Edinburgh ranked second most beautiful city in the world by Time Out

The travel website asked 24,000 city residents worldwide whether they would describe their city as beautiful, and ranked the 20 places where the highest percentage of locals agreed.

The results showed 84 per cent of locals in Edinburgh would describe their city as beautiful, the second highest percentage of all the cities surveyed.

It is only beaten to the top spot by the South African city of Cape Town, with its soft beaches and majestic Table Mountain, where 86 per cent of locals would describe their home as beautiful.

Describing Edinburgh, the travel website said: “With its collision of architectural styles, from the New Town’s crescents of Georgian townhouses to the Old Town’s tight, higgledy-piggledy medieval streets and striking Gothic spires, the Scottish capital is famously an absolute delight to walk around.

“And so say the locals, 84 percent of whom would describe their hometown as a looker.”

Sydney, with its distinctive skyline and golden beaches, was ranked third with 78 per cent of residents describing the Australian city as beautiful.

Close behind at 77 per cent is the American city of Chicago, which was recently rated as one of the best cities in the world for nature and green spaces.

Lisbon, Paris and the Swedish capital Stockholm are ranked 5th, 6th and 7th respectively, followed by Porto - the coastal Portuguese city which has become a major tourist destination in recent years.

The lesser known city of Medellín, a vibrant and mountainous metropolis in Columbia, is ranked 8th, while the Latvian capital Riga, famous for its Art Nouveau architecture, comes in tenth place.

Edinburgh isn’t only one of the best-looking cities in the world, but TimeOut also named it as third on the Best Cities 2026 list earlier this year.

The Capital was ranked above the likes of London, New York and Tokyo, only being beaten by Melbourne and Shanghai.

Around 90 per cent of respondents rated food, green spaces, and culture very highly.

TimeOut also labelled Edinburgh as “one of the happiest cities surveyed”, adding: “Edinburgh turns everyday life up a notch, blending historic grandeur with modern vibrancy.”