The Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul. [Herald DB]
The Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul. [Herald DB]

Seoul has been named the world's best big city by global travelers, jumping four spots from fifth place last year to claim the top position — dethroning Tokyo, which had held the title for two consecutive years.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Thursday that Seoul had won the top spot in the "2026 Readers' Choice Awards" published Tuesday (local time) by Condé Nast Traveler, a leading American travel magazine.

Seoul edged out Tokyo, Phnom Penh, Shanghai and Sydney — which ranked second through fifth, respectively — along with other major tourism destinations. Paris came in seventh.

The recognition marks the first time Seoul has topped the rankings, having surpassed Tokyo, which held the No. 1 spot in both 2024 and 2025.

Now in its 39th year, the Readers' Choice Awards are determined by reader votes across categories including cities, hotels and resorts. This year's results were based on 798,867 ballots cast.

Condé Nast Traveler was founded in 1987 and is published by Condé Nast, the global media group behind Vogue, The New Yorker and GQ.

Seoul's rise to the top reflects the city's growing profile in the global tourism market, driven in large part by worldwide interest in Korean popular culture.

The magazine credited the global popularity of K-pop, Korean beauty products and Korean drama series as key factors behind Seoul's emergence as a top travel destination, while also highlighting the city's more than 2,000 years of layered history beneath its modern surface.

In a Seoul feature published in September last year, the magazine spotlighted the city as a place where history, modernity, nature and cutting-edge technology coexist, noting that it offers everything from budget-friendly travel to high-end experiences.

Seoul has also ranked highly in a string of other international assessments recently.

The British edition of Condé Nast Traveler ranked Seoul third on its "2026 World's Friendliest Cities" list, while British global culture and travel outlet Time Out named Jongno 3-ga the No. 1 neighborhood on its "2026 World's Coolest Neighborhoods" list. In the "2026 The Trazzys" published in August by American travel outlet Trazzy Travel, Seoul also topped the rankings as the favorite city among the global MZ generation.


betterj@heraldcorp.com