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London’s roster of museums and art galleries is world-beating. Very few cities on the planet can compete with the UK capital when it comes to the scope and quality of our cultural institutions – not least because so many of them are free to visit. And that cultural side of the city is only getting mightier: this year has seen the opening of the V&A East, Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration and Museum of Youth Culture, while the new London Museum opens at Smithfield in November.
Londoners won’t be too surprised to hear, then, that the Big Smoke was crowned the best city in the world for art galleries in Time Out’s latest guide to the planet’s top places for culture. More than 24,000 people around the world were surveyed about culture in their cities, but nowhere else scored higher for art than London.
An impressive 81.1 percent of surveyed Londoners said that the city does art galleries better than it does anything else. London was a clear gold medal winner in the category, scoring much higher than Paris (which came second with 67.9 percent) and New York (third with 67.7 percent).
And who can deny London’s art cred? Massive institutions like the National Gallery, Tates Modern and Britain, the Barbican and Hayward Gallery; slightly smaller but just as treasured spaces like the Courtauld, Dulwich Picture Gallery, ICA, Serpentine Galleries and Wallace Collection; underrated venues like South London Gallery, Camden Art Centre and Autograph… there’s a reason Time Out’s guide to London’s finest art galleries stretches to 50 (and could go even further).
And London didn’t just score well for the city’s art. When it came to museums, a whopping 88.4 percent of the city’s residents backed London’s venues. That put us third, only behind Paris and Madrid. You can find our guide to the city’s top museums here.
2026 marks a decade of Time Out’s guides to the best cities in the world. London came fourth in the overall list but placed top when cities were filtered down to just their cultural offerings.
See Time Out’s Best Cities with Intrepid Travel 2026 in full here.
📍 See Time Out’s Best Cities for Culture with Intrepid Travel 2026 here.
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