Which hold capital do you spend most of your time in and why?

The most time Solitude or Markarth, as i love the style of Markarth and Solitude as the imperial headquarter.

At the beginning of the game, Whiterun. Then as I progress further in the story, and especially after getting Proudspire Manor, it changes to Solitude.

It depends on the character. My current one is a thief, so she spends most of her time in Riften. After that, probably Whiterun.

I mostly visit Falkreath since it's my favorite town.

Really depends on the character though. My first playthrough, I was always visiting Winterhold because of the college.

My least visited city? A tie between Markarth and Morthal, though recently I have started to appreciate Morthal because of it's complete lack of usefulness outside of getting one of the 3 Hearthfire homes. *Sarcasm*

It depends to be honest. Usually when I am in a capital I spend a significant amount of time (quite a few in-game days) there doing quest, objectives, or anything else that needs to be done in that capital and its hold. But what place have I visit most overall? I'd say Whiterun. I've used it the most as a pit stop when traveling and as a place to just go and relax myself. Hell, my character's main home Heljarchen Hall is just northeast of Whiterun, and I visit a lot for supplies. It's pretty much the Imperial City of Skyrim. Somewhat. It has NEARLY everything you need.

Whiterun. I don't find the city or any of its quests interesting, but hey, my home is here, my wife used to live here, and like Legion64 said, "It has NEARLY everything you need." The only drawback is Nazeem.

Windhelm

Yup - the character determines the appropriate location. My previous PC was building up the Thieve's Guild so Riften. The one before that was a simple spell/sword so Whiterun. My current PC will be in Winstad Manor and tour the various capitals.

1.Whiterun

2.solitude

3.windhelm

4.riften

5.markarth

6.Falkreath

...

the rest are less useful than a khajit caravan, not a figure of speech either, literally. Riverwood is a pretty useful place, I'd probably visit it nearly as much as whiterun.

In a lot of ways I actually prefer solitude over whiterun, and I even find windhelm better in some ways, but I guess whiterun is just the most familiar and also the sunniest and most pleasant. It feels like home.

Whiterun has Balmora Syndrome in its favor, so that's my choice.

Even though Riften is my favourite, Whiterun is the town i travel to most due to it's central location.

As a whole, out of all 7 of my characters....riften. Then, maybe Windhelm.

Whiterun.

Although I have property and business interests spread across Skyrim, the central location is very handy. Although Breezehome is a bit cramped with character, Serana (I assume that there is a 'thing' happening there), Lydia (housecarl, raising kids, etc), the two girls (adoptees), a pet fox, Bran the fighting dog, and a couple of modded in manequins that wander around, the house itself isn't too bad. Added to that, with a bit of role play, my character has certain responsibilities - hobknobing with the Jarl, 'running' (boozing) the Companions, checking in with the various merchants I've invested with, checking in with the guards (you never see what's his name the guard commander down at either of the watchtowers), and reguarly running anti-bandit and vampire patrols around the hold is a good enough reason to live there, and it keeps me busy.

I do spend a fair amount of time at Solitude and Riften, although Riften is moreso because the Dawnguard are nearby, and the fishing and hunting is good down that way. As my current character is a woodsman type, I spend a lot of time out hunting or wandering the forests, putting down bandits and falmor, so smaller places like Riverwood and Falkreath get visited a lot.

I'm not really one for wandering around out in the snowy forests, so the bleak cities like Winterhold and Windhelm are 'visit only' places for me.

My current character spends more time in Markarth, with Winterhold being the second most visited Hold City due to the College of Winterhold.

EDIT Reasons why Markarth,

1. My character is a practicing Necromancer, and a Quest gives My character a place to experiment and store Thralls.

2. The player Home in Markarth has decent Book Shelves for a character Home.

3. Forsworn respawn.

Windhelm is the Home for My characters that are at higher levels, even with Heathfire.

Whiterun.

Solitude : Elisif / Jordis and all the shops

Whiterun : The Shops

Riften : The Shops

Generally in that order...

NS~

Windhelm! Long live Ulfric!

Whiterun, for sure. It has everything i need, and its all close to the front gate so i'm in and out fairly quickly. It also has the cheapest house...which usually means its the only one i buy, so i have even more reason to just go to whiterun if i'm just dropping off crap from adventuring

The character I'm playing now is mainly a thief, so I go to Riften a lot.

Whiterun. The main quest line is the core reason and it's also where you get your first house. Once the MQ is done it switches to Solitude, dat empire.

I really dig snowy cities, so I usually live in Hjerim, making Windhelm my port of call.