Seoul tops Tokyo as world’s best big city, say U.S. Condé Nast readers
A Condé Nast Traveler poll of U.S. readers named Korea's capital the world’s best international city for 2026, ending Tokyo’s two-year reign atop the list.
Visitors enjoy clear, cool fall weather at Gyeongbok Palace in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Oct. 5, the last day of the National Foundation Day holiday weekend. Condé Nast Traveler readers voted Seoul the world’s best big city this year, ahead of Tokyo.NEWS1
Seoul has knocked Tokyo off the top spot of Condé Nast Traveler readers’ list of the world’s best big non-U.S. cities, taking No. 1 for the first time.
The win ends a two-year run for Tokyo and comes weeks after Time Out named a central Seoul neighborhood the “coolest” in the world.
Seoul came first in the Best Big Cities category of the U.S. travel magazine’s 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards, announced in the United States last Tuesday, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said. The 39th edition of the awards drew 798,867 votes across all categories, including cities, hotels and resorts.
Seoul climbed four places from No. 5 last year. Tokyo, a seven-time winner, came second, followed by Phnom Penh, Shanghai and Sydney.
“If there’s a single destination that embraces dichotomy, it’s Seoul,” the magazine wrote in its entry on the city.
The global obsession with K-pop, K-beauty and K-dramas has helped make Seoul one of the world’s most popular leisure destinations, the entry said, but “beneath these of-the-moment pleasures is a layered, complex history stretching more than 2,000 years.” It called the city “a beguiling mix of historic and modern, natural and tech-savvy, and affordable and extravagant.”
The Jongno 3-ga area of central Seoul is one place that captures that appeal. In Ikseon-dong, cafes and restaurants fill converted hanok (traditional Korean houses) along narrow alleys. A few minutes’ walk away, workshops and independent shops line Seosulla-gil, which runs along the stone wall of Jongmyo Shrine. In the evening, crowds gather at the pojangmacha (tented street bars) around Jongno 3-ga Station.
Tourists walk among the hanok of Bukchon Hanok Village in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Oct. 2, the opening day of Seoul Hanok Week. Condé Nast Traveler readers’ top-ranked big city is “a beguiling mix of historic and modern,” the magazine wrote.YONHAP
Jongno 3-ga, including Ikseon-dong, topped Time Out’s ranking of the world’s coolest neighborhoods for 2026 in September. The British culture and travel publication had placed it No. 3 in 2021, and this year it took the top spot for the first time.
“Jongno 3-ga has long been a place where different generations and communities meet,” Time Out wrote.
Older Koreans seek out longstanding gukbap (rice soup) restaurants, younger visitors fill hanok cafes and tourists browse the shops in the alleys. Time Out also pointed to the area’s history as a gathering place for the LGBTQ community, where “discreet LGBTQ+ bars and queer-friendly venues” took root “as early as the ’70s.”
“This is the result of people around the world recognizing the many charms Seoul has built up, from 2,000 years of history and the K-culture that has won over the world to the everyday life found in its hanok and alleys,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said about the recent designation. “We will preserve Seoul’s history and its own distinct character while adding new culture and vitality. We will build a global tourism city that makes citizens proud and that people around the world want to stay in longer and visit again.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
