What makes a city the absolute best in the world? If you ask us, nightlife, culinary prowess, green spaces, museums and galleries on offer all play their part.
But according to global market research company, Euromonitor, there are in fact 55 metrics to consider when judging which city is better than all the rest. Those are spread out across six categories: economic and business performance, tourism performance, tourism infrastructure, tourism policy and attractiveness, health and safety, and sustainability.
Every year Euromonitor publishes its list of the best city destinations in the world, and in 2023 Paris came out top.
But how did the UK’s metropolises do? Well, even though it came first on this list, London just scraped a spot in the top ten (at number ten), sandwiched between Barcelona and Singapore. That’s four places down from last year’s index.
The only other UK city to make the cut was our beloved Edinburgh, which appeared much further down at number 62. It landed below Fukuoka, Japan and above Porto in Portugal. Want to know the full top ten? Here are they are:
- Paris, France
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Madrid, Spain
- Tokyo, Japan
- Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Berlin, Germany
- Rome, Italy
- New York, United States of America
- Barcelona, Spain
- London, United Kingdom
Time Out’s take
Every year we reveal our own ranking of the best cities in the world, so keep an eye out for our 2023 edition coming real soon. If you can’t wait that long, you can take a look at last year’s list, which crowned Edinburgh number one, placed London at seventeenth and also championed Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham. And if you’ve been inspired by Euromonitor’s list, check out our list of 101 top things to do in London and our ultimate guide to Edinburgh, brought to you by the locals who know them best.
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