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Adelaide has long lived in the shadows of Melbourne and Sydney, but it’s finally being recognised alongside Australia's big cities. In Time Out’s newly released World’s Best Cities list for 2026, the South Australian capital was one of only three Aussie cities to land in the top 30.
On the home front, it was a record-breaking year, with an Australian city topping the list for the very first time. Melbourne earned that top honour, while Sydney landed in a very honourable 21st place and Adelaide came in at 29th.
We know you’re probably wondering how exactly this list is compiled. For Time Out’s tenth annual Best Cities series, we surveyed more than 24,000 city dwellers worldwide about life in their hometowns. We quizzed them on 44 different criteria, covering everything from food, nightlife and culture to affordability, happiness and the overall city vibe. The data was then combined with expertise from more than 100 Time Out city editors to create the official top 50 list.
Adelaide’s 29th-place ranking is a big deal for South Australia, especially considering the capital didn’t even make last year’s Best Cities list. But we think its spot in the top 30 is very well deserved – here’s why.
Wedged between vine-laced hills and a wild stretch of coastline, this compact city delivers big on dining, culture and pretty landscapes. Our Travel & News Editor, Melissa Woodley, visits Adelaide multiple times a year and finds more to love about it on every trip.
For starters, the city is super easy to get around. It’s called Australia’s ’20-minute city’ for a reason – in theory, you can drive from the city’s top attractions to the airport to the sun-drenched shores of Glenelg or even the cellar doors of the Adelaide Hills, all within a zippy 20 minutes.
It’s just as walkable, too. Trails weave along the River Torrens, through the Botanic Garden and all the way to the coast, even connecting to the free city tram for when your legs start to tire.
Adelaide has well and truly earned its nickname as Australia’s capital of festivals, with a calendar packed full of events spanning arts, culture, sports, food and wine. Mad March is a particularly fun time to be in the Event State, as revellers descend in their droves to Adelaide Fringe. The largest arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere, it brings thousands of global artists together in one place, running alongside Adelaide Festival and WOMADelaide. Even better, despite the stacked events calendar, the crowds are still manageable and the experiences remain delightfully intimate.
There are plenty more reasons Adelaide is one of the best cities in the world, but we’ll finish by paying tribute to its stellar food and drink scene. The city’s top venues pair seriously stylish design with abundant fresh produce from South Australia's world-famous wine regions. Adelaide’s forward-thinking mod-Oz cuisine draws on global influences, with everything from Afghan comfort food at Parwana to African-style barbecue at Africola and Greek-style share plates at Omada. Top tip: No trip is complete without a foodie adventure at Adelaide Central Market, one of the largest undercover fresh produce markets in the Southern Hemisphere.
You can read more about Time Out’s 50 Best Cities 2026 here.
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