Edinburgh Has Been Named The Best City In The World

The results are in for this year's best city in the world, with Edinburgh taking the top spot.

Anyone who's had the pleasure of visiting the Scottish city - or if you're one of its lucky residents - will understand why so many people voted it in.

Edinburgh is filled with history-soaked buildings, as well as plenty of museums and cultural events, including its annual Fringe festival.

There's also a solid nightlife, transport system and community spirit among other benefits, all of which were detailed in the 2022 Time Out Index, a survey of thousands of people about life in their city.

According to the index, Edinburgh beat out competition from Medellín in Colombia and Chicago in the US, with 88% of participants saying it's 'easy to express who you are' in the city.

A whopping 93% ranked the city highly for its 'walkability', while 95% described it as 'beautiful'.

A further 91% appreciate Edinburgh for 'not being rude', and 96% for 'not being boring'.

Time Out also highlighted the 89% who voted it in for 'not being stressful', a high score compared to London's 52%, which ranked 17 on the list.

Amazingly, another Scottish city wasn't far behind as Glasgow came in fourth place.

The outlet revealed that a sizeable 78% of Glaswegians described their city as friendly, while others cited the vast amount of green space and variety of things to do.

Time Out said of their methodology: "Our top cities this year are the ones with thriving nightlife, amazing food and drink, and art, culture and museums galore.

"We’ve highlighted places that aren’t boring or overly expensive or overrated, and we’ve ensured that our top picks also score well for practical stuff like walkability, good public transport and safety, as well as sustainability."

Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon was understandably delighted with the news.

Taking to Twitter, she wrote: "The results of the ⁦Time Out Index of the 53 Best Cities in the World to visit in 2022 are in:

"Number 1 - EDINBURGH... Number 4 - GLASGOW... What a brilliant endorsement of two great cities."

Elsewhere in the survey, Sydney in Australia was ranked as the third worst city in the world to make friends, only just clipping Copenhagen, which was ranked second last and Stockholm, which came in last place.

Many users took to Reddit once the report was released, agreeing that Sydney was tricky to establish a close social circle in.

One person wrote: “A lot of Expats/International Students I met talk about how hard it is to make friends in Sydney too. From what I heard it's the opposite for them back home."

Another said: “Three years, and my only friend is a previous flatmate, otherwise just acquaintances here and there."