World’s Best Cities 2022 Announced for Food, Value and Connection

According to Time Out’s annual world guide, Scottish hubs have dominated the list of cultural hubs to visit this year.

Edinburgh was crowned top spot in the 2022 Index of Best Cities in the World in a survey of 20,000 city dwellers in 53 cities around the world.

Auld Reekie was closely followed by Chicago in second place, then the Colombian city of Medellin and Glasgow in fourth place.

Edinburgh was voted number one for its rugged beauty, easy walking and cultural heart. Festival City is a top spot for international travelers, with around a million tourists arriving in August. However, Glasgow and the Clyde were hot on the heels of the Scottish capital.

“Easygoing friendliness and good humor reign supreme in the city voted friendliest in this year’s Index,” said Malcolm Jack of Time Out. It was also voted one of the best value breaks, being the second least rated “expensive” by survey participants.

It may come as a surprise that the cities have a “grumpy” reputation, but the cities far outperform larger hubs like Tokyo (24) and New York (20).

For Scotland, “a lot of small towns do a crap”.

Third on the list, Medellin in Colombia, has also experienced a renaissance. The mountain town has suffered from an image problem since the early 1990s, with many tourists staying away from Colombia.

“It’s really hard not to make good friends here,” said the guide. “In this year’s poll, Medellín’s nightlife was voted the best in the world.” With 97 percent for food and drink and 90 percent for nightlife and community spirit, Medellin knows how to have a good time.

Chicago was pushed to second place by a phenomenal food and drink scene. “An impressive 96 percent of locals rate Chicago highly for its food and drink — the second highest in the world,” said Emma Krupp for Time Out Chicago.

New Zealand has not been overlooked. Visit 47 Auckland top for green spaces and adventure on your doorstep.

“It’s just as easy to climb volcanoes or take ferries to islands as it is to order local wines in lively downtown bars,” said reviewer Petrina Darrah.

Praise was also given to the Kiwi supercity’s gastronomic credentials, with Peter Gordon’s Homeland, Michael Meredith’s Mr Morris and Ben Bayly’s Ahi all receiving salutes.

Tamaki Makaurau was just one place behind Sydney, who were reportedly “recovering from the rolling lockdowns in 2021”.

The general trend in this year’s list is that small is beautiful, and travelers wanted to give cities that might have been overlooked a second chance.

The on-site survey of city residents also brought surprising findings to light.

Rio di Janeiro locals describe themselves as the “best city in the world for sex” with 66 percent of respondents saying it’s easy to find someone here.

Citizens of Accra, the Ghanaian capital, said they were the most curious of cities (“Your business is everyone’s business,” many locals would say) and voted themselves the “easiest city to make friends in” for this year’s List.

Top Cities 2022

1 Edinburgh
2Chicago
3 Medellin
4Glasgow
5Amsterdam
6 Prague
7 Marrakech
8Berlin
9 Montreal
10 Copenhagen
11 Cape Town

12 Madrid

13 Manchester

14 Bombay

15 Melbourne

16 Taipei

17London

18 postage

19Lyons

20 New York

21 Buenos Aires

22 Birmingham

23 Stockholm

24 Tokyo

25 San Francisco

26 Delhi

27 Toronto

28 Lisbon

29 Boston

30 Mexico City

31 Tel Aviv

32Paris

33 Kuala Lumpur

34 Manila

35 Athens

36 Dublin

37 Sao Paulo

38Miami

39Barcelona

40 Dubai

41 Rome

42Los Angeles
43 Accra
44 Singapore
45 Abu Dhabi
46Sydney
47 Auckland
48 Rio de Janeiro
49 Johannesburg
50 Istanbul
51 Bangkok
52 Hong Kong
53 Doha