Tourists walk on the Bai Causeway at the West Lake in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, April 4, 2015. Saturday was the first day of three-day-long holiday of Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day. [Photo/Xinhua]

Two Chinese cities were listed as the top "52 places to go" around the world by New York Times, ranked at No 16 and No 44, respectively.

The cities are Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province and Guizhou province in southwest China.

It is the first time that Guizhou has earned a position on the list.

New York Times praised Guizhou as "Authentic Chinese hill tribes without mass tourism — yet", adding that the least accessible region in China is most attractive for its "unhurried pace" and "authentic feel".

With the development in transportation, especially after the opening of high-speed railways, Guizhou has been welcoming more and more travelers.

Hangzhou, ranking in the list for a second time, is branded as having "state-of-the-art museums and more in an ancient city", seeing an increase of 11 places in the ranking.

Places to Go is an annual feature rolled out by the New York Times and is a top destination list based on the landscape of the global travel market and travel experts' views.

Mexico City landed the top spot on the list this year, followed by Bordeau in France and Malta in the Mediterranean ranking second and third respectively.

Cities in China have made their debut on the list since 2010, with Shanghai and Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province selected.

Hangzhou, along with the Ancient City of Pingyao in northern China's Shanxi province ranked on the list in 2011; Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region, Taiwan, Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Zhouzhuang in eastern China's Jiangsu province and some other cities have also won places on the New York Times list.