a place to be

[joham]

At that time London was a place to be.

This sentence is taken from the Oxford Learner's Dictionary, and the Chinese translation of the dictionary put this sentence into something like 'At that time London was a place that might well/should be visited' or 'At that time London was a place that you might well/should go to'. But I should think here 'be' means 'exist' or 'live and work in'. Am I right?

Thank you in advance.

[5jj]

You are not right; the dictionary is.