The time has come. We at Time Out have just revealed our list of the best cities on the planet for 2024 – and, excitingly, four British cities make the cut.
This year’s ranking is the result of surveys quizzing thousands of city-dwellers across the world about stuff like the quality of their city’s food, culture and nightlife, as well as how their home makes them feel. Are they happy there? Is it a beautiful place? Is it easy to make social connections?
We also polled over 100 of our own writers and editors on which places excite them the most right now. After all that, we got a list of 50 cities, and four of them happen to be right here in the UK.
No surprises, London ranked highly at number four. A whopping 94 percent of Londoners said they’re happy there and 95 percent said they find the city beautiful. The capital also ranked third in terms of ‘pull factor’, with nine percent of respondents worldwide saying they’d like to move there.
London editor Joe Mackertich said that it’s the people that really make the city thrive: ‘Londoners make London great. Nowhere else in the world can you rub shoulders with such a diverse yet weirdly homogeneous group of people.’
A bit further down at number seven came Liverpool. The northern hub scored 89 percent for the affordability of its cultural scene, with local contributor Alice Porter recommending spots like 24 Kitchen Street and FACT Picturehouse.
Northern neighbour Manchester landed in 15th place, with 96 percent of Mancunians saying that their city makes them happy. Our contributor pointed out Manny’s thriving food scene, ‘unrivalled’ underground club culture, live comedy circuit and alternative music offerings.
Glasgow was the last of the UK cities to make the cut for 2024. Ranked 30th, Glaswegian and Time Out contributor Annie McNamee celebrated its ‘identity and sense of community’ that is ‘infused into its soul’. It scored 92 percent for both food quality and happiness levels, with McNamee recommending tasty cheap eats like Sugo and Topolabamba.
Curious about which city claimed the top spot? You can see the full ranking here. And once you're done with that take a look at our pick of the best UK destinations for 2024, the coolest neighbourhoods in the world, and the best new things to do in the UK this year.
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