It’s widely agreed that Berlin has the best nightlife, Paris has the best pastries, London has the best theatre and Barcelona has the best architecture, but which European city is the very best overall? We’re here to tell you.
Time Out’s annual ranking of the world’s 50 best cities has just been unveiled, with Cape Town claiming the crown as the most exciting hub on the planet for the year ahead. However, 49 other brilliant cities were included, and a whopping 22 of those were in Europe.
The first of these was London, one of six UK cities to make our list for 2025. As Time Out’s UK editor Joe Mackterich writes, London’s place on the best cities in the world list is ‘inarguable, thanks to the capital’s brilliant cuisine, unkillable pub culture, unrivalled shopping opportunities and (best of all) the all-encompassing range of its people.’
But 2025 is a particularly exciting year to head to London, and not just because of the new trains on the Piccadilly Line (though we are quite excited for that). It’s also because the city is gradually shedding its reputation as a nightlife black hole.
Over the last couple of years, there’s been a renaissance in London’s nightlife. The city is now home to ‘Hoxton’s flat-roof-pub-turned-serious-club Lion and Lamb, the way-better-than-it-should-be Here at Outernet, Hackney Wick’s thriving Colour Factory, the grassroots-tastic Cause and the already legendary Fold in Canning Town.’
And then there’s the roster of shiny new queer spaces: La Camionera, The Wing and a Prayer and The Divine (from the folks behind legendary nightspot The Glory), to name a few.
Spain had the second-highest number of city entries, which included Barcelona, Seville, Madrid, Valencia and Bilbao, but it was actually Porto that claimed second place and Copenhagen third. Read on for all the European cities included in our 2025 ranking.
These are the best cities in Europe right now
- London
- Porto
- Copenhagen
- Lisbon
- Edinburgh
- Amsterdam
- Barcelona
- Seville
- Paris
- Madrid
- Berlin
- Vienna
- Brighton
- Prague
- Glasgow
- Marseille
- Budapest
- Valencia
- Bilbao
- Belfast
- Bristol
- Warsaw
Read more about each city we included and why in the official ranking here.
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