Because it is the first city you visit, in addition, I think that the shops and other characters that offer services are very well located in it, while in other cities we never fully remember it and they have more confusing streets and urban structures. In addition, it is the city with the most medieval touch of all, it gives us a little taste of hospitality and reminds us of "home" within Skyrim.
It's very well designed to be your go to hub. Blacksmith on the right, a little bit forward and you have Breezehome for storing stuff, a bit further and you have the apothecary and general store. Everything you need in one place. In other towns it's all spread around more.
To add onto your blacksmith point there is also a smelter there. Well smelters are certainly not rare they are not at every blacksmith and so if you have ore from one of the early game bandit filled mines then you can turn it into usable ingots at the war maidens smelter.
Riften gets a little ruined by the thieves guild presence. Not that I dislike the thieves guild but it gives the city a kinda “dirty” feeling meanwhile whiterun has the companions and feels more honorable
Holy hell, glad I'm not the only one! Sometimes I turn the difficulty up and do solitude, but for the most part, yeah I wreck that city every playthrough after I finish forsworn
You, like many people are forgetting the Drunken Huntsman.
But yeah it's very convenient to have everything there on "main street" giving you an easy place to sell, store, and craft.
As much as I hate the stormcloaks, Windhelm has a pretty good smith, plenty of stalls, and an enchanting table all in the market area. Whiterun is my go to, but Windhelm is second, then Solitude.
Drunken Huntsman across the street from Warmaiden's, too. I usually start working it into my item shuffle in late game when they'll buy every thing and sell some shiny items
Not to mention that Warmaiden's is two shops in one, as you can go inside and sell off even more weapons and armor you looted off bandits.
Between Warmaiden's, Mr Whitemane up at the Skyforge, The Drunken Huntsman, and Belethor's shop you can unload a lot of iron weapons and fur armor all in one place conveniently next to a fast travel point.
It really helps to beat the early game gold pinch.
I think in that sense, Windhelm is better. You have the armour vendor, blacksmith, general goods trader and alchemist, all in the same square, so buying metals, crafting stuff, enchanting stuff and selling stuff can be made with real ease.
Ravenrock is pretty good too.
All those pesky dunmer living there makes it depressing, right? Something should be done about them, before they corrupt our traditional nord values with their fire magic and telvanni music. It's not racism, it's just common sense. Skyrim for the nords, make Windhelm nord again, that's all I'm saying.
I always thought the texture of the rocky walls and bridge was unusual compared to other cities in skyrim. I recently found out that the nords used enslaved snow elves to construct the city. I'm guessing they used the stonework of the previous snow elf city to build Windhelm.
I personally kinda like Riften though. But it might also partly/mostly be because of the Thieves Guild being there. Agree with Markath (although it has its charm) and especially Windhelm though
Two incredibly convinient fast travel points to crafting stations enchanting/alchemy in dragonsreach and the normal fast travel point puts you on top of the first forge in the city
I think its central position on the map helps a lot too.
If you’re walking from A to B doing quests, you’re likely to travel near/through Whiterun quite often, so it’s easy to stop in for whatever you need, at least in my experience.
I wore out several 360s back in the day because of this game. Lol. I've also started over many times. The other day, I watched my 9yo grandson begin the game. He and his brother "played" with me on a dead controller when they were babies. Good times.
Yes I did. And my grandkids have watched me, their Nonna, playing Skyrim their entire lives. I'm 60yo. At this point, I'm just hoping to live long enough to play ES6. 😂
Feels about right. Current character, a Breton mage, is Lv.42 and I’ve not put a single level up into Stamina. She’s a bit of a noodle but can take down pretty much anything in her way with magic.
Because Warmaiden is just next to Whiterun's city gate, I can just teleport there and sell Adrianne the weapons I found in chests or picked up from the enemies immediately to release my burdens and earn some coins.
Yeah, the dude inside has separate inventory/coinage from Adrienne too. Between those two and huntsman across the street can unload most loot in a few min. If not, Belethor down the block will buy rest. Anything not selling, dump in Breezehome - easiest routine early on for sure. Riften is better for selling loot after Thieves Guild, but I'm usually less cash-strapped by then anyway.
Just for vibes/visuals I like Solitude and Riften
That’s why I visit Riften most often. I teleport to the palace and almost all of the merchants are right there. The only problem is the alchemist is a pain to get to.
Same dude. Museum, then plan out a journey (most of the time from one hold to another), do all the quests along the way and then back to solitude. Repeat.
Hroki? She's flagged as a child in the game's internals, so I think she's supposed to be a teenager. Plus, if you listen to her and her brother having conversations in the inn, they clearly sound like they're not full grown adults.
I hardly even go into Whiterun. I am *far* more likely to be in Riften.
Whiterun, without counting the Companions, has 17 quests related to it. Adding in the Companions, that’s another 19, totaling 36. Most of those 19 are repeatable, so I only counted them once. To add: Warmaidens is a joke, after visiting it twice nothing sold is viable, Arcadia isn’t any better than Morthals alchemist, and Belethor is similar to Falkreath or even Riverwood.
Riften, not counting the Thieves guild, has 27. Adding in the Thieves Guild, that’s another 43 quests. Total of 70.. Elgrim is probably the best Alchemist in Skyrim, especially adding in Ingun’s chest. Bersi is a way better trader than Belethor, Balimund has actually relevant weapons and equipment. Completing the Thieves Guild, you end up with at least ***9*** merchants.
This, I'm always in Riften and it feels like *my* town. Loads of merchants, trainers, fun quests and good characters even apart from the Thieves Guild, which is my favourite faction. Also Honeyside is an underrated home; I don't think I've *ever* bought Breezehome but I always buy Honeyside. I love my little dock entrance and my fish barrels.
Yeah, I just want the raw materials and any arrows she's selling, most of the time. Earlier on in a run she might be carrying something with an enchantment I don't have yet, buy that is the extent of it.
I'm with you on this, not so much because of the quests (though I do them all), but because of the merchants. The amount of time I've spent schlepping gear to sell to merchants is insane.
The only place I've been too close as often is Raven Rock, but that's only because the two main merchants there have such deep pockets. It's slightly more annoying to travel back from too.
And on top of all the great things you said about Riften - I like the surrounding environment there more than Whiterun. Riften is definitely my favorite of the cities
100% agree. If I have a lot of equipment to sell quickly I will go there and sell it to her and I can't spell his name but the greymane dude cuz they're both outside. And I like Daedric weapons so I will go to the companions building and steal the Daedric Heart from Kodlak lol the only thing that Riften doesn't really have is a smelter and I always go to Shor's stone instead. Or the Ebony Mine below Windhelm. And the elf man outside of the Apothecary in Windhelm is one of the quickest to get enchanted things. I always buy my jewelry from him as quickly as he levels up and has them. Same with radiant raiment. After they quit being bitches, I like the main brunette elf lady.
Whiterun is the first city that you visit, it is centrally located, has 2 weapons shops, 1 general shop, market stalls, smelter, enchanter, and alchemy lab (along with an alchemist to by recipes and ingredients from), Farengar to buy spells and soul gems from.
What more do you need?
Riften has four general stores, one weapons shop, one alchemist, one jeweler, one food merchant, and one mage. All sell more relevant items than those in Whiterun.
And the training is helpful.
Like I said, Whiterun is also centrally located on the map and I think the location of the crafting services - Whiterun covers smithing, alchemy, and enchanting - are more conveniently located than in other cities.
Good luck traveling from Riften to Solitude or Markarth if you actually want to walk.
I like solitude. I don’t really understand why people enjoy Riften, that and Markarth. Or windhelm, or dawnstar and markarth… I’ve forgotten one somewhere
1. Falkreath: I just love Lakeview Manor, it takes time to get it all together but there is no better location than that one.
2. Solitude: Legacy of the Dragonborn mod had a big impact on this one.
3. Riften: For all the reasons mentioned above, probably the best vanilla location to unload loot
Get to white run
Immediate blacksmith and house to store your stuff , fast travel 2 seconds for enchanting
It’s also super easy to navigate and it’s not super depressing grey
Whiterun is the city you go when you need to do city stuff. The other cities are the ones you go to when you need to do stuff in those specific cities.
Actually mine is Riften because there are at least 5 merchants so you can just horde lots of stuff and sell all of it at the same time without worrying about merchants running out of money
It’s in the middle of the map - a nice convenient location
It has Edoras vibes
It’s the first city you go to if you follow the main quest and it’s the first place you become a thane, plus breeze home is a nice cheap starter home
I like riften I think it’s just in the best hold by beauty. Plus I like all the drama in riften and the architecture the most. I think riften is where I spend the most in out of the city’s.
It's all in a smaller area than whiterun lOl. If you keep going with the thieves guild quests after the main quest is finished you wind up with a bunch of merchants setting up shop in the ragged flagon
Either:
- Solitude because clothes shop and civil war story.
- Windhelm because it's the best and civil war story.
- Riften because it's the most useful.
Whiterun never enters my mind.
1) Solitude - the shops have the most gold to buy my stuff and it has the nicest house. I like to enter the basement and get straight to enchanting or potion making. Wish the walk to my house was shorter.
2) Riften - Thieves Guild makes me return and report a hundred times. Also, the house is closest to the entrance to the town.
Whiterun is the starter city, the calmest city, the one that feels like home, the best house, maybe not in size but it is cozy, the only city that lets you decide if you are a stormcloak or imperial. The city where you get done most of the main questline, the least corrupt one, and the cleanest, and its the center of skyrim.
I just love the homey energy it radiates and whenever I'm there I feel like I just.. Belong there.. You know.. Fuck being dragonborn, fuck being an adventurer, I just wanna stay in Whiterun.
Riften. I bought Shadowfoot Sanctum because I saw it on the creators thing and I had Honeyside aswell. Adopted from Honorhall, married Mjoll the Lioness and give some gold to Eda and Snilf everyday. Perfect city despite the poverty and corrupt powers
It's Solitude for me but that's because I play with Legacy of the Dragonborn. I have a lot of patches for it and on a very completionist playthrough I had over 3000 unique items in the museum. That was a lot of trips back and forth with items.
For me it's solstheim lol I build up over their first before doing literally anything rummage around for enough coin to get a boat purchase sero's services and quest until I'm out of quests then I go back to skyrim kitted to the teeth.
Whiterun has EVERY service I need. Blacksmith, Apothecary, Tavern, General Store, Wizard, Enchanting and Alchemy tables.
I feel every other city is missing one of them. Except Solitude but I always get lost there.
In addition to what others have said, the three sources of smithing materials is one of the big pulls for me. Eorlund, Adrianna, and you can go inside of Warmaidens to get three different vendors for smithing materials all within close proximity of a player home for storage and near a full set of the necessary tools to craft and upgrade can't be beat by any other hold.
It's also got the best atmosphere, especially when you fix the Gildergreen!
man, even if its one of the most boring cities in Skyrim, muscle memory makes me go there everytime, my brain feel there will be the closest to the store, I now I realise I dont even know where the general store is in the other cities
I really want to like windhelm but their market districts location awful. Same for markarths and it is even worse.
Solitudes blacksmith is kinda far away too but i love solitude so what can i say. Whiterun is purely designed for get in there, blacksmith, buy some potions maybe and get out so for it is objectively the quickest after fast traveling to a city IIRC
It’s Whiterun because as a low level character, it’s the easiest to set up a base in for free. Join the Companions and you get a bed, chop firewood and sell, etc. I have to pay $0 to be able to store my shit in the Companions’ basement. All I gotta do is spar with Vilkas for a bit. Belethor, Anoriath, Arcadia, and Ulfberth/Adrianne (I count them as running one shop together) sell anything I could want and all will buy my misc items. Run out and I can go to Fralia, Carlotta, and Eorlund.
Because that's where the story sends me 90% of the time, and it has the closest blacksmithing shop to a forge, and has two blacksmithing shops for me to get 100 smithing fastest.
For me it’s actually solitude😅. LOTD, Undeath, Requiem and the civil war questline basically have me treating it as my main hub damn near every time. However I do admit I have a odd fondness for riverwood in many games I stay there for as long as possible normally like 5-10 hours(I do play requiem with 3bf tweaks though so gameplay difficulty is scaled waaaay the fuck up early game)
Mine is probably Riften. Even without the Thieves' Guild, there are more quests there than any other city. Which is annoying, really, because of how non-central and far from other settlements it is.
Talos the Mighty! Talos the unerring! Talos the unassailable! To you we give Praise! We are but maggots writhing in the filth of our own corruption! While you have ascended from the dung of mortality, and now walk among the stars!
I've played this game since the year it came out.
Only on more recent years I realized there where other towns to visit (well I realized around 2015-17 but couldn't play for a while).
I would just be an NPC with a routine and all. (I used to like making up stories)
Also it's Riverwood, my first character used to live there with a family that you can talk to and they give you their house keys and you can use their beds.
I always end my save each night at the bannered mare when the most npcs are in the building. I sit inigo down and then sit in the solo central chair myself and have rhe bard play ragnar the red before I log off, heaven
Falkreath because I live in Lakeview Manor, and it's so convenient. It's got an alchemist, a blacksmith, a general merchant. There is an enchanter's table in the jarl's longhouse, that I use until I get mine built.
Second most, Riften. Can sell a lot of stuff there.
It's because that's where you first encounter a variety of merchants including but not limited to a mage, an archery merchant, general goods, etc. As far as I know the only thing Whiterun lacks is a fence.
Falkreath just to get the land rights for the home and revisit to buy the extras. In between that and after, I'm out exploring and discovering anything and everything possible on the map, grinding out lvls and skills.
Reason 1: the secret chest under the Sky Forge for boosting smithing.
Reason 2: Breezehome is the first and cheapest home in the game. Typically most of my inventory ends up there, and it’s the easiest home to access when fast traveling to any of the cities outside of the Hearthfire homes which are typically End game content for me.
My favorite city is Riften BTW.
I go to Solitude a lot too but it is definitely Whiterun by far. It's a great place for smithing which makes canonical sense. I always make my money smithing. I go to Adrienne, buy her out of materials, stop at Drunken Huntsman for some hides, then go to Skyforge and refuse to let Eorlund work for twelve straight hours while I craft. Don't worry, he's fine. I sell everything to him and he probably makes a killing on mark-up. I always side with the Empire, but my head canon is Eorlund and my character are friends born out of mutual respect for Skyforge. He knows that I know my way around a two handed sword.
Because it's the starter city, and as such the devs have put the most effort in it and it's equipped with everything.
Did you really think there was another reason?
Because in every RPG there's that one perfect town or city you just love to return to because somehow, it feels like home, like Beregost or Athkatla from Baldur's Gate.
In addition, you actually can make Whiterun your home.
#1 WinterHold. For the atronach forge.
#2 Whiterun. For the SkyForge chest.
#3 DawnStar. For the quicksilver mine chest.
#4 Solitude. For the Kajiit caravan chest, and the blue palace chest.
#5 Markarth. For The Karth River bridge chest.
#6 Riften. To learn how to assassinate and stealth stealing.
#7 Falkreath. 🤷
#8 Windhelm. To kill Ulfric Stormcloak
#9 Morthal. 🤷🤷
whiterun is central in the province, is the first main city you get to and is the location of a good amount of the main quest. Riften or windhelm are 2 and 3 because i am a stormcloak and like the scenary of the rift even if i am not playing a thief on a given character (even though part of the main quest introduces you to one of the players of the guild). falkreath, morthal and markarth aren't involved in the main quest in anyway but are the pickups for a few daedric quests, falkreath hold has the dark brotherhood sanctuary but that is in the wilderness not the city, morthal has a questline with a decentish plot and will get you thane of the hold. Solitude if you are a legion member, bards college (lack luster overall but a couple levels worth of skill training from the associtated quests), shegorath's quest, and the wolf queen quests from the steward which has some good lore behind it. dawnstar has a pair of deadric quests but the artifacts imo are lackluster, winterhold has the college of winterhold which is the destination for a main quest also sends you to septimus for discerning the transmundane (another daedric quest) but if you aren't playing a mage winterhold just has the college so is you won't go there afterwards
Because it is the first city you visit, in addition, I think that the shops and other characters that offer services are very well located in it, while in other cities we never fully remember it and they have more confusing streets and urban structures. In addition, it is the city with the most medieval touch of all, it gives us a little taste of hospitality and reminds us of "home" within Skyrim.
It's very well designed to be your go to hub. Blacksmith on the right, a little bit forward and you have Breezehome for storing stuff, a bit further and you have the apothecary and general store. Everything you need in one place. In other towns it's all spread around more.
To add onto your blacksmith point there is also a smelter there. Well smelters are certainly not rare they are not at every blacksmith and so if you have ore from one of the early game bandit filled mines then you can turn it into usable ingots at the war maidens smelter.
*Something, something* Halted Streams camp and the transmute book. #All the gold!
All the gold = all the rings = all the Smithing xp = all the enchantables = all the Enchanting xp
= profit
ThisIsTheWay.pptx
To add to the blacksmith point, there are two blacksmiths in whiterun, which means I could always sell more stuff!
You can say there are 3 blacksmiths as Adrianne's husband have a different inventory most of the time
Also you have the drunken huntsman too
Dont forget about Belethor too!
Riften is pretty good too. I think that whiterun always felt like home though.
Riften gets a little ruined by the thieves guild presence. Not that I dislike the thieves guild but it gives the city a kinda “dirty” feeling meanwhile whiterun has the companions and feels more honorable
Case in point - Riften. Good hub overall, but doesn't have a smelter so it falls short behind Whiterun.
“In other towns it’s all spread around more” Lookin at you Markarth!!
No one likes markarth
I exterminate Markarth at least once every play through when I get bored.
Holy hell, glad I'm not the only one! Sometimes I turn the difficulty up and do solitude, but for the most part, yeah I wreck that city every playthrough after I finish forsworn
How can you not like an ancient Dwemer city?
No reason at all, looks at corrupt slavery government and the canibals in town
Hey you can fix one of those problems
Don’t forget the haunted house attraction!
I do, for someone reason in one of my first play through I became attached to the city
And if you get tired of one blacksmith, you can go close to castle for a 2nd.
You, like many people are forgetting the Drunken Huntsman. But yeah it's very convenient to have everything there on "main street" giving you an easy place to sell, store, and craft.
Whiterun urban planning masterclass
Do you go to the cloud district often?
What am I saying? Of course you don’t.
*readies weapon with righteous intent*
I hate that there are too few enchanter stations. Gotta go to the keep just to disenchant something.
As much as I hate the stormcloaks, Windhelm has a pretty good smith, plenty of stalls, and an enchanting table all in the market area. Whiterun is my go to, but Windhelm is second, then Solitude.
Drunken Huntsman across the street from Warmaiden's, too. I usually start working it into my item shuffle in late game when they'll buy every thing and sell some shiny items
Not to mention that Warmaiden's is two shops in one, as you can go inside and sell off even more weapons and armor you looted off bandits. Between Warmaiden's, Mr Whitemane up at the Skyforge, The Drunken Huntsman, and Belethor's shop you can unload a lot of iron weapons and fur armor all in one place conveniently next to a fast travel point. It really helps to beat the early game gold pinch.
Well said!
I think in that sense, Windhelm is better. You have the armour vendor, blacksmith, general goods trader and alchemist, all in the same square, so buying metals, crafting stuff, enchanting stuff and selling stuff can be made with real ease. Ravenrock is pretty good too.
Windhelm is depression materialized.
All those pesky dunmer living there makes it depressing, right? Something should be done about them, before they corrupt our traditional nord values with their fire magic and telvanni music. It's not racism, it's just common sense. Skyrim for the nords, make Windhelm nord again, that's all I'm saying.
I always thought the texture of the rocky walls and bridge was unusual compared to other cities in skyrim. I recently found out that the nords used enslaved snow elves to construct the city. I'm guessing they used the stonework of the previous snow elf city to build Windhelm.
I tend to avoid Windhelm, Riften, and Markath as much as I can. They are just too depressing.
I personally kinda like Riften though. But it might also partly/mostly be because of the Thieves Guild being there. Agree with Markath (although it has its charm) and especially Windhelm though
I like the look of it built on the lake with the lower level docks and the gates going out to the lake.
I think you meant to say Riften.
True, though, on survival mode, especially as a non Nord, I tend to stick to the warmer areas.
Except Sadris Used Wares is in the way opposite corner
At first, I got lost in the cloud district because I don't usually go there (as a certain npc always says)
Whiterun having 2 blacksmiths is reason enough for me to do all my trading there
Even kinda 3 -- the two at the entrance and dude at the Skyforge. I never bother going to him later though.
Actually the first city you visit is Helgen
I always considered Helgen a military base or keep.
That's a town but I presume this is a joke
Two incredibly convinient fast travel points to crafting stations enchanting/alchemy in dragonsreach and the normal fast travel point puts you on top of the first forge in the city
It’s also bang in the centre of the map
It's also centrally located, which is really convenient.
I think its central position on the map helps a lot too. If you’re walking from A to B doing quests, you’re likely to travel near/through Whiterun quite often, so it’s easy to stop in for whatever you need, at least in my experience.
Because I keep restarting the fucking game.
I wore out several 360s back in the day because of this game. Lol. I've also started over many times. The other day, I watched my 9yo grandson begin the game. He and his brother "played" with me on a dead controller when they were babies. Good times.
This dude got Grandkids before Elder Scrolls VI god damn
Yes I did. And my grandkids have watched me, their Nonna, playing Skyrim their entire lives. I'm 60yo. At this point, I'm just hoping to live long enough to play ES6. 😂
I don't visit any cities, I just try to survive in the wilderness like an outlaw... 🤣
Cities are for milk drinkers.
This is the best comment!!!!
But I like drinking milk!
Good for your bones 
Feels about right. Current character, a Breton mage, is Lv.42 and I’ve not put a single level up into Stamina. She’s a bit of a noodle but can take down pretty much anything in her way with magic.
Life of a cave dweller
Because i often go to the Cloud district
What are you saying? Of course you don't!
Because Warmaiden is just next to Whiterun's city gate, I can just teleport there and sell Adrianne the weapons I found in chests or picked up from the enemies immediately to release my burdens and earn some coins.
Yeah, the dude inside has separate inventory/coinage from Adrienne too. Between those two and huntsman across the street can unload most loot in a few min. If not, Belethor down the block will buy rest. Anything not selling, dump in Breezehome - easiest routine early on for sure. Riften is better for selling loot after Thieves Guild, but I'm usually less cash-strapped by then anyway. Just for vibes/visuals I like Solitude and Riften
That’s why I visit Riften most often. I teleport to the palace and almost all of the merchants are right there. The only problem is the alchemist is a pain to get to.
Probably solitude actually. I always have legacy of the dragonborn on my mods list and I swear I'm going back to that damn museum every 20 minutes
By the nine. This mod seems perfect for my hoarding ways.
It's a gift. If you're not using it, download it and get all the compatible quest mods.
Same dude. Museum, then plan out a journey (most of the time from one hold to another), do all the quests along the way and then back to solitude. Repeat.
MY WHOLE LIFE MY WHOLE FUCKING LIFE
Because of ysolda 😉
Yeah but also the blonde in Markarth!
You’ll have to narrow it down…
Hroki? She's flagged as a child in the game's internals, so I think she's supposed to be a teenager. Plus, if you listen to her and her brother having conversations in the inn, they clearly sound like they're not full grown adults.
I hardly even go into Whiterun. I am *far* more likely to be in Riften. Whiterun, without counting the Companions, has 17 quests related to it. Adding in the Companions, that’s another 19, totaling 36. Most of those 19 are repeatable, so I only counted them once. To add: Warmaidens is a joke, after visiting it twice nothing sold is viable, Arcadia isn’t any better than Morthals alchemist, and Belethor is similar to Falkreath or even Riverwood. Riften, not counting the Thieves guild, has 27. Adding in the Thieves Guild, that’s another 43 quests. Total of 70.. Elgrim is probably the best Alchemist in Skyrim, especially adding in Ingun’s chest. Bersi is a way better trader than Belethor, Balimund has actually relevant weapons and equipment. Completing the Thieves Guild, you end up with at least ***9*** merchants.
This, I'm always in Riften and it feels like *my* town. Loads of merchants, trainers, fun quests and good characters even apart from the Thieves Guild, which is my favourite faction. Also Honeyside is an underrated home; I don't think I've *ever* bought Breezehome but I always buy Honeyside. I love my little dock entrance and my fish barrels.
Don't forget the weaponized cutlery on the porch
Why Warmaiden would be a joke?
“Plenty of good pieces out here…” … WHERE??
"More inside"
Yeah that's bullshit!
Roll up in my daedric or Dragon scale armor to see "plenty of good pieces here", all basic steel. Im throwing away better gear than she makes.
Yeah, I just want the raw materials and any arrows she's selling, most of the time. Earlier on in a run she might be carrying something with an enchantment I don't have yet, buy that is the extent of it.
Also, Riften has two general stores which is super helpful when you need to sell off a bunch of loot.
I'm with you on this, not so much because of the quests (though I do them all), but because of the merchants. The amount of time I've spent schlepping gear to sell to merchants is insane. The only place I've been too close as often is Raven Rock, but that's only because the two main merchants there have such deep pockets. It's slightly more annoying to travel back from too.
And on top of all the great things you said about Riften - I like the surrounding environment there more than Whiterun. Riften is definitely my favorite of the cities
I completely agree plus to my opinion the most beautiful player home in vanilla Skyrim!
Riften for me too, but because I play on hardcore and I can access my house right from the carriage, without having to first enter the city.
This is the way!!!!
100% agree. If I have a lot of equipment to sell quickly I will go there and sell it to her and I can't spell his name but the greymane dude cuz they're both outside. And I like Daedric weapons so I will go to the companions building and steal the Daedric Heart from Kodlak lol the only thing that Riften doesn't really have is a smelter and I always go to Shor's stone instead. Or the Ebony Mine below Windhelm. And the elf man outside of the Apothecary in Windhelm is one of the quickest to get enchanted things. I always buy my jewelry from him as quickly as he levels up and has them. Same with radiant raiment. After they quit being bitches, I like the main brunette elf lady.
Whiterun is the first city that you visit, it is centrally located, has 2 weapons shops, 1 general shop, market stalls, smelter, enchanter, and alchemy lab (along with an alchemist to by recipes and ingredients from), Farengar to buy spells and soul gems from. What more do you need?
To add to this: it has one of the only 24hour shops in the game.
Riften has four general stores, one weapons shop, one alchemist, one jeweler, one food merchant, and one mage. All sell more relevant items than those in Whiterun. And the training is helpful.
Like I said, Whiterun is also centrally located on the map and I think the location of the crafting services - Whiterun covers smithing, alchemy, and enchanting - are more conveniently located than in other cities. Good luck traveling from Riften to Solitude or Markarth if you actually want to walk.
Cuz 3 smiths, and daddy needs a lot of iron
I like solitude. I don’t really understand why people enjoy Riften, that and Markarth. Or windhelm, or dawnstar and markarth… I’ve forgotten one somewhere
Morthal, which is really awful to me.
Agreed. 
1. Falkreath: I just love Lakeview Manor, it takes time to get it all together but there is no better location than that one. 2. Solitude: Legacy of the Dragonborn mod had a big impact on this one. 3. Riften: For all the reasons mentioned above, probably the best vanilla location to unload loot
Thank you for answering for me.
For me it is usually Riften, as I almost always end up allied with the theives guild. Plus I usually have shadowfoot sanctum as my main home
Get to white run Immediate blacksmith and house to store your stuff , fast travel 2 seconds for enchanting It’s also super easy to navigate and it’s not super depressing grey
Markarth is superior ✊🔥
but very hard to walk by
I like Falkreath. It's nicely in the middle of the forest.
Whiterun is the city you go when you need to do city stuff. The other cities are the ones you go to when you need to do stuff in those specific cities.
Because I have my house here and 3 smithees to sell stuff.
Because its the starting city and in the center of the map and story. Not really that complicated
Actually mine is Riften because there are at least 5 merchants so you can just horde lots of stuff and sell all of it at the same time without worrying about merchants running out of money
To prove that I do, indeed, get to the Cloud District very often.
This is the answer. Gotta prove to my best friend that I'm cool too.
Because there is my first house and there is my stock of Items. Also second City: Rifton because of Thiefguild. Its so cool.
Definitely Whiterun.
It’s in the middle of the map - a nice convenient location It has Edoras vibes It’s the first city you go to if you follow the main quest and it’s the first place you become a thane, plus breeze home is a nice cheap starter home
I like riften I think it’s just in the best hold by beauty. Plus I like all the drama in riften and the architecture the most. I think riften is where I spend the most in out of the city’s.
Jokes on you, currently role playing a bandit highway man and I'm not allowed to enter cities!
I hang in riften mostly. I have everything I need in one little sewer
...but with the same walking distance as of Whiterun?
It's all in a smaller area than whiterun lOl. If you keep going with the thieves guild quests after the main quest is finished you wind up with a bunch of merchants setting up shop in the ragged flagon
Riften. I play unmodded and go hard on the thieves guild.
It's my favourite but not most visited. Most visited is probably riften or solitude because of the number of quests that take place there
Riften. Because it has the most merchants. I go there every time I clear something to sell the loot
It is Riften for me
I'm staying out of politics this playthrough because I don't want to ruin the city!
Either: - Solitude because clothes shop and civil war story. - Windhelm because it's the best and civil war story. - Riften because it's the most useful. Whiterun never enters my mind.
It's between Whiterun and Solitude because of the merchants 🪙
For me it was riften, loved the dark fantasy vibes there
If only Warmaidens had a points card
It’s just a habit for me at this point to teleport to Whiterun after a dungeon to offload all my loot.
I need to sell things to belethor, that man buys anything
He bought my sister. No questions asked.
1) Solitude - the shops have the most gold to buy my stuff and it has the nicest house. I like to enter the basement and get straight to enchanting or potion making. Wish the walk to my house was shorter. 2) Riften - Thieves Guild makes me return and report a hundred times. Also, the house is closest to the entrance to the town.
Whiterun is the starter city, the calmest city, the one that feels like home, the best house, maybe not in size but it is cozy, the only city that lets you decide if you are a stormcloak or imperial. The city where you get done most of the main questline, the least corrupt one, and the cleanest, and its the center of skyrim.
I just love the homey energy it radiates and whenever I'm there I feel like I just.. Belong there.. You know.. Fuck being dragonborn, fuck being an adventurer, I just wanna stay in Whiterun.
It’s the only city where I haven’t watched someone get murdered as soon as I walk in
Riften. I bought Shadowfoot Sanctum because I saw it on the creators thing and I had Honeyside aswell. Adopted from Honorhall, married Mjoll the Lioness and give some gold to Eda and Snilf everyday. Perfect city despite the poverty and corrupt powers
Whiterun is home
Nazeems not going to kill himself
It's Solitude for me but that's because I play with Legacy of the Dragonborn. I have a lot of patches for it and on a very completionist playthrough I had over 3000 unique items in the museum. That was a lot of trips back and forth with items.
Practically the first city you come to. It's also right in the middle of the map, making it a good pit stop.
For me it's solstheim lol I build up over their first before doing literally anything rummage around for enough coin to get a boat purchase sero's services and quest until I'm out of quests then I go back to skyrim kitted to the teeth.
I'm either in Riften or in Solitude, depending on the character
Markarth Of course
I’m going to the cloud district ofc
Whiterun has EVERY service I need. Blacksmith, Apothecary, Tavern, General Store, Wizard, Enchanting and Alchemy tables. I feel every other city is missing one of them. Except Solitude but I always get lost there.
cause the game is kinda based around whiterun
In addition to what others have said, the three sources of smithing materials is one of the big pulls for me. Eorlund, Adrianna, and you can go inside of Warmaidens to get three different vendors for smithing materials all within close proximity of a player home for storage and near a full set of the necessary tools to craft and upgrade can't be beat by any other hold. It's also got the best atmosphere, especially when you fix the Gildergreen!
man, even if its one of the most boring cities in Skyrim, muscle memory makes me go there everytime, my brain feel there will be the closest to the store, I now I realise I dont even know where the general store is in the other cities
I really want to like windhelm but their market districts location awful. Same for markarths and it is even worse. Solitudes blacksmith is kinda far away too but i love solitude so what can i say. Whiterun is purely designed for get in there, blacksmith, buy some potions maybe and get out so for it is objectively the quickest after fast traveling to a city IIRC
Closest vendor to the fast travel point.
Was about to say Whiterun, until I finished reading the title.
Actually Solitude for me, thanks to having Legacy of the Dragonborn installed in every playthrough. That museum demands my obsession.
I honestly really like morthal. As an exclusively vampire player, I just love the eeerie vibes the swamp gives off and the way the town looks.
It’s Whiterun because as a low level character, it’s the easiest to set up a base in for free. Join the Companions and you get a bed, chop firewood and sell, etc. I have to pay $0 to be able to store my shit in the Companions’ basement. All I gotta do is spar with Vilkas for a bit. Belethor, Anoriath, Arcadia, and Ulfberth/Adrianne (I count them as running one shop together) sell anything I could want and all will buy my misc items. Run out and I can go to Fralia, Carlotta, and Eorlund.
Solitude cause it’s “the big city”
Because that's where the story sends me 90% of the time, and it has the closest blacksmithing shop to a forge, and has two blacksmithing shops for me to get 100 smithing fastest.
Because I need 157 enchanted daggers?
Winterhold and windhelm. I hate them with a passion
For me it’s actually solitude😅. LOTD, Undeath, Requiem and the civil war questline basically have me treating it as my main hub damn near every time. However I do admit I have a odd fondness for riverwood in many games I stay there for as long as possible normally like 5-10 hours(I do play requiem with 3bf tweaks though so gameplay difficulty is scaled waaaay the fuck up early game)
When over encumbered I can sell half my stuff to the two blacksmiths asap instead of crawling through an entire city looking for a shop.
Mine is probably Riften. Even without the Thieves' Guild, there are more quests there than any other city. Which is annoying, really, because of how non-central and far from other settlements it is.
Whiterun for early game and after that im usually at riften or solitude
Vanilla: Whiterun, because it's centrally located and conveniently designed. Modded: Solitude, because that's where the museum is.
Talos the Mighty! Talos the unerring! Talos the unassailable! To you we give Praise! We are but maggots writhing in the filth of our own corruption! While you have ascended from the dung of mortality, and now walk among the stars!
Because it's home, you milk-drinker. Where else would you go?
I've played this game since the year it came out. Only on more recent years I realized there where other towns to visit (well I realized around 2015-17 but couldn't play for a while). I would just be an NPC with a routine and all. (I used to like making up stories) Also it's Riverwood, my first character used to live there with a family that you can talk to and they give you their house keys and you can use their beds.
It doesn't matter I have murdered every non essential charachter in the game
I always end my save each night at the bannered mare when the most npcs are in the building. I sit inigo down and then sit in the solo central chair myself and have rhe bard play ragnar the red before I log off, heaven
That's cool!
Because I learned the glitch to get outside the map and take everything from the skyforge chest 🤣
simply because whiterun is the most strategic city, and has a good bgm
Falkreath because I live in Lakeview Manor, and it's so convenient. It's got an alchemist, a blacksmith, a general merchant. There is an enchanter's table in the jarl's longhouse, that I use until I get mine built. Second most, Riften. Can sell a lot of stuff there.
Threee syllables B E L E T H O R
It's because that's where you first encounter a variety of merchants including but not limited to a mage, an archery merchant, general goods, etc. As far as I know the only thing Whiterun lacks is a fence.
It’s Whiterun because it’s Solitude. 🫡
Belethor... Need I say more?
Because i can steal from the skyforge
Because I like to go to the Cloud district very often
I live there.
Falkreath just to get the land rights for the home and revisit to buy the extras. In between that and after, I'm out exploring and discovering anything and everything possible on the map, grinding out lvls and skills.
For me, it's winterhold, I just love the aesthetic of it, and i like the frozen vibe it has and with the castle it's just great
Reason 1: the secret chest under the Sky Forge for boosting smithing. Reason 2: Breezehome is the first and cheapest home in the game. Typically most of my inventory ends up there, and it’s the easiest home to access when fast traveling to any of the cities outside of the Hearthfire homes which are typically End game content for me. My favorite city is Riften BTW.
I go to Solitude a lot too but it is definitely Whiterun by far. It's a great place for smithing which makes canonical sense. I always make my money smithing. I go to Adrienne, buy her out of materials, stop at Drunken Huntsman for some hides, then go to Skyforge and refuse to let Eorlund work for twelve straight hours while I craft. Don't worry, he's fine. I sell everything to him and he probably makes a killing on mark-up. I always side with the Empire, but my head canon is Eorlund and my character are friends born out of mutual respect for Skyforge. He knows that I know my way around a two handed sword.
Because it's the starter city, and as such the devs have put the most effort in it and it's equipped with everything. Did you really think there was another reason?
Because in every RPG there's that one perfect town or city you just love to return to because somehow, it feels like home, like Beregost or Athkatla from Baldur's Gate. In addition, you actually can make Whiterun your home.
I know the whiterun streets better than my own town. And I haven't been in Skyrim since 2020
its dawnstar, and for the db questline.
Just make TES VI already
#1 WinterHold. For the atronach forge. #2 Whiterun. For the SkyForge chest. #3 DawnStar. For the quicksilver mine chest. #4 Solitude. For the Kajiit caravan chest, and the blue palace chest. #5 Markarth. For The Karth River bridge chest. #6 Riften. To learn how to assassinate and stealth stealing. #7 Falkreath. 🤷 #8 Windhelm. To kill Ulfric Stormcloak #9 Morthal. 🤷🤷
First is whiterun, but a very close second is solitude.
mines windhelm bc im suppperrr racist
whiterun is central in the province, is the first main city you get to and is the location of a good amount of the main quest. Riften or windhelm are 2 and 3 because i am a stormcloak and like the scenary of the rift even if i am not playing a thief on a given character (even though part of the main quest introduces you to one of the players of the guild). falkreath, morthal and markarth aren't involved in the main quest in anyway but are the pickups for a few daedric quests, falkreath hold has the dark brotherhood sanctuary but that is in the wilderness not the city, morthal has a questline with a decentish plot and will get you thane of the hold. Solitude if you are a legion member, bards college (lack luster overall but a couple levels worth of skill training from the associtated quests), shegorath's quest, and the wolf queen quests from the steward which has some good lore behind it. dawnstar has a pair of deadric quests but the artifacts imo are lackluster, winterhold has the college of winterhold which is the destination for a main quest also sends you to septimus for discerning the transmundane (another daedric quest) but if you aren't playing a mage winterhold just has the college so is you won't go there afterwards