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[EviLore]

Best cities in the world, 2026. As travel destinations.

1. Melbourne
2. Shanghai
3. Edinburgh
4. London
5. New York
6. Cape Town
7. Mexico City
8. Bangkok
9. Seoul
10. Tokyo
11. Zurich
12. Rio de Janeiro
13. Copenhagen
14. Sao Paulo
15. Hong Kong
16. Krakow
17. Porto
18. Guadalajara
19. Madrid
20. Valencia
21. Sydney
22. Paris
23. Singapore
24. Marrakesh
25. Hanoi
26. Bath
27. Bilbao
28. Berlin
29. Adelaide
30. Beijing

Source: https://www.timeout.com/travel/best-cities-2026

 

[Hypnotoad]

I lived in Shanghai for 5 years. It certainly doesn't belong in the second spot. For a city of it's size, there's not much to do, especially once you move a kilometer or two out of the city center. But I guess if you like highrises and quick food delivery, it ain't too shabby.

 

[EviLore]

I lived in Shanghai for 5 years. It certainly doesn't belong in the second spot. For a city of it's size, there's not much to do, especially once you move a kilometer or two out of the city center. But I guess if you like highrises and quick food delivery, it ain't too shabby.

Yep, it's an interesting visit for cultural reasons, doing something different, but I wouldn't make it a top recommendation for travel. Dystopian in some ways. Putting it above Tokyo is certainly a take.

Melbourne too. It's…fine? But Sydney is far superior as a travel destination. Cairns too for the outdoor activities, arguably.

 

[YCoCg]

London in 4?

 

[SatansReverence]

Melbourne is a shit hole.

Sincerely, former Melbourne resident that still lives within an hour of it.

 

[Paasei]

Expected London, Berlin and Paris to be higher on the list. This is for travel, so I'm thinking these cities offer a whole damn lot for tourism. Sightseeing, museums, night life and overall activities.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

What the hell would anyone travel to Melbourne for?

I would only go to Cape Town or Mexico City if I wanted to be kidnapped or shot. What the fuck is wrong with this list?

 

[RickSanchez]

1. Melbourne

Live Sydneysider reactions:

 

[Lord Panda]

lol @ Melbourne.

— an Australian

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Shanghai? Mexico City? Cape Town?

Did they take a walk at least for 10 minutes from downtown?

Krakow is a beautiful city, if you can get a job and live in the city center, because the whole town is not like on the postcards.

 

[bitbydeath]

I tried searching for my number one, Florence

 

[nush]

There's a whole lot of cities on that list that at one time used to be good, maybe they should have gone back and checked before putting them on the list.

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

4. London

 

[DKehoe]

These days you see a lot of people online scared of cities. I remember a little while back there was a thread someone made on here where they were sincerely asking asking why anyone would even chose to live in a city and seemed to take all the scare stories they see on social media as an actual representation of day to day city life. It's odd but that idea that the world is out to get you seems to be becoming more common.

I've visited a few of these but got a bunch more to tick off. I want to try and do a lot more travelling over the next few years so hopefully I'll get to visit a few more soon.

 

[Baemono]

Eh Edinbrugh is great but I would've out it below London

 

[DKehoe]

Eh Edinbrugh is great but I would've out it below London

There's more to do in London overall. So if someone who hasn't been to either was asking me which to visit I'd probably say London. But Edinburgh does have the world's biggest arts festival and being in the city when that's on is a pretty unique experience. It's also very walkable, has some great food options and incredible architecture.

 

[StueyDuck]

Shanghai second ...

Its a pretty milquetoast list... but its not like objectively bad.

Just kinda lame putting all major cities first, feels like theyve compiled the list from other sources than travelling

 

[LiquidMetal14]

These lists are what would have made sense 50 years ago. NY is not 100% what it used to be.

 

[StueyDuck]

What the hell would anyone travel to Melbourne for?

I would only go to Cape Town or Mexico City if I wanted to be kidnapped or shot. What the fuck is wrong with this list?

You only find crime in Cape Town (kidnapping is more a Johannesburg thing) if you are a completely and utterly retarded clueless tourist. The type of idiot who is so fresh that the second they leave home they just trust and believe that everything is like a Disney movie.

The number of times we have to tell visitors from the US or UK, "just be street smart, dont be alone at midnight in a dark alley" then durrrr they go and do that and get robbed... that shits gonna happen just the same in Londonistan as it will in CT.

Also another dumb thing tourists do, dont do the "im gonna go see how the poor people live, its so cultural" then turn up to a township where people are fighting for literal food and a roof over their head for the evening and expect them to give you hugs and kisses because you are wanting a "cultural experience".

 

[LokusAbriss]

Berlin... lol

 

[Sticks]

Id only visit Krakow from that list

 

[DKehoe]

Id only visit Krakow from that list

Why?

 

[EviLore]

You only find crime in Cape Town (kidnapping is more a Johannesburg thing) if you are a completely and utterly retarded clueless tourist. The type of idiot who is so fresh that the second they leave home they just trust and believe that everything is like a Disney movie.

The number of times we have to tell visitors from the US or UK, "just be street smart, dont be alone at midnight in a dark alley" then durrrr they go and do that and get robbed... that shits gonna happen just the same in Londonistan as it will in CT.

Also another dumb thing tourists do, dont do the "im gonna go see how the poor people live, its so cultural" then turn up to a township where people are fighting for literal food and a roof over their head for the evening and expect them to give you hugs and kisses because you are wanting a "cultural experience".

That's what tourists do everywhere, walking around at night and taking trips to less touristy and more "authentic" parts of town, except it's orders of magnitude more dangerous to do it in SA than in most of the world. It's not really naïveté per se because it's not comparable to most places people travel to, even in the developing world.

 

[P:axMagellanic]

Urbs Sacra?

 

[IDKFA]

Best cities in the world, 2026. As travel destinations.

1. Melbourne
2. Shanghai
3. Edinburgh
4. London
5. New York
6. Cape Town
7. Mexico City
8. Bangkok
9. Seoul
10. Tokyo
11. Zurich
12. Rio de Janeiro
13. Copenhagen
14. Sao Paulo
15. Hong Kong
16. Krakow
17. Porto
18. Guadalajara
19. Madrid
20. Valencia
21. Sydney
22. Paris
23. Singapore
24. Marrakesh
25. Hanoi
26. Bath
27. Bilbao
28. Berlin
29. Adelaide
30. Beijing

Source: https://www.timeout.com/travel/best-cities-2026

London that high? I live close to London and I wouldn't say it's top ten. It does have fantastic museums, historical sites and shopping destinations, but it's also incredibly expensive and frankly not as safe as it used to be.

In the 90s and 00s I'd put it that high, but it's gone downhill since then.

Great to see Bath on the list. I also live close to Bath and visit a few times a year just for thr incredible book shops.

Surprised there isn't one Italian city on the list.

Not surprised to see Barcelona not on the list. I went there in September and it was a dive. Easily one of the worst European cities I've ever been to.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Maybe they meant most popular and not "the best"? Because the choices are odd.

 

[Gp1]

Someone must be really drunk to put Rio and São Paulo that close Zürich and Copenhagen.

Yes, "high-level" tourism in both cities has its positive surprises that many don't expect to find. Especially in São Paulo, because Rio is already more tourist oriented, but even so...

 

[StueyDuck]

That's what tourists do everywhere, walking around at night and taking trips to less touristy and more "authentic" parts of town, except it's orders of magnitude more dangerous to do it in SA than in most of the world. It's not really naïveté per se because it's not comparable to most places people travel to, even in the developing world.

It is dangerous, but like I say, you dont walk around parts of london at night on your own either.

But its unfair to paint Capetown as "youll get kidnapped" because the crime really isnt like that. At least not for tourists. Most cases tourists get robbed.

The real crime is mostly done in locations and on farms etc.

Put it this way, ive lived in SA most my life, havent had trouble except being broken Into once and it was really our own fault, we were drunk students and literally stumbled out of predrinks and didnt lock or close anything.

Yet recently back in the UK when I last visited friends i had a literal movie style, gang of street thugs appear while your at the petrol station to mug you. We just chucked our phones cause it was only 2 of us and like 6 of them.

All In all no one should really be niave no matter what country they visit.

Very few countries on this planet have no crime, no guns and no issues

 

[T-0800]

What the hell would anyone travel to Melbourne for?

I would only go to Cape Town or Mexico City if I wanted to be kidnapped or shot. What the fuck is wrong with this list?

I travelled to Melbourne last year to see Oasis. Oasis were great and Melbourne was ok.

 

[GymWolf]

Modern london at 4 already invalidate the whole list.

 

[thefool]

This looks closer to a "cities to avoid" list

 

[Mr Reasonable]

For those who think that the list is so obviously wrong, I'd be interested to see the list that you'd approve - top ten would be fine.

 

[DKehoe]

This looks closer to a "cities to avoid" list

Take that, Porto.

 

[EviLore]

For those who think that the list is so obviously wrong, I'd be interested to see the list that you'd approve - top ten would be fine.

Tokyo, New York, Rome, Florence, Paris, Kyoto, Sydney, London, Hong Kong, Naples, Edinburgh, Singapore, etc. etc.

Melbourne isn't the best destination in Australia and Shanghai isn't the best in China, so putting them at the top of the world's list is silly. Then you have places like Guadalajara and Sao Paolo making the list…Adelaide…? Even Zurich, there's not much to do.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Modern london at 4 already invalidate the whole list.

That's what I was thinking. Stopped reading when seeing London at 4.

... but read again and saw Singapore on 23. LOL
Singapore is such a great city. Expensive as shit but beautiful and safe. Can only recommend it to everyone.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

For those who think that the list is so obviously wrong, I'd be interested to see the list that you'd approve - top ten would be fine.

Sure, I'll take a shot at it. This list is not in any order from #1 through #10. It's just a list of cities you might wanna see before you die

Tokyo
Paris
Rome
London
Venice
Shanghai
Cairo
Athens
New York City

There's a bunch of cities I've been to which did not qualify for the first list, but here's tier 2 for anyone who gives a shit

Las Vegas
Rio de Janeiro
Buenos Aires
Madrid
Barcelona
Berlin
Milan
Florence
Beijing
Xi'an
Kyoto
Osaka

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

These lists are what would have made sense 50 years ago. NY is not 100% what it used to be.

NY is a shithole compared to its former self

This looks closer to a "cities to avoid" list

 

[P:axMagellanic]

Modern london at 4 already invalidate the whole list.

Why? It's a beautiful city. You can spend a week in the museums alone.

 

[Wildebeest]

They seem to be mostly rating the food.

 

[EviLore]

Why? It's a beautiful city. You can spend a week in the museums alone.

It's still definitely worth visiting, but there's been a sharp decline especially over the last ~5 years, to the point where it's now unavoidable even as a tourist in central London.

 

[Unknown?]

These lists are what would have made sense 50 years ago. NY is not 100% what it used to be.

Ya, I wouldn't even have New York or London on the list. Much better cities in the US than New York.

 

[P:axMagellanic]

It's still definitely worth visiting, but there's been a sharp decline especially over the last ~5 years, to the point where it's now unavoidable even as a tourist in central London.

Seems to be a theme everywhere in the west. I loved Rome but people were saying Naples and Milan had declined when I visited, I didn't know any better of course. Japan was having issues as well weren't they quite recently?

My friend who goes to Vegas semi regularly said that isn't the same either.

 

[near]

How on earth is London ranked 4th? This place is a shithole.

 

[StabbyStabStabStabStab]

Tokyo, New York, Rome, Florence, Paris, Kyoto, Sydney, London, Hong Kong, Naples, Edinburgh, Singapore, etc. etc.

Melbourne isn't the best destination in Australia and Shanghai isn't the best in China, so putting them at the top of the world's list is silly. Then you have places like Guadalajara and Sao Paolo making the list…Adelaide…? Even Zurich, there's not much to do.

I'm not sure - I lived in Melbourne for 14 years (Sydney for 18 months prior - not much going on when you peel away the surface) and in terms of living (not visiting) Melbourne is (for me at least) by far the best place to hole up in Australia. I'd still be there if my folks were't knocking on a bit and 10,000 miles away.

Saying that, I don't however think its quite as affordable as it used to be, certainly not when I popped back there a couple of years back, so I'm surprising its sitting at the top.

EDIT: Didn't read the title as 'travel destinations'

 

[DKehoe]

Why? It's a beautiful city. You can spend a week in the museums alone.

I spend a decent amount of time in London and it is odd to see how some people online talk about it.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Only one US city? I've never been to NYC, but I hear mixed things with some saying it's got high crime, an awful subway, unaffordable and very dirty in places. But I hear the Pizza is great and of course many iconic areas and buildings.

I've never been to Australia so can't comment on any of those, but I have an image of Aussie cities being quite clean, vibrant and not too densly populated.

Tokyo is really great if you like that side of Japan. Personally I was always keen to move on after about 2 days to somewhere rural.

Seoul, way too fast paced but if you like Kpop type vibes then go for it.

London great museums, lots of really solid food options these days and historical areas. Just a shame about the awful awful mayor and lack of proper policing. Even a lot of the UK right who slam modern London still think it has a lot to offer and it does in many respects.

My favourite cities in the world are not on this list, which would be: Cambridge (UK), Nagasaki, Kyoto, Fukuoaka, Barcelona, Taipei.

Admittely I am not a big city person and prefer rural areas or small cities at the grand old age of 35.

 

[Tomorrow]

Edinburgh is shite.

 

[LyricalShrike]

For those who think that the list is so obviously wrong, I'd be interested to see the list that you'd approve - top ten would be fine.

My top ten are cities which are each somewhat unique and ripe with interesting nightlife, architecture, and culture.

1. Hong Kong - No place on earth matches the vibrancy of HK. Its still a great trip even though its being slowly devoured by the chinese.
2. New York - Hong Kong and NY are actually tied for number 1 for similar reasons. HK edges out NYC because I find the vertical orientation of Hong Kong island endlessly fascinating.
3. Taipei - Alternate timeline of Chinese history with an interesting melange of Chinese, Japanese, an Portuguese culture. Simultaneously hyper advanced and provincial. National Palace museum has priceless works of Chinese culture saved from the communists.
4. Berlin - Historic divided city with gorgeous architecture and experimental nightlife. Berghain is worth the trip alone if you want to get insane.
5. Seoul - A perspective into what NYC could be if it got its shit together.
6. Monaco - Baller ass city state with a fun GP.
7. / Rome/Vatican City - No explanation required.
8. London - Origin of the anglosphere, lots of history, decent culture and nightlife, lots of stuff to do.
9. Tokyo - Gateway into the madness of Japanese culture. Excellent arts, sporting events, nightlife, food, museums. Solid hub for branching out into the countryside.
10. Istanbul - Culturally significant, gorgeous architecture, great food, reasonably priced.
*11. Singapore (Just for a few days) - City states are amazing and you may as well complete the trifecta if you're already visiting Monaco and Vatican City. KL is next door if you're bored.

 

[Leopold]

Tokyo, New York, Rome, Florence, Paris, Kyoto, Sydney, London, Hong Kong, Naples, Edinburgh, Singapore, etc. etc.

Melbourne isn't the best destination in Australia and Shanghai isn't the best in China, so putting them at the top of the world's list is silly. Then you have places like Guadalajara and Sao Paolo making the list…Adelaide…? Even Zurich, there's not much to do.

Sao Paulo actually has a bustling culinary scene and very vibrant nightlife.

I don't think it is a Top Ten (or 15), but it surely is a very interesting place that I quite enjoy. Rio is also nice but for nature/party, not really culturally rich.

 

[DKehoe]

Edinburgh is shite.