4. Riften - The city of Riften isn't the prettiest city, but it does feel cozy. The surrounding area is quite stunning and pretty. Sadly it is the home of the Thieve's Guild and has lots of corruption

5. Windhelm - Windhelm is a city filled with fat racist nords. It is dirty, cold, and very uninviting. The is no good things about it.

Windhelm - It's not a pleasent city at all (would hate it in real life) but that's what I like about it in the game, a cold brutal city with a murderer skulking the streets, it's exciting lol.
Riften - I love the area it's set in I guess, the leafy/decidious forest setting, city itself is okayish.
Markarth - Big cool city with nice quests and such.
Solitude - Nicest city of course but a bit too open in some areas, dunno..
Whiterun - Feels like I've visited it far too many times.

1) Whiterun: Central location trumps pretty much all other considerations for those of us who don't fast travel. Player house right inside the gate with businesses to sell off loot right next door makes this easily the most convenient city.

2) Riften: Home of one of the guilds and passably close to Ivarstead, I like the aesthetics of this town on the lake.

3) Solitude: What's not to like? Definately some coolness going on here too with a city built atop a gigantic arch. Center of Imperial control, it's a place you visit often. Nice player home. But, suffers from too far out of the way syndrome. Only beats Markarth because you are more likely to need to come here.

4) Markarth: Coolness citified, the look of this place is great. Has a nice player home as well. It's location is the biggest blow to it's ranking.

5) Windhelm: Hideous and out of the way, this blight on the land is the home of Ulfric and his Stormcloaks and isn't even considered inhabitable until the Empire wins the civil war and cleans his stench from the place. It's the only city I actually dislike.

do you think we will see true city expansions by modders? because the "cities" are tiny right now

All of them are pretty much terrible and really small. City? Small settlement is more suitable. Even if they couldn't do open cities, they could have divided them up into quarters like the imperial City sort-of. There should be the castle/palace, the market district, high class (tailing off into middle class) district and then the slums. As you walk through the city the attiude of people would change and you would go from being safe to having to make sure you don't get robbed/attacked. There should be a house in each district that you can purchase as well as random encounters where you see theives/poor stealing from stalls. That's how I would have done it.

1.Solitude
2.Windhelm
3.Markarth
4.Riften
5.Whiterun

Yes, there is a 'Skyrim's cities aren't really cities' bandwagon. With luck, once it's loaded it will drive off a cliff.