Who doesn’t love stumbling across a bustling off-the-beaten-track neighbourhood on holiday?
There’s a particular thrill in finding an area that feels like a welcoming home away from home, where the barista remembers your order – even if you’re only visiting for the week.
If you’re daydreaming about the most exciting local spots in your next city-break destination, global listing guide, Time Out has you covered with its latest roundup of the “world’s coolest” neighbourhoods.
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Topping the 2025 rankings is a corner of Tokyo that Time Out calls a “bibliophile nirvana.” Jimbōchō is home to some 130 vintage book stores – Time Out highlights Isseido Booksellers and Kitazawa Bookstore as great starting points for a day of bookish exploring – as well as its coffee-shop culture and delicious curry houses.
The publication’s annual list is compiled from nominations made by its global network of editors and writers.
The selections are then ranked against criteria including culture, community, liveability, food and drink and what Time Out describes as “that hard-to-define sense of ‘nowness.'”
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“The biggest takeaway from this year’s Time Out ranking is just how much our neighbourhoods are shaped by, and for, their local communities,” the brand’s travel editor, Grace Beard, told CNN Travel.
Beard said this year’s list champions some more well-known and well-loved neighbourhoods alongside lesser-talked-about destinations – “spots that locals truly love and that deserve just as much attention as a city’s main tourist hubs.”
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Jimbōchō is home to some 130 vintage book stores. (Getty)’Hard-to-define sense of “nowness”‘
At number two on the list is Borgerhout, Antwerp, dubbed the Belgian city’s “creative heart.”
Time Out spotlights Borgerhout’s great foodie spots and galleries galore – including lunch spot Café Josee and Pizza Gallery, which combines both art and food.
The team recommends timing your visit with quarterly local celebration Borger Nocturne, which sees the district’s galleries stay open late and the region known affectionately as “BoHo” come to life.
Borgerhout, Antwerp, is dubbed the Belgian city’s “creative heart.” (Getty)
Meanwhile, Barra Funda in the west of São Paulo, Brazil, is number three on the list thanks to what Time Out describes as “an undeniably cool and creative vibe” paired with industrial history. The team suggests cocktails at newly opened bar Água e Biscoito are not to be missed.
At number four is southeast London’s Camberwell, championed for its “young-at-heart vibe, the independent spirit, the multiculturalism.”
Anna Preston, a Camberwell resident of 10 years and counting, told CNN Travel she’s “always known it was a special place, it’s lovely to see that recognized and celebrated.”
Preston — and Time Out — highlighted the area’s South London Gallery and other arts spaces as part of what makes Camberwell distinctive. Preston is also a fan of the array of local businesses, including recently opened coffee-shop-bookstore Lala Books.
Recently opened coffee-shop-bookstore Lala Books is already a local favourite. (Lala Books)
“We are spoiled for restaurants, cafés and pubs,” said Preston. “It is a long-standing tradition for many Camberwellians to get a wrap and some sambusak from Falafel & Shawarma or a pizza from Theo’s, and enjoy with a pint or two at Stormbird or Hermits Cave. I think that is what I will be doing this weekend.”
Rounding out the top five is the highest ranking US spot – Avondale in Chicago, highlighted for its wine bars, wellness studios and music venues.
The neighbourhood is also praised for its quirky small business scene, which includes retro bowling alley Avondale Bowl and antique mall-themed bar Consignment Lounge.
Jeff Wilson, managing partner at Avondale Bowl, told CNN Travel that “seeing many of Avondale’s local, small businesses be included in a list with so many other communities around the globe really shows how many amazing things are happening right around us.”
Avondale in Chicago is highlighted for its wine bars, wellness studios and music venues. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The list spans 39 spots across the world. Most neighbourhoods are new to the 2025 edition, but Time Out’s Grace Beard said there are “a handful of spots making a second – or third – appearance on our Coolest Neighbourhoods ranking this year.”
These include Anjos, Lisbon – “home to some of the coolest concept stores and indie boutiques in the city” according to Time Out – number 12 on this year’s list and number 34 in 2021’s list.
“Some neighbourhoods might have featured on our ranking years ago and are now experiencing a second wave, while others are still very much in the middle of a boom,” said Beard.
Time Out’s Top 10 Coolest Neighbourhoods for 2025:Jimbōchō, Tokyo, JapanBorgerhout, Antwerp, BelgiumBarra Funda, São Paulo, BrazilCamberwell, London, United KingdomAvondale, Chicago, United StatesMullae-dong, Seoul, South KoreaMénilmontant, Paris, FranceNakatsu, Osaka, JapanVallila, Helsinki, FinlandLabone, Accra, Ghana
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