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Europe is a place of world-class cities, many of them primed for shopping, dancing, eating and drinking. But the coolest cities on the continent are made even cooler – literally – when punctuated with a bit of green space. A city with easy access to nature and wildlife means happier people and a healthier environment, so in our eyes, your local park is just as important as all that other good stuff a city has to offer.
That’s why, when we conducted our annual survey about city life across the planet to create this year’s Time Out’s Best Cities with Intrepid Travel, we didn’t only ask about culture, food and nightlife. We also asked locals how they’d rate the green spaces and access to nature in their city.
Based on the percentage of respondents who answered either ‘good’ or ‘amazing’ from the 24,000 people we spoke to this year, we compiled a list of the top 20 green cities across the world.
Topping that ranking was the leafy British city of Bath, which earned an impressive 94 percent approval rating, likely thanks to its bounty of parks and local initiatives like building a ‘green infrastructure network’.
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After Bath, eight other European cities claimed a place in the 2026 list. Riga was named Europe’s second-best city for green space, with 87 percent of locals saying nature was accessible in their city. According to data from HUGSI.green, 47 percent of the city’s land is green space and 39 percent of it is covered by trees, so the high rating is hardly surprising.
In central Riga, you’ll find Bastion Hill, a pocket of winding paths, cascading little waterfalls and a pretty stone garden, and there are also spots like Ķīpsala Beach on the Daugava River and Vērmanes Garden Park, the city’s second oldest green space.
Stockholm got an 86 percent approval rating, and Hamburg followed closely behind with 85 percent. However, hubs in Norway, Finland, and Poland also made the list, so scroll on to find out where.
These are Europe’s 9 best cities for green space
- Bath (94 percent)
- Riga (87 percent)
- Stockholm (86 percent)
- Hamburg (85 percent)
- Vienna (83 percent)
- Helsinki (83 percent)
- Krakow (82 percent)
- Oslo (81 percent)
- Luxembourg (78 percent)
🍃 Read the complete list of the world’s best cities for green space and access to nature.
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