IELTS Speaking Part 2: Describe a City You Have Visited (Band 9 Sample)
This Part 2 cue card asks you to describe a city you have visited and to explain your impression of it. A band-9 answer brings the city to life with specific detail and lands one clear, developed reason it stayed with you, rather than listing sights. Below is a model long-turn of about 235 words in a natural spoken register, followed by a breakdown of why it earns a 9 on all four speaking criteria and the collocations worth stealing.
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01 · The cue card
- which city you visited
- when you went and who with
- what you did there
- and explain what impression it left on you
02 · Band 9 sample answer
The city I'd like to talk about is Hội An, a small ancient town on the central coast of Vietnam that I visited with my family a couple of years ago. It's not a huge city like Hanoi or Saigon, but it's easily one of the most charming places I've ever been.
We spent about three days there, and we deliberately took things slowly. During the day we'd wander through the old town, with its narrow, mustard-yellow streets and beautifully preserved wooden houses, and browse the little tailor shops the town is famous for. But the real magic happened in the evenings, when hundreds of silk lanterns were lit up along the river and people floated tiny candles on the water. We'd just sit at a riverside café, soaking it all in.
The impression it left on me was one of calm and timelessness. In a country that's modernising incredibly fast, Hội An feels like a place that has consciously held on to its character. What struck me most was how it managed to be a major tourist destination without losing its soul. I came away feeling genuinely relaxed, and it's a place I'm already itching to go back to.
03 · Why this scores Band 9
The answer covers each cue-card point in turn and links them naturally ("We spent about three days there...", "But the real magic happened in the evenings...", "The impression it left on me..."). It builds to a clear reflective point and sustains a full two-minute turn without stalling.
Vivid, precise vocabulary — "charming", "beautifully preserved wooden houses", "soaking it all in", "held on to its character", "without losing its soul" — paints a clear picture, and the impression is expressed idiomatically rather than with flat words like "very nice".
A wide range is controlled accurately: a relative clause ("a small ancient town... that I visited with my family"), past habit with "would" ("we'd wander through the old town"), and a cleft-like emphasis ("What struck me most was how it managed to..."). Narrative tenses stay consistent.
Sentences are chunked into speakable breath groups and the descriptive phrases invite natural rhythm and stress, giving the recording clear, well-paced intonation without hard consonant clusters that trip the tongue.
04 · Useful phrases for this topic
Tap a phrase to see what it means and how to use it. Natural phrases like these lift your Lexical Resource score.
05 · Frequently asked questions
Can the city be in my own country?
Absolutely — it does not have to be abroad. A city you know well, even in your own country, gives you specific, believable detail that flows far more naturally than somewhere you have only read about.
How do I fill two minutes describing a city?
Cover when you went and what you did with specific scenes ("silk lanterns lit up along the river"), then spend real time on the impression it left. Vivid sensory detail fills the time far better than a list of famous sights.
What tense should I use?
Mostly past simple and past continuous for the visit ("we spent three days there", "we'd wander through the old town"), and present simple when you reflect now ("it feels like a place that has held on to its character"). Mixing them accurately lifts the grammar score.
How important is the "impression" part?
It's the point of the task. The examiner wants a developed personal reaction, not a travel-guide summary. This answer lands on a sense of "calm and timelessness" and a place keeping its soul, rather than just saying "it was beautiful".
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