London has officially been named the best city in the world for culture
No, that doesn't mean *you're* automatically cultured
Ah, London town, made famous by history, songs, theatre, buildings, and the general wow-factor that can’t help but dazzle. We’re totally biased in thinking that we live in the best city, but now, thanks to Intrepid and TimeOut, we have the official stats to back it up.
Anyone who has perused a WH Smiths TG Jones in an airport or Googled “cool holiday spots” will probably have spotted the yearly TimeOut 'best city' accolade smugly adorning one of the Postcard-esque cities. This year, the team looked at the opinions from over 24,000 locals from 150 cities, ready to crown the Best City in the World for Culture. The team collated information about everything from the quality of the nightlife to the affordability and wow factor of the culture on offer in their hometowns. As well the info from the locals, an expert panel of writers, editors, and very cultured people weighed in on which cities made the topspot.
With a near-perfect 99 percent score, little old London came out on top with Londoners agreeing that culture in the capital is either good or amazing.
Just to recap on the, erm, science behind the scores, the final ranking combined 70% local sentiment and 30% expert evaluation, using a weighted scoring model across five pillars:
- Quality of arts and culture, including art, performance and live music
- Affordability of cultural experiences
- How locals describe their city (e.g. beautiful, historic)
- Sense of community
- Expert assessment of each city’s cultural offering in 2026
It's not exactly surprising that London came out on top – you could probably spend three lifetimes in the city and still not make your away around every exhibition, gallery, museum – although this is partly due to the fact that they’re always changing up even the most famous institutions (Tate, National Gallery, Natural History Museum).
Impressively for a city with some seriously swanky sites, there are a large number of museums and galleries which are completely free to visit, which the panel praised London for. Also, whilst we think of museums as slightly dusty - I mean historic - places, there have been some cutting-edge, innovative new sites like The V&A East, and the V&A East Storehouse, which have recently opened up, putting a Gen Z-friendly spin on getting cultured.
Beyond the museums and galleries, theatre and comedy were also key pillars of culture when it came to judging the best cities. For theatre, London scored a whopping 90 percent which makes it the strongest out of all the countries surveyed, thanks to the numerous theatres (40 alone in the West End), with 200 additional theatres stretching out across London’s boroughs, nurturing new talent and voices.
The top ten cities were:
- London
- Paris
- NYC
- Berlin
- Cape Town
- Melbourne
- Sao Paulo
- Madrid
- Florence
- Krakow
Paris ranked second as a global cultural powerhouse, with hotly anticipated exhibitions and neighbourhood galleries making art accessible across disciplines. Coming in third was the glamorous New York City, which was praised as a leading cultural capital, driven by leading museums, galleries and a globally influential arts scene, with major 2026 exhibitions across the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA and the Brooklyn Museum.
Basically, if you’re ever feeling a little down about the state or cost of living in London, it’s worth remembering how much is on offer, whether you’re popping down to a grassroots comedy venue or wandering around some of the most famous paintings in history. All on your doorstep.
The full Best Cities for Culture list can be found here.
Skip the search — follow Shortlist on Google News to get our best lists, news, features and reviews at the top of your feeds!
