The barrens was really well made because there were always side quests to do. I rarely grinded before 30 because I just changed areas frequently and rarely skipped quests.
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Tough to choose, as I love them all. But I’ll go with Teldrassil.
Teldrassil. Beautiful, mysterious and foreboding. With great music to match.
And then trial by fire in that damnable barrow den.
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Retail has ruined me. I’m sure I’ll get totally lost in the barrow den without the quest helper they give you now… 
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I like the Gnome and Dwarf starting area. Call it stupid but I like the look of the snow sparkling in the sun/starlight. Based on how it looks, I can tell what temperature it is, when it most recently snowed, what the air smells like, and how dead still everything is. It’s days like these that are literally my favourite part of winter.
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Valley of trials… i picked up right where I left off in WC3… was epic.
For The Horde!
First fav is Durotar. Huge fan of the lore, love the Shaman quests.
Second is Dun Morogh. Snowy mountains with Dwarven architecture.
Ever since I made a Night Elf warrior, I have wanted to take a flame thrower to that entire starting zone. There’s just so much… green.
You can imagine how happy I was to see the whole damn thing burn to the ground lol
lol! That’s hilarious!
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My very very very very first character was a tauren-something that I never got past level 3…but Mulgore being the first area I saw made me love it.
Durotar has always been my least favourite…probably due to how small the starting area is and the many times I’ve used it.
For actual enjoyment of leveling, for some reason the human area felt the best to play in. Wasn’t the most beautiful, but it seemed easier than otherzones.
After quitting my level 3 tauren, I made a gnome. I hate icey places, but I do remember dun’morogh being epic solely because of not knowing I had a map; it was also the place where I actually explored beyond the initial quest-hub.
TL;DR: My all-time favourite is dun’morogh, but only in vanilla terms. It gave me the best memories.
Mulgore is second, and the nightelf starting area is third.
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Oh Padre… Padre… I used to enjoy some of your posts. Now I see you are clearly insane.
All that orange…
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Mulgore first. It’s green! Lotta green. Lol.
Tirisfal - Horde
Tie between Dun Morogh and Elwynn Forest - Alliance
Dun Morogh or Elwynn Forest.
I’ve always loved snowy mountain landscapes. Nothing like going out on a dangerous adventure in the frigid cold, and finally returning to the warm fires of a cozy dwarven tavern.
That and the first time visiting Ironforge. Love how the music is timed perfectly with a character’s run speed, to where it starts playing the Motiif as soon as you enter the commons.
Elwynn Forest has more to do with nostalgia’s sake. It’s a typical RPG “gather 15 apples” starter zone. There’s also the law and militancy of the human part of the Alliance; the cut-and-dry “get the job done” attitude towards enemies of the light and lion.
Least favorite would probably be Durotar. Orange orange orange, some red, and more orange. Makes me want to gouge out my eyes with such an overload of red and orange.
For Alliance, I tended to run to Elwynn Forest on most characters, with just enough sticking around Dun Morogh or Teldrassil to avoid boredom.
For Horde, Durotar comes slightly ahead of Mulgore strictly on the basis of beating peons (Zug Zug!) and not dealing with pig-men so heavily. (While I like it immensely better than Retail’s version, I am not a fan of Tirisfal and only ever did that questing a couple times.)
Northshire Valley.
Wow was my first experience of a Blizzard game at all, so to start off in the human starting zone was excellent, because every adventure and zone from there was crazy and magical and really highlighted how amazing the game was.
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Agree…and elwynn too since that was my initial experience. I still remember hearing the music.
I enjoy Durotar a lot but probably just because it is so familiar. It feels like home to me.