It’s that time again! Time Out has just dropped its annual ranking of the World’s 50 Best Cities for 2025, and for the first time in history, four Australian cities have made the list – the most Aussie cities ever. It’s no news to us that Australia is hands-down one of the greatest places to live and travel. And it’s not just our ripper beaches, World Heritage-listed national parks and bucket-list-worthy hikes that we love about the place. Australia’s rich culture shines through its world-class restaurants, legendary pubs, remarkable museums and lively festivals.
Drumroll, please… In 2025, Melbourne claimed the title of the fourth-best city in the entire world! Sydney also had an impressive result, being crowned the 15th best city globally, while Perth landed at 33rd and Brisbane at 37th. Now, you’re probably wondering how Time Out came up with these numbers.
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This year, Time Out quizzed more than 18,500 local city-dwellers on everything from their food scenes and nightlife to culture, affordability, happiness and the overall city vibe. We then combined that data with votes from our global network of city experts to create Time Out’s definitive ranking of the World’s Best Cities in 2025.
Only three cities ranked above Melbourne in 2025, including Cape Town, Bangkok and New York (last year’s best city). The Victorian capital made a huge leap from 20th place in 2024, placing second overall in the ‘restaurants and eating out’ category and fourth in the ‘culture’ category.
Sydney also had a bumper year, rising from 31st in 2024 to 15th in 2025. It’s no surprise that the Harbour City was named third-most beautiful and came second in the ‘green spaces and access to nature’ category.
Australia doubled its entries in the 2025 World’s Best Cities ranking, with Perth and Brisbane also debuting in the top 40. Western Australia’s capital ranked just below Tokyo and Morocco at 33rd, with an impressive 72 per cent of locals saying they feel happier in Perth than anywhere else on Earth. Brisbane followed closely at number 37, with 86 per cent of Brisbanites praising the city’s green spaces and access to nature.
You can check out the full ranking of Time Out’s Best Cities in the World for 2025 here, complete with what makes each city great, why you should visit now and what the locals love.