Well well well, looks like Singapore's got another achievement in the bag – adding on to a recent accumulation of wins including having some of the best airlines in the world; being home to the newly crowned best coffee shop in Asia; and having a whopping 18 of its hotels recognised by the Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards. Along with all this comes its status as Asia-Pacific’s best city in 2025 – and as people who love our island-city, we’re certainly not going to dispute that.
Resonance Consultancy is the one behind this ranking of the best cities in Asia-Pacific, where three main factors of livability, lovability, and prosperity are used to determine the final results. But it’s not as clear-cut as that, because each factor also involves multiple metrics of its own. For livability it’s things like sights and landmarks, nature parks, and price-to-income ratio; Lovability considers aspects like shopping, Google trends, and Tripadvisor reviews; while Prosperity covers GDP per capita, airport connectivity, and unemployment rate, just to name some of the many.
The extensive metric-based selection process whittled down a shortlist of 400 cities across the world, to a final list of 100, and SIngapore is right at the top of the list.
According to Resonance, Singapore’s world-class status comes from how it has “undergone a remarkable transformation to emerge as one of Asia’s most modern, well-organised and captivating urban centres” – a total 180 from its trading port past. Our Lion City’s quality dining and shopping options are also highlighted. On top of that, Singapore is number one across Resonance’s whole list in terms of GDP per capita, and second for Google Trends.
Right behind us are Tokyo (#2) and Seoul (#3) – two destinations that happen to be highly popular among Singaporean travellers. Other Asian cities in the top 10 include Bangkok (#6) and Shanghai (#8), together with Australian cities like Sydney (#7) and Melbourne (#9).
10 best cities in Asia-Pacific for 2025, according to Resonance Consultancy:
- Singapore
- Tokyo, Japan
- Seoul, South Korea
- Hong Kong
- Beijing, China
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Sydney, Australia
- Shanghai, China
- Melbourne, Australia
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Check out the full list of APAC’s best cities in 2025.
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