Bib up and take a bow, Melburnians! Not that we needed the proof, but our fair city has just been ranked the world's hottest destination for food-obsessed travellers. Leveraging a blend of social media data and insightful metrics on dining affordability and cuisine diversity, a brand new study from British company Travelbag reveals exactly where Melbourne stands among the world's top gastronomic destinations in 2025 – and yep, we're sitting pretty at numero uno.
But is it really any surprise? From our globally acclaimed dining scene (after all, we've got some of the best restaurants in the world) to the multicultural array of cuisines dotted around our neighbourhoods, there's no question that we're living in a food lovers' wonderland. And with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival ready to go this March, this town's on standby to get a whole lot tastier.
So with all this deliciousness in mind, let's take look at the study's results!
With over 100 different cuisines and an average dining cost of £57 for two people in a mid-range restaurant (it's a British study, so that translates to about $113AUD as per current conversion rates), Melbourne ranked highly compared to other cities on these metrics alone – but it's our social media popularity that really rocketed us up the rankings ladder.
How about all the love we get on the 'gram, for example? We're the most popular food destination in the world – a tie with London. Both cities were found to have a cool 3 million Instagram posts under their respective location tag ('#londonfood' or '#melbournefood'), the highest number of all 50 cities analysed. While London may have inched ahead of us on Tik Tok with 163,500 posts compared to our 118,500, Melbourne stood out on top with all the other metrics thrown into the mix.
Meanwhile, our friends in Toronto took out second place with an impressive 103 cuisines, 2.6 million Instagram posts and 145,600 TikTok mentions under its food-related hashtags. Poutine or Michelin-starred sushi anyone?
Rounding out the top three was Dubai, which also boasted a strong social media popularity rating and the highest number of food and drink-related activities. Its results were credited to its luxury dining scene and 'extravagant food trends', from gold-slathered steaks to towering desserts.
Buzzing food cities such as Hanoi, Tokyo, Bangkok and New York also made the top ten, giving us no shortage of foodie travel inspo for our next holiday. But until then? We're pretty happy to stay put (bellies full), right here in Melbourne.
You can check out the full results of the study here.
According to the study, these are the top 10 foodie destinations to visit in 2025:
- Melbourne
- Toronto
- Dubai
- Sydney
- Hanoi
- Chicago
- Houston
- Tokyo
- Bangkok
- New York
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