The world's greatest city?

A panel of Time Out experts selected 75 cities to celebrate in the book 'The World's Greatest Cities' 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.

But now we want to know, which city, or cities, do you consider to be the greatest in the world and why?

The World's Greatest Cities: Order your copy now from the Time Out shop.

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

The world's greatest cities

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

Almaty, Kazakhstan (this website is written in Russian)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Athens, Greece    
Bangkok, Thailand
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    
São Paulo, 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

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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.

Buy your copy now from the Time Out shop and save 40% 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.