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When you think of a city, green spaces and nature might not be the first things that come to mind. But cities can be very green places indeed. London, for instance, is more than 20 percent trees, making it the world’s largest urban forest. And another UK city just topped the 2026 edition of Time Out’s Best Cities for Green Spaces with Intrepid Travel.
Our latest list of the world’s best cities for touching grass was the result of a global survey of 24,000 city-dwellers from all corners of the planet. Those responses helped us rank Time Out’s Best Cities with Intrepid Travel 2026 (in total, three places in Britain made the cut), as well as a nature-specific list.
We asked locals how they’d rate their city’s green spaces and access to nature, rounding up the number that responded either ‘good’ or ‘amazing’. That combined percentage was then used to produce an overall ‘green spaces score’.
Scoring a whopping 94 percent, which made it the best green city on the entire planet, was Bath. Second place in the UK went to London.
Sitting on the southwestern edge of the Cotswolds, Bath is surrounded by lush countryside – but the city itself also contains plenty of gorgeous greenery. Time Out Travel writer explained that Bath is ‘peppered with both small green pockets and vast expanses’, picking out ‘the impressive eighteenth-century Prior Park Landscape Garden, owned by the National Trust’.
Indeed, some of Bath’s greatest attractions are notable for their green-ness. The Circus and The Crescent might be renowned for their architecture, but both sights overlook verdant greenery (with the latter boasting the mighty Royal Victoria Park). Alexandra Park is among Bath’s greatest vistas, but it’s also full of fabulous gardens and shrubbery (upkept by community volunteers).
And that’s just within built-up Bath. Other top-tier leafy spots near the Somerset city include Dyrham Park, which is a National Trust site, the Grade I-listed Ilford Manor, and the stately gardens (and notable art collection) of Corsham Court.
Where should you start with Bath’s greenery? Well, Liv recommends the comprehensive nature walks led by Bathscape, which you can find out more about here.
The best cities in the UK for green spaces
You can find a full list of the 10 greenest cities in the UK, according to locals, below:
🍃 Read the full ranking of Time Out’s Best Cities for Green Spaces with Intrepid Travel.
Ready to see the world’s best cities for yourself? Book your next trip with Intrepid Travel and start planning the ultimate adventure today. Renowned for the ‘best small group trips’ around, Intrepid is all about locally led adventures that find the sweet spot between authentic cultural experiences and responsible tourism. Trips span more than 100 destinations – from trekking the Inca Trail in Peru to street-food discoveries in Japan and desert camping beneath the stars in Morocco.
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