Earlier this month, Cape Town was named Time Out's Best City in the World for 2025 after 18,500 locals in 118 cities were asked to rate their city using 44 different criteria, which included food, nightlife, culture, affordability and happiness.
Interestingly, despite taking top spot overall, the Mother City finished second in a criterion which many would have thought it was nailed on to win.
When it comes to beauty, Cape Town scored highly (obviously!), with 82% of locals saying that the South African city is beautiful.
However, Chicago just pipped Cape Town with a score of 83% thanks to the city's pretty parks and gardens, gorgeous Lake Michigan views and alluring Chicago River waterways.
Other cities which made the top 10 for beauty include Australia's Sydney in third, Portugal's Lisbon in seventh, and Spain's Bilbao in tenth.
The world’s most beautiful cities, according to locals
1. Chicago, USA: 83 percent
2. Cape Town, South Africa: 82 percent
3. Sydney, Australia: 79 percent
4. Porto, Portugal: 78 percent
5. Edinburgh, Scotland: 74 percent
= Tbilisi, Georgia: 74 percent
7. Lisbon, Portugal: 73 percent
8. Medellin, Colombia: 72 percent
= Hamburg, Germany: 72 percent
10. Bilbao, Spain: 71 percent
While we shall agree to disagree on this one (Table Mountain, anyone?), congratulations to Chicago.
Check out the full list: The 50 best cities in the world in 2025