The third best city in the world? Edinburgh, we need to have a chat

Every year, Times Out comes out with a survey for tens of thousands of city-dwellers across the globe, then the cities are ranked as a result. This year, over 24,000 people weighed in. After all the calculations and considerations, Edinburgh landed in the third place – behind Melbourne and Shanghai in the 2026 list.

Now, being third in the world means a great deal. Beating London, New York, and Tokyo. Edinburgh, take your bow.

Delving a bit into the numbers, they are quite solid. The city scored a joint-highest rating globally for walkability, a 94 per cent food approval rating, 92 per cent for public transportation, 91 per cent for green spaces, and 90 per cent for culture. And most astonishingly. 91 per cent of residents said they find joy in their everyday lives and that Edinburgh makes them happy. Happy? In Scotland? This March?

94 per cent food approval rating doing some very heavy lifting after you’ve lived off meal deals all week.

Here is the thing: if you are actually a student here, you, like I, probably spent quite some time squinting at this particular headline with a very specific kind of suspicion. The shared suspicion of someone who has queued forty minutes at a Lidl self-checkout on Nicholson Street or paid £900 a month for a flat above a pub where the heating is technically optional.

So, is the city really all that?

The honest answer is not a complete black or white one. It is kind of yes, and kind of no. It also depends enormously on who you are in this city.

The things that Times Out celebrates are real. Edinburgh is genuinely the most walkable – you can stumble from Old Town to Leith to Stockbridge to the Meadows in an afternoon and feel like you have passed through four completely different cities. The food scene has become quite diverse. Leith has transformed into a place where you can take your visiting parents without apologising. New spots are opening constantly – from Asian cuisines to Scottish steakhouses, Edinburgh has a lot of uniqueness to offer.

Edinburgh’s arts calendar every year is quite the showstopper. The Edinburgh International Festival opens with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Hidden Door returns to take over forgotten urban spaces.  Of course, August heralds in the world-renowned Fringe Festival. The Fringe could be quite the cultural experience, depending on your relationship to mime artists and flyering. But, as residents have reported, the Fringe can become quite a nightmare for those who are averse to crowds… and littering… and tourists…

Most Read

‘I’d end up on the no-fly list’: Choir goes viral for ‘nightmare’ behaviour on delayed flight

This detail in the book explains exactly why Grace’s crew members died in Project Hail Mary

After ditching model girlfriend for huge male singer, here are OnlyFans model Max’s spiciest pics

August colours of Edinburgh

There is also Panda and Sons, which has recently been named the best bar in the entire planet (don’t you think it is an exaggeration?). It does concoct a mean cocktail, though. It is on Queen Street, and you are welcome to judge for yourself.

Yet, Edinburgh is a city full of profound contradictions that the Time Out survey could not quite capture. It is beautiful and expensive and it occasionally feels like it exists only for tourists. Letting students and young renters find a place along the margins. The housing market is brutal. The Festival, for all its glitz and glamour, can make August definitely feel less of a cultural celebration and more of an extreme sport if you happen to live here.

But then again, that tension might be part of what makes this place the way it is. Edinburgh asks something of you. It does not make life easier or cheaper; it challenges you in its own sort of way, which somehow builds you up to be the person you wanted to be when you were younger. It is quite an interesting relationship (somebody should really study this).

If there were a category for making friends, Edinburgh would reign as champion

Perhaps, that is why its residents, despite it all, came out 91 per cent happy. There is something about living in a city with a castle at its centre, where you are practically twenty minutes away from the wilderness, where the architecture looks like it was designed particularly to make you feel like a protagonist in a gothic novel.

Third-best city in the world? That’s perfect, we will take it.

Just fix the bins on Bristo Square first.