Fireworks over Tokyo cityscape at night
Money.co.uk shared new research revealing the top 20 cities around the world that offer the most luxury per square mile. To come to this conclusion, the website analyzed the number of high-end venues in a city including restaurants, five-star hotels, and designer shops, and cross-referenced the total with the size of the city.
Perhaps unexpectedly, Paris came in at the No. 1 spot with the highest number of luxury venues regardless of city size, as well as the most luxury venues per square kilometer.“With a total of 427 Michelin-star restaurants, 108 designer stores, and offering 95 hotels with a five-star rating, the capital of France takes the crown as the world’s most luxurious city,” a spokesperson for the website shared in a statement provided to Travel + Leisure. “Known as ‘The City of Light’ thanks to its illuminated boulevards and the sparkling Eiffel Tower, Paris is the perfect place for a lavish getaway, boasting more Cartier stores (a total of 24) and more Michelin-star restaurants than any other city in the world.”
-
Phuket at dusk from Karon viewpoint. Photo by aphotostory/Getty Images Pro/Canva
In terms of where you can find the most luxury venues, London was second, but third place went to Tokyo, which has long reigned as the city with the most Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. These include Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten, headed up by the oldest living chef to receive three Michelin stars, making it one of the best sushi bars in the world.
Tokyo’s bronze placement starts a high-flying run for cities in Asia, the continent with the most in the top 20 list: Seoul is fifth, Hong Kong and Shanghai are sixth and seventh, and Singapore is in eighth place. Bangkok and Beijing round off the top 10 most luxurious cities around the globe. Then, Kyoto takes 11th, Osaka 13th, Taipei 14th, and Guangzhou is 18th.
On the ranking of luxury per square mile, the island of Phuket in Thailand landed the No. 2 spot. Brussels, Belgium came in third place due to its 11 luxury venues per square mile. Geneva — the timepiece and raclette capital of the world — came in fourth with nine five-star hot spots per square mile. And closing out the top five most luxurious cities in the world was yet another French destination: Cannes, home of the iconic film festival known for drawing in Hollywood A-listers.
-
Dramatic sunset over river Seine in Paris. Photo by Britus/Getty Images Pro/Canva
The top 10 included a third French destination, Lyon, in sixth place, followed by Kilkenny, Ireland, Athens, Greece, and New Delhi, India. Finally, coming in 10th place was Dubrovnik, Croatia. See the entire list, how the study was conducted, and a bit more about each destination, here.
| Rank | City | Luxury Venues |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris, France | 630 |
| 2 | London, UK | 628 |
| 3 | Tokyo, Japan | 478 |
| 4 | New York, USA | 439 |
| 5 | Seoul, South Korea | 354 |
| 6 | Hong Kong, China | 347 |
| 7 | Shanghai, China | 303 |
| 8 | Singapore | 302 |
| 9 | Bangkok, Thailand | 277 |
| 10 | Beijing, China | 240 |
By Stacey Leasca
