Pedestrians reclaim the road for the weekly Sunday Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City’s vibrant centre.Credit: Getty Images
They’re among the world’s renowned food destinations, with a deep sense of place, a vibrant past, and a beauty that’s undeniable. Of course, for all their similarities, you’ll still want to visit every last one, as – and I’m sure our writers will agree – there’s simply nothing else like them on Earth. Read on for our definitive list of the world’s greatest cities and towns.
Mexico City, Mexico
High altitude, high density, high drama. Mexico City is the most surprising megacity you’re ever likely to encounter. Incredible contemporary design and historic architecture, family-run taquerias and high-end hospitality, grit and glamour – it’s got it all going on, and a lot going for it.
Luang Prabang, Laos
Lush views from Mount Phousi, looking out over Luang Prabang.Credit: iStock
This UNESCO World Heritage stunner at the confluence of the Mekong and Khan Rivers is a photogenic mix of gilded Buddhist temples and faded colonial architecture. Surrounded by lush countryside peppered with caves and waterfalls, it’s also a spiritually nourishing destination. See tourismlaos.org
Kyoto, Japan
Peaceful perfection … Toji Pagoda, Kyoto, Japan.Credit: Getty Images
Its beauty and perfection are almost implausible: the shrines, the temples, the gardens, the tea-houses, the ancient paved streets, the sense of history and refinement. Then there’s high-end dining (more Michelin stars per capita than any city on Earth), the produce markets, the luxury ryokans and contemporary design hotels. Yes, it can be crowded with tourists, but it’s still difficult to top.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Past and present collide in buzzing Ho Chi Minh City.Credit: Getty Images
Few cities allow the sort of immediate immersion that Ho Chi Minh City demands. You’ve been in this place for an hour, and you’re already sitting on a plastic chair at a table by a busy street, slurping noodles and taking in heady aromas of fresh herbs and scooter exhaust. The city, formerly known as Saigon is intoxicating, affordable and friendly.
Delhi, India
Chaotic, confronting, confusing and compelling. India’s capital is a bewildering mix of opulence and poverty with 33 million inhabitants filling the streets with a colourful frenzy of activity 24 hours a day. From the tangled mess of medieval alleyways that is Old Delhi, to the manicured parks and broad avenues of British-designed New Delhi, there are captivating contrasts on every corner.
San Sebastian, Spain
San Sebastian … a standout for its food, its beaches and its culture.Credit: Getty Images
Anthony Bourdain put it perfectly: “You could make the argument that there is no better place to eat in Europe than the city of San Sebastian.” We would humbly suggest that there is no better place on Earth. The food culture in this Basque city is just so sophisticated, so diverse, so approachable and so enjoyable, with everything from simple pintxos at stand-up bars to avant garde cuisine at three-Michelin-starred fine-diners. Throw in two gorgeous beaches, Belle Epoque architecture, and a deep sense of identity, and San Sebastian is irresistible.
Byron Bay, NSW
Beach town turn food hot spot… Visitor favourite Three Blue Ducks, Byron Bay.Credit: Paul Harris
Long a haunt for the Bohemian crowd, Byron Bay is now a vibrant melting pot of celebrities, new-agers, sea-changers, artists and nomadic surfers. It offers a near perfect left-hand break, great food, markets, boutique hotels and more. Whatever you’re looking for out of a beach holiday, it’s all there in Byron.
Hoi An, Vietnam
Hoi An’s beautiful ancient town at dusk.Credit: Getty Images
This once little known but now immensely popular UNESCO World Heritage-listed former trading post on Vietnam’s central coast is intersected with narrow canals beside an Ancient Town comprised of slow-paced laneways, incredible food, 18th-century Japanese covered bridges and bustling markets.
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
No other city devotes so much energy to entertaining tourists, and Vegas always has to push the boundaries to keep repeat visitors coming – and spending. Gambling is no longer what it’s all about in Vegas. The city has outstanding restaurants and shopping, adrenaline-pumping rides and world-class entertainment, often headlined by top celebrity acts.
Lisbon, Portugal
Views over Lisbon’s old town.Credit: iStock
If you don’t eat well in Lisbon then you’re doing something wrong. The wide boulevards and winding streets are filled with family-run taberna where you can find diverse and cheap eats. The quintessential experience is a soulful fado performance and dinner in the historical Alfama district.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Go Dutch … Singel Canal, Amsterdam.Credit: iStock
People come to the Dutch capital for its famed canals, counter-culture, so-called coffee shops and cannabis, red-light district (nowhere is perfect) not to mention history, art and a die-hard addiction to biking. Invariably they leave loving it for its strengths and flaws.
Cartagena, Colombia
With the stain of once having been one of Latin America’s largest slave ports, Cartagena on Colombia’s Caribbean coast today offers visitors an ancient walled city with a tangle of cobblestoned streets, bougainvillaea-covered colonial buildings, elevated dining and lively nightlife.
Havana, Cuba
Musicians play in the postcard-perfect Old Havana city centre.Credit: Getty Images
In the venerable capital of Cuba, history is preserved along the cobblestone calles of the 16th-century UNESCO World Heritage-listed Old Havana city centre. Now a new future is being conjured for this alluring Caribbean island nation from within the crumbling Spanish colonial walls.
Edinburgh, Scotland
The city of Edinburgh from Salisbury Crags, in Holyrood Park.Credit: Getty Images
Rich in architecture and natural beauty – pockmarked with extinct volcanoes as it is – Scotland’s elegant capital also hosts the Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival with comedy, drama and much more spilling out on the streets and across dozens of venues each August.
Cairo, Egypt
Culture runs deep in Egypt’s ancient capital… Khan El Khalili market.Credit: Getty Images
There exists something truly dreamy and bucket-list worthy about Egypt’s sprawling and chaotic capital of almost 23 million, whether it be cruising in comfort along the fabled River Nile or getting up close to the formidable and mysterious Pyramids of Giza.
Hobart, Tasmania
There’s something in the air in Hobart… Dark Mofo’s iconic Nude Solstice.Credit: Vanessa Ritchie
We love the diminutive Tasmanian state capital for its Dark MOFO (cancelled in 2024 but returning for 2025), its mass nudie swims, its fresh-oyster food festivals, the lemon myrtle smell when you get off the plane. We love it for its fabulous restaurants and its magnetism to anyone with a penchant for crafty culinary enterprises.
Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand’s capital city has incredible views from Mount Victoria.Credit: iStock
New Zealand’s coolest city is also its capital, a mini-Melbourne with great food and entertainment crammed into a walkable heart. Its harbour is pretty, its people hospitable and it’s surrounded by great day trip destinations, and, of course, The Lord of the Rings locations.
Los Angeles, US
Misunderstood and misrepresented, multicultural, marvellous LA is so much more than Hollywood and theme parks. Go hiking in the hills. Visit incredible museums and galleries, flea and farmers’ markets, record stores and dinky bars in curious neighbourhoods. LA offers an immersive city experience like no other.
Marrakesh, Morocco
Djemaa El Fna Square, Marrakesh.Credit: iStock
The hippie trail has shut up shop but mythical, magical Marrakesh in western Morocco continues to attract free spirits and creative minds. It is immersive like few other places, with its glorious medina within the old walled citadel dating to the Berber Empire.
Melbourne, Victoria
There is so much to Melbourne: its sport, culinary and cultural scenes, and its cool and creative inner-city villages. There even are vineyards, misty mountains and surf beaches within striking distance – day trips galore. It’s an international city that deserves the “world’s most liveable” list accolades, and it’s famously friendly, too.
Madrid, Spain
The Spanish capital ticks the culture boxes with palaces and world-class art museums, yet also has some of Europe’s most enjoyable nightlife, a great food scene and eclectic neighbourhoods. It’s also a leading centre for fashion and design.
Barcelona, Spain
The neat artistry of Barcelona and the Sagrada Familia.Credit: Getty Images
Wedged between mountains and the Mediterranean, the Catalan capital is furnished with some of the most flamboyant and eclectic architecture of any city in the world. Gaudi’s stuff (with threats that the saga of the Sagreda Familia construction will soon have an ending) is merely the start.
Hong Kong, China
Breathtaking outlooks from Hong Kong’s The Peak tram railway.Credit: iStock
It’s had its troubles, things have and continue to change, but Hong Kong has still got it: an incredible, unrivalled setting, crammed-in skyscrapers illuminated by night, a glittering, junk and Star Ferry-filled harbour, jam-packed markets, great shopping and a sensational dining and bar scene.
Chicago, US
America’s third-biggest city gets overlooked, but it’s here you’ll find some of the US’s best restaurants and this is where modern blues began. Built around Lake Michigan, take a kayak or boat tour and check out what makes this one of the country’s most exciting cities.
Seville, Spain
Seville’s grand Plaza Espana.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Think tapas, tiles, flamenco, festivals and the rich cultural influences of Northern Africa, this city also makes this list for the architecture of its magnificent intact Old Town alone. Here plates of jamon and glasses of beer can still be found at tiled-floored bars with wine barrels for tables.
Queenstown, New Zealand
Autumn colours from the lips of Lake Wakatipu.Credit: iStock
This adrenalin-filled destination for bungee-jumping and jet boating offers tranquil pleasures too, such as cruising on Lake Wakatipu below towering, brooding peaks and hiking amid alpine scenery. It’s also a great food and wine destination, fanning out to the surrounding Otago region, with sophisticated restaurants and cool cellar doors.
Sydney, Australia
It’s easy to take Australia’s soon to be second city for granted. But it really is one of the world’s most stunning – a fact of which you’re reminded when taking a ferry across the harbour, a train over the bridge or enjoying a coastal hike with the Pacific glimmering or frothing below.
Budapest, Hungary
Classic beauty … Hungarian Parliament Building, Budapest.Credit: iStock
The tourist hordes are slowly discovering this beguiling city on the Danube, but it remains one of Europe’s unsung gems. Hungary’s capital is blessed with a bounty of art nouveau architecture, impressive castles, quirky ruin bars and gorgeous bathhouses replenished by mineral-rich hot springs.
Vienna, Austria
Mozart, Beethoven and many other great composers lived and worked here as well as groundbreaking intellectuals including Freud. Vienna has marvellous Baroque architecture, famous horses, palaces and lavish monuments – but it’s a thriving contemporary city, too, with lively intellectual and creative life and a great coffee scene.
Berlin, Germany
Diners enjoying a night out at Clarchens Ballhaus, which opened in 1913.Credit: Alamy
The hedonistic German capital is a place where sightseeing is secondary to the experience, and that experience is about as varied as you can imagine, while at the same time offering certain things you can’t quite fathom, especially the extraordinary nightlife.
Istanbul, Turkey
Few cities in the world offer a visitor such a wealth of Islamic architecture and culture than this ever fabulous Ottoman beauty on the Bosphorus. A vast city of more than 16 million, Istanbul’s treasures include mosques, covered markets, palaces and priceless museum exhibits.
New York, US
New York, yes, it’s a wonderful town.Credit: iStock
No other city has such a visceral sense of energy and potential. People come here to “make it” and in doing so, create an intoxicating, ever-evolving landscape of art, theatre, cuisine and experiences that can reinvigorate even the most jaded of travellers.
Cape Town, South Africa
Scenic Cape Town … Africa doesn’t scream “road trip”, but it should.Credit: Getty Images
There is no better setting for a city. Full stop. The last city in Africa may sit at sea level but is backed by a great barrier of cloud-wreathed peaks framing the urban centre beneath, where wineries produce excellent vintages. Beyond stretches the Cape Peninsula, where Chapman’s Peak Drive ranks as one of Africa’s most dramatic roads.
Churchill, Canada
On the fringe of the Arctic, most people come for the polar bears (and let’s face it, whether you’re out on the tundra or viewing them on the edge of Seal River, they don’t disappoint). But Churchill, Manitoba, is a glimpse of life on the rue edge: not just the threat of polar bears, but a barometer for climate change bringing the bears into increasing human contact. Wildlife encounters with beluga whales and orcas are all available, as well as a great outdoor art and mural trail.
New Orleans, US
New Orleans’ historic French Quarter.Credit: iStock
The fact that New Orleans enjoys the same bucket-list status as mega-cities LA, Vegas and New York says a lot about its larger-than-life personality. This is a place to have fun, to listen to fabulous jazz, to feast on po’ boys and beignets and soak up a unique cauldron of cultures and influences.
Paris, France
Stunning architecture, amazing food, museums, galleries, broad boulevards, a seat at a quiet backstreet cafe – Paris is an artwork in itself.
A cit that never disappoints … Arc de Triomphe, Paris.Credit: iStock
Venice, Italy
Despite the crowds, it’s still one of the most magical places on Earth. That this meandering, fairytale city of canals and bridges exists at all is astonishing. Go in winter.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rainbow neighbourhoods… eye-catching buildings in central Buenos Aires.Credit: iStock
What a city – lively, grand, groovy, delicious. It’s a place to just go and hang, basking in the distinct neighbourhoods, the incredible architecture and the love of football (soccer). Go on a Sunday for the San Telmo flea market – truly the best of its kind in the world.
Rome, Italy
Yes, the Eternal City has its share of over-tourism problems, but those who know keep returning because there is always more to discover away from the main tourist haunts. Each visit peels back another layer of this historical lasagna.
Tokyo, Japan
Feast for the senses … Shibuya, Tokyo.Credit: Getty Images
With a population only slightly less than that of Canada, the Japanese capital is a sprawling wonderland of cultural passions. If you love food, art, history, museums, music, sport, shopping, drinking, Pokemon … really, anything, then this most civilised of mega-cities is your destination.
The winners: London, UK
Portobello Road, London … from its free museums to its pop culture, London shines.Credit: iStock
The fact that all those major museums are free is reason enough to consider London as among the greatest places in the world. Then there are the restaurants, the amazing hotels, the theatres, the literary legacy, the architecture, both historic and unapologetically modern, and some of the world’s most important (and not so important but great nonetheless) pop culture. For many, it is the greatest city in the world, and rightly so.
CONTRIBUTORS Kate Armstrong, Keith Austin, Ben Groundwater, Shaney Hudson, Belinda Jackson, Julietta Jameson, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Nina Karnikowski, Katrina Lobley, Rob McFarland, Steve McKenna, Catherine Marshall, Justin Meneguzzi, Julie Miller, Sheriden Rhodes, Tim Richards, Craig Tansley, Lee Tulloch, Kerry van der Jagt, Penny Watson and Sue Williams