The world's greatest city?

New York, London, Tokyo, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Mumbai... you choose

The world's greatest city? Union Square, Tokyo. World's Greatest Cities book cover
By Aleida Strowger

To celebrate the exciting launch of Time Out's new book 'The World's Greatest Cities' we are asking: 'Which city, or cities, do you consider to be the greatest in the world and why?'.

The 75 cities included in the book were selected by a panel of Time Out experts according to six criteria: Architecture, Arts & Culture, Buzz, Food & Drink, Quality of Life and World Status.

In conjunction with our local correspondents, the panel then awarded the cities scores in each category and totalled them up for an overall ranking. The results are both fascinating and often surprising.

The World's Greatest Cities: Order your copy now from the Time Out shop and save 20% online.

The results

Here are the top ten world cities as voted for by the Time Out panel:

1. New York, USA

Architecture: 9

Arts & culture: 10

Buzz: 10

Food & drink: 9

Quality of life: 6

World status: 9


Total/60: 53

2. London, UK

Architecture: 7

Arts & culture: 10

Buzz: 9

Food & drink: 9

Quality of life: 6
World status: 9
Total/60: 50

3. Paris, France

Architecture: 9

Arts & culture: 9
Buzz: 6
Food & drink: 9

Quality of life: 7

World status: 8


Total/60: 48

4. Berlin, Germany

Architecture: 7

Arts & culture: 9
Buzz: 9

Food & drink: 6

Quality of life: 7

World status: 8
Total/60: 46

Equal 5th. Barcelona, Spain

Architecture: 9

Arts & culture: 7

Buzz: 8

Food & drink: 8

Quality of life: 8
World status: 4


Total/60: 44

Equal 5th. Chicago, USA

Architecture: 9

Arts & culture: 8
Buzz: 7

Food & drink: 7

Quality of life: 7
World status: 6
Total/60: 44

Equal 5th. Tokyo, Japan

Architecture: 7
Arts & culture: 6
Buzz: 9

Food & drink: 10

Quality of life: 4
World status: 8
Total/60: 44

8. Istanbul, Turkey

Architecture: 7
Arts & culture: 7
Buzz: 9

Food & drink: 7
Quality of life: 6
World status: 7


Total/60: 43

Equal 9th. Rome, Italy

Architecture: 9

Arts & culture: 7
Buzz: 7
Food & drink: 6

Quality of life: 6

World status: 7


Total/60: 42

Equal 9th. Sydney, Australia

Architecture: 7

Arts & culture: 6

Buzz: 7

Food & drink: 7

Quality of life: 10
World status: 5


Total/60: 42

Cast your vote

Agree, disagree? Let us know which cities you consider to be the best in the world by contributing your knowledge via our 'The World's Greatest Cities' survey.

Below you'll find the list of the 75 cities.
Feel passionately that one of them is the greatest?
Then GET VOTING.

Know anyone living in, or who has visited, one the 75 cities and would like to cast their vote? Then please let them know about our survey.

Win the book

Ten lucky, randomly selected voters will each win a copy of 'The World's Greatest Cities' book.

Read more about Time Out's 'The World's Greatest Cities' book.

The world's greatest cities

Remind yourself about why you love a city so much by following the links through to one of our city guides:

Almaty, Kazakhstan
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Athens, Greece    
Bangkok, Thailand (website coming soon)
Barcelona, Spain
Beijing, China
Beirut, Lebanon    
Belfast, N Ireland    
Belgrade, Serbia    
Berlin, Germany
Bogotà, Columbia    
Brasilia, Brazil   
Brussels, Belgium    
Bucharest, Romania (this website is written in Hungarian)
Budapest, Hungary     
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cairo, Egypt    
Cape Town, South Africa    
Chicago, USA
Copenhagen, Denmark    
Dakar, Senegal    
Delhi, India
Dubai, UAE
Dublin, Ireland
Edinburgh, Scotland
Florence, Italy    
Glasgow, Scotland    
Hanoi, Vietnam    
Havana, Cuba    
Hong Kong, China
Istanbul, Turkey
Jakarta, Indonesia    
Johannesburg, South Africa    
Kingston, Jamaica     
Kolkata, India    
Krakow, Poland    
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Kyoto, Japan    
Lisbon, Portugal (this website is written in Portuguese)
London, England
Los Angeles, USA
Madrid, Spain
Manchester, England    
Manila, Philippines    
Marrakech, Morocco    
Marseille, France    
Melbourne, Australia    
Mexico City, Mexico
Miami, USA
Milan, Italy    
Moscow, Russia (this website is written in Russian)
Mumbai, India
Naples, Italy    
New York, USA
Paris, France    
Prague, Czech Republic    
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil    
Rome, Italy    
San Francisco, USA   
Sana'a, Yemen    
Sao Paolo, Brazil    
Seoul, Korea    
Seville, Spain    
Shanghai, China
Singapore
St Petersburg, Russia (this website is written in Russian)
Stockholm, Sweden
Sydney, Australia
Tel Aviv, Israel (this website is written in Hebrew)
Tokyo, Japan (beta website)
Toronto, Canada   
Vancouver, Canada
Venice, Italy (website coming soon)
Vienna, Austria    
Washington DC, USA

Buy the book

World's Greatest Cities book

The World's Greatest Cities book draws on Time Out's unique urban expertise and its unrivalled collection of photography to present portraits of the world's 75 most exciting cities. This book is a celebration of their beauty and diversity, the people who built them and the people who live in them.

Order your copy now from the Time Out shop and save 20% online.

Time Out publishes city guidebooks and magazines to 50 of these cities. All are available at a discounted price from the Time Out shop.

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40 comments Add a comment

being a newyorker and going to college in tokyo i am slightly biased. I would have to say however London beats both to first place.

Posted by leee on Nov 15 2009 1:17pm

1: Istanbul 2:Paris 3:New York 4:Rome 5: Barcelona

Posted by Romeo on Nov 9 2009 9:27am

Why the debate, we know it should of been London. Of course, being born here im slightly biased but have been all over the world and there is nowhere like home.

Posted by Rob on Oct 13 2009 10:58pm

Why the debate, we know it should of been London. Of course, being born here im slightly biased but have been all over the world and there is nowhere like home.

Posted by Rob on Oct 13 2009 10:58pm

Happy to see Kingston Jamaica there. It is an amazing city with amazing people!!! Lots of music ,great theatre and some of the best jerk chicken and patties in the world!!

Posted by To the max on Sep 30 2009 11:57pm

Happy to see Kingston Jamaica there. It is an amazing city with amazing people!!! Lots of music ,great theatre and some of the best jerk chicken and patties in the world!!

Posted by To the max on Sep 30 2009 11:57pm

Why didn't you include Luxembourg? It is a nice turn-of-the-century city (designed consciously) with a nice modern quarter by several big names, bouyant cultural life and a high quality of life.

Posted by Laci on Sep 27 2009 1:09pm

A Barcelona Guide agrees with the final results :)

Posted by A Barcelona Guide on Sep 24 2009 10:46am

It extends both on the European and on the Asian sides of the Bosphorus

Posted by fatih sultan mehmet on Sep 18 2009 1:33pm

istanbul in europa and asia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul

Posted by fatih sultan mehmet on Sep 18 2009 1:30pm

Only 6 for Tokyo's arts & culture? You must be kidding!!!

Posted by Bears on Sep 18 2009 12:59am

Seriously, only 9 for architecture and Art & Culture for Paris? I lived in Paris and NY and there is no way NY should have the same grade in those categories. I love NY, but NY is just ugly compared to Paris.

Posted by mco on Sep 16 2009 9:00am

The list is a joke!

Posted by Been there on Sep 15 2009 9:37pm

New York and London only ranked 9 out of 10 in world status? What's up with that?

Posted by Dan on Sep 15 2009 3:32am

Never mind Madrid. What about Valencia??

Posted by Oscar on Sep 14 2009 1:34pm

Re Madrid vs Barcelona, Madrid is the seat of the Spanish government and Monarchy, that's it, Barcelona is THE cultural capital of Spain open to European and Mediterranean influences. Can you really compare Madrid's architecture with Barcelona's? Name the architect and you'll answer the question! After Barcelona, it's Valencia, definitely!

Posted by Opic on Sep 14 2009 1:32pm

We are having this very debate at Sleep New York Forums, and I think that Hong Kong is being cheated here. Hong Kong is streets ahead of London in the proximity to other world cities game, like Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, etc. Food in London a 9? New York a 9? You can get great pizza at Pelham Bay at 3 am - try getting a decent anything in Tooting Bec at that time. London shuts down too early to be in the top 5. It should be the top city in the world - if you are a malted milk drinkin' grandma!

Posted by TikiNYC - Admin - SleepNewYork on Sep 12 2009 8:29pm

We are having this very debate at Sleep New York Forums, and I think that Hong Kong is being cheated here. Hong Kong is streets ahead of London in the proximity to other world cities game, like Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, etc. Food in London a 9? New York a 9? You can get great pizza at Pelham Bay at 3 am - try getting a decent anything in Tooting Bec at that time. London shuts down too early to be in the top 5. It should be the top city in the world - if you are a malted milk drinkin' grandma!

Posted by TikiNYC - Admin - SleepNewYork.tk on Sep 12 2009 8:26pm

We are having this very debate at Sleep New York Forums, and I think that Hong Kong is being cheated here. Hong Kong is streets ahead of London in the proximity to other world cities game, like Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, etc. Food in London a 9? New York a 9? You can get great pizza at Pelham Bay at 3 am - try getting a decent anything in Tooting Bec at that time. London shuts down too early to be in the top 5. It should be the top city in the world - if you are a malted milk drinkin' grandma!

Posted by TikiNYC - Admin - SleepNewYork.tk on Sep 12 2009 8:26pm

and finally these results are obviously biased because they are only accesible through the anglo saxon world. There is no time-out in the latin american world nor the asian countries. It is the only way to explain why there is no asian cities in the top ten (3 billion domestic voters) nor south americans..... where is Buenos Aires or Rio?

Posted by nacho on Sep 11 2009 12:09pm

and madrid????? This is not about football rivalry between Barsa and Madrid, but based on these criteria Madrid has definately more and better museums than any of the top ten, has the best quality of life (people do not work in August!!!) and it reunites all the diversity of Spanish food in one city. Believe me I have lived in Madrid, Paris, London and New York and there is no city that can compare to Madrid in most of those categories. In all the cities in that list you have to be rich to enjoy them, Madrid gives museums, culture, nightlife and quality of life for everyone.

Posted by nacho on Sep 11 2009 12:05pm

Size doesn't matter

Posted by Pau on Sep 10 2009 7:31pm

the point about such a survey ought to be to re-adjust existing misleading perceptions. for example imho the food is better in istanbul than paris. many famous european and american cities have no buzz, food is bad. they live on past cliches. tokyo is more exciting than new york. sorry!

Posted by ozv on Sep 10 2009 9:50am

Jorge - I couldn't agree less. Madrid is a giant of a city. Barcelona is very pleasant, and great to visit, but this is not about the most pleasant cities - which is why Avignon and Sienna aren't on the list, and why Glasgow trumps Edinbugh, and Madrid is better than Barca.

Posted by bale on Sep 10 2009 8:51am

If you rate Barcelona with work status 4, which I believe it is correct, how is it supposed to be such a great city? it is great for turists that come and spend the money they make somewhere else, but not for locals, since all this "buzz" life is less and less affordable for them. A little bit of consistency pls.

Posted by Sandra on Sep 9 2009 7:00pm

Oh come on, the only thing Madrid has is being the capital of Spain. Barcelona has much more. It's like comparing Istanbul to Ankara, or New York to Washington.

Posted by Jorge on Sep 9 2009 6:01pm

Madrid deserves to be in the top ten. It has not only first class art ( arguably the best museums of painting in the world), life style or gastronomy, it is also the cultural and financial capital of the Hispanic world and the siege of multinationals with a global reach far beyond Barcelona, Istambul or Rome.

Posted by Luis on Sep 9 2009 5:11pm

In Europe (Istanbul excluded): 1. London 2. Paris 3. Madrid 4. Rome 5. Naples 6. Berlin 7. Barcelona 8. Glasgow 9. Lisbon 10. Warsaw.

Posted by bale on Sep 9 2009 3:17pm

I think Madrid is better than Barcelona

Posted by Klein on Sep 9 2009 2:18pm
Posted by Peter on Sep 9 2009 12:05pm

A the moment, there is no question but that London is number one. The exhibitions, theatre and music are way ahead of New York. But enjoy, as the golden age won't last.

Posted by Allan on Sep 6 2009 10:07am

Hong Kong, Barcelona, Istanbul Hong Kong= Still asian but also so global. The sprit of Lan Kwai Fong is unforgettable. Barcelona= the excellent talent of Gaudi and all Catalan artists + great food and time in Tapas Bars Istanbul= city resists to the empires. I have to admit that Tokyo has her own charm too.

Posted by gokce on Sep 3 2009 10:43am

Hong Kong, Barcelona, Istanbul Hong Kong= Still asian but also so global. The sprit of Lan Kwai Fong is unforgettable. Barcelona= the excellent talent of Gaudi and all Catalan artists + great food and time in Tapas Bars Istanbul= city resists to the empires. I have to admit that Tokyo has her own charm too.

Posted by gokce on Sep 3 2009 10:43am

Sngapore, Istanbul, London, Paris..!

Posted by neerja on Aug 25 2009 12:11pm

Singapore is by far the best place to live and enjoy life ! Cheers!

Posted by Anukul on Aug 24 2009 11:27am

TOKYO: Its amazing just to sit back and view how the city functions. Everyone rushing at the metro station, maintaining that calm, poise and everyone is very high on the style quotient. The classiest city to be at.

Posted by Ritu Gautam on Aug 22 2009 4:16pm
Posted by Bob Dunford on Aug 22 2009 3:06pm

LONDON of course -where else!!! My maternal grandfather was born there and since my first visit 41 years ago I have felt a deep affinity with THE CITY!!!

Posted by ann e i hull on Aug 20 2009 3:30pm

Barcelona missing from the euro list is unforgiveable.

Posted by andigh on Aug 20 2009 1:21pm

GREAT IDEA. I've just filled up the survey but i can't find Barcelona in European Country listings...

Posted by zeze on Aug 20 2009 9:15am

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