151 Most Beautiful Cities in the World

1093 words/8:30 minutes

This is a part of our series of lists where we go REALLY into detail. For our first list, you can click here to see our list of 101 Best Cities for Food and Cuisine.

Of course, these lists might be incomplete, but they should be one of the best resources you can find out there. Here is how we made this one:

First, we start with 10 different sources (which you can find at the bottom of this blog post). After that, we will meticulously go through each list and find the cities that rank highest, rank with the most frequency, and eventually compile a list that should reach 101. If the compilation of these 10 different sources does not reach 101, then we here at AWTravel will step in and add the remaining cities to the list based on our experience and expertise in travel. In this case, we completed the list starting at #110 with Vilnius and went to 151.

Now, how the other cities we do not add to the list find their ranking is by how many times they are mentioned on the many different lists we reference and then how high those cities are placed on the lists. We feel that this gives a good average, and, leads to some surprising results. The numbers in parentheses are there to show how many times each city is listed on the variety of lists that we sourced.

So, without wasting more time…Here is the list!

Cape Town, South Africa (10)

Paris, France (8)
Cartagena, Colombia (8)
Kyoto, Japan (8)
Amsterdam, Netherlands (8)

Edinburg, Scotland, UK (7)
New York City, New York, USA (7)

Sydney, Australia (6)
Istanbul, Turkey (6)
San Francisco, California, USA (6)
Singapore (6)
Prague, Czechia (6)
Queenstown, New Zealand (5)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (5)
Rome, Italy (5)
London, UK (5)
Dubrovnik, Croatia (5)
Chefchaouen, Morocco (5)
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (5)
Venice, Italy (5)
Budapest, Hungary (5)
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (5)
Florence, Italy (5)
Barcelona, Spain (4)
Seoul, South Korea (4)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (4)
Hong Kong (4)
Bruges, Belgium (4)
Havana, Cuba (4)
Quito, Ecuador (4)
Cusco, Peru (4)
Jaipur, India (4)
Vancouver, Canada (3)
Lisbon, Portugal (3)
Zurich, Switzerland (3)
St. Petersburg, Russia* (3)
Bangkok, Thailand (3)
Marrakech, Morocco(3)
Bergen, Norway (3)
Athens, Greece (3)
Charleston, SC, USA (3)

Palermo, Italy (2)
Taipei, Taiwan (2)
Tokyo, Japan (2)
Vienna, Austria (2)
Toronto, Canada (2)
Chicago, Illinois, USA (2)
Madrid, Spain (2)
Dubai, UAE (2)
Jerusalem, Israel (2)
Berlin, Germany (2)
Hanoi, Vietnam (2)
Beijing, China (2)
Chiang Mai, Thailand (2)
Luang Prabang, Laos (2)
Muscat, Oman (2)
Seville, Spain (2)

Tbilisi, Georgia
Ho An, Vietnam
Sedona, Arizona, USA
San Diego, California, USA
San Sebastian, Spain
Dublin, Ireland
Beirut, Lebanon
Copenhagen, Denmark
Doha, Qatar
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Porto, Portugal
Tallinn, Estonia
Valletta, Malta
Innsbruck, Austria
Kotor, Montenegro
Zermatt, Swittzerland
Stockholm, Sweden
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Busan, South Korea
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Swakopmund, Namibia
Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Essaouira, Morocco
Banff, Canada
Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Melbourne, Australia
Hallstatt, Austria
Merida, Spain
Bagan, Myanmar
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Alesund, Norway
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Lucerne, Switzerland
Heidelberg, Germany
Cork, Ireland
Oia, Santorini, Greece
Zakynthos, Greece
Valencia, Spain
Bologna, Italy
Strasbourg, France
Alicante, Spain
Perth, Australia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Brisbane, Australia
Odesa, Ukraine*
Ho Chi Min, Vietnam
Riga, Latvia
Shanghai, China
Cairo, Egypt
Moscow, Russia*
Vigan, Philippines

AWTravel listed cities

Vilnius, Lithuania
Antalya, Turkey
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Valparaiso, Chile
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Bariloche, Argentina
Sibiu, Romania
Cambridge, UK
Tangier, Morocco
Ronda, Spain
Marseilles, France
Taos/Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Portland, Maine, USA
Willemstad, Curacao
Florianopolis, Brazil
Bari, Italy
Gdansk, Poland
Bergamo, Italy
Munich, Germany
Naples, Italy
Aswan, Egypt
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Oaxaca, Mexico
Baku, Azerbaijan
Antwerp, Belgium
Shiraz, Iran
Ghent, Belgium
Nice, France
Avignon, France
Austin, Texas, USA
Oxford, UK
Algiers, Algeria
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Brno, Czechia
Genoa, Italy
San Cristobal de Las Casa, Chiapas, Mexico
Reykjavic, Iceland
Ohrid, North Macedonia
Granada, Nicaragua
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

As with our other lists, we also like to break down the list by the number of mentions of each country and how many countries are represented in each continent. First, let us start with the number of countries represented in each continent.

Europe has 31 countries on the list and a total of 67 cities on the list.

Asia has 26 countries mentioned with 34 cities on the list.

North America has 7 countries on the list and 25 cities.

Africa and South America both have 6 countries on the list with a total of 11 cities in Africa and another 9 cities in South America.

Finally, Oceania has two countries on the list and 5 cities in total.

In total, there are 80 countries on the list.

Now, as for the countries that have the most cities.

In the lead is the USA with a total of 13 cities on the list. Following are Italy (9), Spain (8), France (5), Mexico, Canada, the UK, and Morocco each with 4. Countries that have 3 cities are Belgium, Greece, Austria, Germany, Vietnam, and Brazil. And finally, countries with two mentions are the Netherlands, Czechia, Switzerland, Norway, Portugal, Japan, Turkey, Russia, Thailand, China, Argentinaand Egypt.

List of Resources

25 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Travel + Leisure (TL)

The 50 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Insider (I)

10 of the Most Beautiful Cities in the World to Visit in Your Lifetime by Veranda (V)

50 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by CNTraveler (CN) – Alphabetical order

30 MOST Beautiful Cities in the World by The World Pursuit (WP) – The most original

These Are the Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Harper’s Baazar (H)

Top 10 most beautiful cities in the world by The Luxury Travel Expert (TLE)

The 25 Most Beautiful Cities in the World to Put on Your Travel Bucket List by House Beautiful (B)

THE WORLD’S 20 MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES TO VISIT IN YOUR LIFETIME by Elle Decor (ED)

Ranking 50 of the Most Beautiful Cities in the World in 2022 by Wordly Gentleman (WG)

* The World’s 50 Most Beautiful Cities, Ranked by Travel Experts by Readers Digest (RD) and 50 Most Beautiful Cities in the World by Far and Wide (FW) are the same exact list as the Insider top 50 list. However, CN Traveler is a unique fifty.