Describe a city you have been to and want to visit again.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Where is it?
  • When & why did you visit there?
  • Would you go back?

Band >7

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The one city which I love the most is Mumbai after Hyderabad. I have been there more than two times and it has given me such beautiful memories that I will cherish lifelong. Mumbai has always had a homely impact especially on me and it has such beautiful rains and a very beautiful monsoon season. The first time I visited Mumbai is something I will never forget and that was the time when me and my sister when I and my sister went on a road trip to Maharashtra and later on we visited Mumbai and I was so mesmerized with the city even given the busyness of the city it also had the calm in it and it had the sereneness in it which I which actually draws me to it. Apart from that it also has many IT industries and other businesses because Mumbai as we all know is a city of dreams. It does look like a city of dreams because that's how beautiful it is and it has such a good transport system you can just travel anywhere we want within minutes with the local trains and that is such a good experience and I have not found that experience in Hyderabad. On the other hand it also has in Mumbai there are also my relatives with whom I am deeply connected and there are one of my friend there are a few of my friends who also reside in Mumbai which makes my visit

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The city that I've been to is Kolkata and I will definitely want to visit again. Kolkata is a city in West Bengal, which is in the northern part of India and I visited when I was very young because my father had to work there. So I got an opportunity to see how the city was. I really loved the sweets from that place and the chat items. The street food was very good. I was amazed by the people and their kindness. So I also got a lot of friends from there, it was very interesting. I love to see the trams on the street because we usually don't have trams back in Chennai. So it was nice to see, it was also, we went a lot of places like Victoria Memorial that I found amusing and the place generally has a happy vibe to it and I really liked because I found a lot of friends, I had a lot of friends there. The fish was amazing and I will go back just for the food. In my, in the future, if I ever get an opportunity to go to Kolkata, I will take the first opportunity to go to Kolkata.

Band >7

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The city that I recently visited was Montreal, which is in the Quebec province in Canada. I was visiting Canada for a month to visit my brother and he and I decided that we should travel to Montreal because he did his masters there and he had told me it's apparently a very beautiful city so we decided to go there. This was in the first week of July 2025 and it was absolutely beautiful. The city life was amazing. It was much cheaper than Toronto. The nightlife was vibrant. Even during the day it was so beautiful. It reminded me of Eastern Europe. Very pretty. And I would love to go back again because we were there only for three days and we had plans with his friends so I did not get to see many places that I had wished I had gone to places I had on my list. So I would love to go back and visit those places again with my whole family this time.

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Band >7

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The most unforgettable trip I have taken was to Sussex, UK, when I went there for a summer school in University of Sussex. First of all, I couldn't believe that a university's campus could be so breathtaking. It had, it was right in the middle of a forest and it had ancient architecture, so walking around it felt like I was in some different era. Apart from that, the most important thing was that I got to meet a lot of new people. I had the opportunity to connect to people from different countries like Turkey, China, Ireland, Italy, and I was a bit shy at the start to, I was a bit hesitant at the start to, you know, socialise, but this experience pushed me out of my comfort zone and I was able to, you know, and I think now I'm very, now it had, it helped me get better at, you know, interacting with other people. Another highlight was my trip to London. The place, the iconic landmarks, the people, the food, everything was just perfect. I remember standing by the Thames and watching the London Bridge, it felt like I was dreaming. I think it was the most wonderful experience I've ever had because of the friends I made and the personal growth I attained. If ever given the chance, I would just love to go back to Sussex and relive everything all over again.

Band 7

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If I were to describe one place that I would want to visit again, it would be Bali. Bali is located in Indonesia, which is a country in Southeast Asia and is a popular tourist destination for many citizens of different countries such as India, Malaysia, Singapore and is a very popular tourist destination for Australians. I recently went to Bali in 2023 along with my family and it was a really really amazing experience and I would recommend this to all my friends, my extended family, especially because of the beautiful beaches that you can see over there and the lush green mountain that we once visited when we went over there. There was a huge drastical change in the temperature when we went to this mountain and Bali didn't seem like Bali at all. My most favourite aspects of Bali would be the beaches and the cheap products that you get over there and my least favourite would be the food because as Indians we eat a lot of spicy food and in Bali the residents don't have much spice to their dishes which was quite hectic and the language barrier obviously because most of them didn't know English or they spoke broken English which was really not in our favour.
Show all 155 answers

Cue 1:Where is it?

  • Begin with a brief introduction of the city, including its geographical location.
  • Mention any notable landmarks or features that make the city unique.

Example

The city I want to talk about is Jaipur, located in the northern part of India, in the state of Rajasthan. It is famously known as the Pink City due to its distinct pink-colored buildings and rich cultural heritage.


Cue 2:When & why did you visit there?

  • Provide details about your visit, including the time of year and the duration of your stay.
  • Explain the reasons for your visit, such as tourism, family, or work.

Example

I visited Jaipur last year during the winter holidays for about a week. I had always wanted to explore its historical sites and experience the vibrant culture, especially the famous Amer Fort and Hawa Mahal.


Cue 3:Would you go back?

  • Express your feelings about returning to the city, highlighting what you would like to do differently or explore further.
  • Mention any specific experiences or places you missed during your last visit that you would like to see.

Example

Absolutely, I would love to go back to Jaipur! I want to visit the local markets to shop for traditional handicrafts and try more of the delicious Rajasthani cuisine, which I didn’t get enough of during my last trip.


Conclusion

  • Summarize your overall feelings about the city and your desire to return.
  • Reiterate the unique aspects that make the city special to you.

Example

In conclusion, Jaipur holds a special place in my heart due to its stunning architecture and rich traditions. I look forward to revisiting and immersing myself in its beauty once again.


Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.


Tips to answer this Cue Card

1: Vague Descriptions

Using vague language can make your answer less engaging. Avoid general statements that don't provide specific details about the city.

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Tip

Include specific landmarks, cultural experiences, or personal anecdotes to make your description vivid and memorable.


2: Ignoring the Cues

Not addressing all the cues can lead to an incomplete answer. This may result in a lower score for coherence and relevance.

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Tip

Structure your response by clearly answering each cue: location, visit details, and your desire to return.


Overly Long Responses

Giving excessively long answers can lose the listener's interest and make it hard to follow your main points.

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Tip

Be concise and focused. Aim for clear, structured responses that cover all points without unnecessary elaboration.


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IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

Answer

I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.

Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

Answer

The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.

Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

Answer

As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.

Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

Answer

When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.

Describe a book you recently read
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

Answer

It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

All Answers

Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

Band 8

I recently visited London which is located in the United Kingdom Europe and it is one of my favorite cities in the world. I had gone there to attend my convocation ceremony which was held at the Royal College of Surgeons England Lincoln Field where I was receiving the certificate of MRCS ENT. I was staying at Gloucester Place which was very close to the Baker Street metro station and it was in a very posh area. I love the houses there. I could take a tour of the Lords Stadium and I visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum which was located close to my hotel. I visited Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and took a short trip to Cambridge where I did punting and in London I took a boat ride from Westminster Pier to the Greenwich where I walked up to the Greenwich Royal Observatory and saw the Prime Meridian Demarcation. It was autumn when I visited London so the nature's beauty was at its peak and I had a lovely time there. The weather was perfect, it was sunny, I did not feel cold and it was a very enjoyable experience and I would love to visit London again.

Band 7

A city that I recently visited is Lucknow. It is the capital city of the state Uttar Pradesh and I visited there last week. I stayed for about four days over there and I visited Lucknow to try its cuisine because since childhood I had heard a lot about the delicious food of Lucknow. I would certainly go back to Lucknow in the future whenever I find time and I have a craving of delicious food. I would like to talk about Lucknow in more detail. What I liked most about Lucknow that is old world culture and tradition. It has a Chota Imam Bara and Bara Imam Bara that is a Mughal style architecture that is present in Lucknow. Moreover, these places are not just tourist attraction but it consists of very yummy and tasty food as well. It reflects the history of royal past and furthermore, Lucknow consists of abadhi cuisine like dishes named Guloti Kebab and as well as Biryani and honestly the taste was unforgettable and it consists of finger licking good food. The food is very rich but balanced in spices. Another thing that is very famous in Lucknow is the polite behavior of the citizens of Lucknow. Lucknow is often called in Urdu the city of Tehzeeb which means the city of good manners. People speak very softly and politely to even unknown stranger that made me feel very comfortable. In addition, this city is now developing and making more malls and cafes.

Band 7

I had got the opportunity to visit Delhi, the capital of India, last November. It is a city that really captures the heritage of India really well and it is somewhat of an amalgamation of different cultures because Delhi is also known as a melting pot for various different cultures. People from all across India migrate to Delhi in search of work or education or any other activities which they want to pursue. So Delhi is definitely a cultural hub and to be in Delhi is to get to experience a lot of different cultures and that is something that excites me personally. I would also like to highlight the fact that Delhi has a lot of historical monuments and it is very rich in history because of the Mughal architecture that are there. Some of the architectural hubs, I would say, would be near the Hauz Khas area where the Hauz Khas fort is located, the Qutub Minar is there and the Red Fort is there. So Delhi really lives the history and apart from that Delhi street food is something that I absolutely devour because of the spices, the taste and the unique flavours that are there. I would definitely want to visit Delhi whenever I get the chance. One of my favourite places from Delhi would be the Nehru Museum, the national museum that is located in Delhi. I could spend a lot of hours in the museum and analyse history and go back in time and just travel back.

Band 7

The city I would want to visit again is Mangalore. It is in Karnataka. It is a coastal city and it's one of the most beautiful city in Karnataka having a lot of beaches and food is amazing. I went there to learn surfing and had one of the best experiences of my life and fell in love with surfing. First day was very scary but the next two days I was very confident and was able to balance and did my first surf. One of the most memorable moment of my life and hence I would want to visit there again and again as I am a beach girl and moreover it is in Karnataka itself. It is just about 3 hours away from Bangalore and it has one of the most stunning sunsets to watch and Udupi is amazing as well. It's the best city in Karnataka.

Band 7

A very interesting city that I visited recently was Mangalore in the south of India. It is along the western coast of India. I went to Mangalore last year on vacation with my family. My dad has a friend who lives in Mangalore and we went to visit him. So I really like Mangalore because in addition to being a coastal city, it is also a hilly area. So it is a very good contrast of beach and hills which I absolutely love. And I think you rarely ever find a city that has both of these, the best of both worlds you could say. My favourite part about visiting Mangalore was we went to visit this person's farm and staying in the farm for a couple of days and connecting with nature was a mind-boggling experience. I really love the city Mangalore because at its centre it is a pretty developed city and at the same time if you go a few kilometres out you could see farms and rural area. So I think it's a very good combination of both. Also the airport at Mangalore is very interesting because it is on a hill. So I think that's a very rare thing, a rare occasion you might say. And another thing that makes me really excited about Mangalore is the first time that I had a beer with my dad which is a lifetime experience, once in a lifetime experience.

Band 7

The city that I visited and I want to visit again is basically the city of dreams. Almost every individual at some point of time in their life do dream of spending a day at least in that city. And I am talking of no other city but the amazing city of London in UK. I for one was fortunate enough to travel to the UK on a business visit. Although my visit was in Manchester city I did manage to pull out 2 days of time to visit London. It was a dream come true. All my life I had imagined how amazing it would be to stand one day on the tower bridge and click pictures and look down on the Thame river and I never ever imagined that this would be possible. However, in the month of November 2025 is when this dream of mine came true. I spent 2 nights in the city of London and of course without wasting any time the first thing that I did when I reached London was went straight to look at the tower bridge. Something which is absolutely amazing. And we heard n number of stories and we seen n number of videos and reels online about this amazing beautiful place that has been standing tall for centuries and I was fortunate enough to be there when the tower bridge opened from the centre to let a large ship pass through. Not everyone is fortunate enough.

Band 7

So, my favorite city is Varkala, I went there in the last summer, Varkala is situated in the southern part of Western Ghats in Kerala, it has beautiful beaches and backwaters, we can do surfing, kayaking, paragliding and we can even visit cafe and go for pubs, it would be so wonderful if you went on with your friends or with your partner, I went there because I wanted to do a solo trip since my childhood, I had not only wanted to do my trip just because I wanted to explore my capability but also I want to experience things in solitude when I have no option to get others to do my trip, so Varkala is such a beautiful place, I once met one uncle named Unnikrishnan, he helped me to ride the canoe boat which is one such experience that everyone should try in their life for once a time and I also ate many Kerala dishes and it was very tasty and I was there in a hotel and people from many countries visited that hotel and people were reading books, playing carroms and they were vibing with each other and I also met a couple from Brazil while I was doing surfing, I don't know swimming but I went on a beginner level surfing, it was a great experience, it was expensive but it was worth the money, even though I don't know swimming, the instructor helped me to surf with great instructions and safety equipments as well, I also drove a jet ski which I am proud of, really proud of, so my favourite city

Band 7

If I were to describe one place that I would want to visit again, it would be Bali. Bali is located in Indonesia, which is a country in Southeast Asia and is a popular tourist destination for many citizens of different countries such as India, Malaysia, Singapore and is a very popular tourist destination for Australians. I recently went to Bali in 2023 along with my family and it was a really really amazing experience and I would recommend this to all my friends, my extended family, especially because of the beautiful beaches that you can see over there and the lush green mountain that we once visited when we went over there. There was a huge drastical change in the temperature when we went to this mountain and Bali didn't seem like Bali at all. My most favourite aspects of Bali would be the beaches and the cheap products that you get over there and my least favourite would be the food because as Indians we eat a lot of spicy food and in Bali the residents don't have much spice to their dishes which was quite hectic and the language barrier obviously because most of them didn't know English or they spoke broken English which was really not in our favour.

Band 7

I would like to talk about Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan, which is located in the north-western part of India. It is popularly known as the Pink City because most of its old buildings are painted in a distinctive shade of pink. I first visited Jaipur three years ago during a short winter vacation with my family. We chose to go there mainly because of its historical significance and vibrant culture. During my stay, I explored iconic landmarks such as the Hawa Mahal, Amber Fort, and City Palace, all of which gave me a fascinating insight into India's royal past. What impressed me the most was how the city beautifully blends tradition with modern life. You can see ancient forts standing right next to busy markets and contemporary cafes. Another reason the city left a lasting impression on me was its local cuisine and hospitality. The food was incredibly flavorful and the people were warm, welcoming, and proud of their heritage, which made the experience even more memorable. I would definitely like to visit Jaipur again in the future because I feel that one trip was not enough to truly explore everything the city has to offer. Next time I would love to attend a cultural festival, explore local handicraft markets in one depth, and possibly stay longer to experience the city at a slower pace. Overall, Jaipur is a city that stays with you long after you leave, which is why it is a place I would happily return to.

Band 7

There is this beautiful city or a town I would say called Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh that is north of India. I went there last year in month of March that is right after the winters when the weather was cool, dry and cozy with you know sitting in my couch having my morning cup of coffee and having steamed momos and everything. Oh my god all the memories are coming back. It is a beautiful town with rich heritage. It also has an influence of Japanese and Buddhist culture as well. There are many monasteries over there. And surprisingly I found out that being a small and not very crowded spot for tourists as well with amazing nature, it also offers great education and job opportunities because I could literally see the famous schools, branches over there as well like Poda International School and companies like Infosys and tuitions like Allen. Whatever we have here in big cities is also available over there and I believe it's a pleasure to have nature and development combined and to live in such a place like that and I would prefer spending my life after retirement in Dharamshala itself.
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