Cape Town Tops World's Most Beautiful Cities List, Beating Edinburgh and Sydney

• A 2026 Time Out survey of 24,000 locals ranked Cape Town as the most beautiful city in the world
• An overwhelming 86% of Capetonians described their city as beautiful, placing it ahead of Edinburgh and Sydney
• People from around the world weighed in on the results, with some cities notably missing from the list

Cape Town has been named the world's most beautiful city by the people who know it best: the locals who call it home.

A 2026 survey of 24,000 urban residents across the globe asked people to describe their own cities, and the results placed the Mother City firmly at the top. A remarkable 86% of Capetonians said their city was beautiful, a figure that left every other major city trailing behind.

Edinburgh came in second at 84%, followed by Sydney at 79% and Chicago at 77%, making the American city the highest-ranked in the United States. Lisbon and Paris both featured further down the list, each drawing great local pride, while Stockholm (68%), Porto (67%) and Medellín in Colombia (66%) also made strong showings.

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Other cities that featured in the rankings included Riga in Latvia at 65%, San Diego at 64%, and Panama City, Cambridge, Florence, Rio de Janeiro and Bath all sharing 60%. Bangalore came in at 58%, while Vienna and Brasília both landed at 59%.

Cape Town leads a competitive global field

The data was visualised and shared by @visualcap in collaboration with @voronoiapp, mapping each city's score against a world backdrop. The post quickly drew attention from people across the globe, many of whom had strong feelings about which cities deserved a spot and which had been unfairly left out.

See the full city rankings map on Instagram here.

Global reactions pour in

Commenters were quick to share their own takes on the results on the Instagram page:

@randtrades said:

"When 86% of Cape Town residents vote their own city as the most beautiful in the world, leaving zero room for argument."

@aleson.barbosa argued:

"Rio is top 5! Chicago more beautiful than Rio? 😂😂😂"

@arctvrvs_ pointed out:

"They put San Diego and Brasília on the list but left out Barcelona 🤦‍♂️"

@artsydemondesigns added a reality check:

"Cape Town… crime is rampant. Enjoy the view, though. 🥴"

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@idnhdjri raised a fair question:

"I'm wondering about how many locals participated in this."

@stjskke3 wrote:

"I think you have missed Islamabad 🤡🤡 Like it's so beautiful."

@idnhdjri wrote:

"I live in Sydney and yes it's beautiful (and expensive) 🙌❤️"

Whether or not every reader agreed with the final order, Cape Town's top spot confirmed what many South Africans have long believed: that their city, set between the mountain and the sea, holds a beauty that is difficult to rival anywhere in the world.

More on Cape Town and South Africa

• Briefly News recently reported on an American tourist whose encounter with Cape Town’s mountain community sparked plenty of reactions from Mzansi.
• UCT scientists made a major cancer breakthrough after uncovering how tumours can hide from the immune system, potentially opening new doors for treatment.
• An American mum in Cape Town was left emotional after her son’s birthday party showed her a side of South African community spirit she had never experienced before.

Source: Briefly News