Every year, we create a definitive ranking of the world’s greatest cities for eating and drinking. The aim is to celebrate the chefs, kitchens and street food stalls that feed the city, bringing locals and visitors together to savour life’s one greatest pleasure: an excellent meal.
So, how is the list decided? This year, Time Out’s Best Cities for Food with Intrepid Travel was created on the back of a survey of more than 24,000 locals, based all around the world. We asked them to rate the overall quality of the food scene where they live, how affordable it is to eat out and the food spots they believe their city does best.
We then paired their thousands of responses with the insight of Time Out’s expert food panel – editors and food critics from across Time Out’s network – who voted for the cities they think are the most exciting dining destinations on the planet right now. Only the highest-scoring city in each country made the final 20, ensuring our list reflects culinary capitals globally.
As our list demonstrates, it’s a very fun time to be eating out in the city right now. Restaurants from Lisbon to Lima are serving up some of the most striking, daring and downright delicious plates of food you can find. On the menu? Satsuma creamsicles in New York, fish bone noodles in Copenhagen and fancy phở in Ho Chi Minh. There’s fine-dining in Melbourne and ‘fun dining’ in Cape Town, food trends from sandwich crazes to elevated tacos, and coffee and cocktail scenes well worth travelling for.
Locals are looking beyond small plates and sourdough, instead packing out neo-tavernas, selling out signature dishes from much-loved independent restaurants and lining up for the best pizza slice in town. That’s the beauty of the list: today’s culinary capitals are primed for every palette, from the budget eater to the certified bon vivant.
Ready to find out which cities made the ranking this year? Tuck in: these are the world’s greatest cities for food in 2026.
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Ready to see the world’s best cities for yourself? Book your next trip with Intrepid Travel and start planning the ultimate adventure today. Renowned for the ‘best small group trips’ around, Intrepid is all about locally led adventures that find the sweet spot between authentic cultural experiences and responsible tourism. Trips span more than 100 destinations – from trekking the Inca Trail in Peru to street-food discoveries in Japan and desert camping beneath the stars in Morocco.
