https://www.timeout.com/travel/coolest-neighbourhoods-in-the-world

Ongoing competition, Kharkiv (2026)

27/04/2023

Barrio Escalante
San José, Costa Rica
For a long time, Costa Rica’s capital was somewhere you’d pass through to get to where you were going. But recently a generation of local chefs have returned home, having travelled and trained around the world, and honed in on Barrio Escalante, lending Calle 33 a new nickname: Paseo Gastronómico. Many are bringing a sense of urgency to their country’s proud (but increasingly threatened) legacy of hyperlocality. The restaurant Franco has redirected some of Costa Rica’s best coffee – historically exported – into local hands, whilst Sikwa works closely with indigenous Bribri farmers to reproduce ancient, native recipes. Meanwhile, Isolina Restaurante has mastered a distinctive fusion of fine dining and home cooking in what used to be the home of the Escalante family, after whom the area is named. It sources its seasonal ingredients from small producers, resulting in an irresistible menu: try the arracache hash browns, yams in seabass broth, and veal cooked in caramelized garlic and served with hibiscus reduction.

27/04/2023

Santurce
San Juan, Puerto Rico
This 500-year-old district of the Puerto Rican capital covers all the bases when it comes to art, food and history. First inhabited by the Tainos, the indigenous people of Puerto Rico, then by Spanish colonisers, San Juan’s Santurce became a hub for Afro-Caribbean culture when freed slaves from neighbouring islands settled in the neighbourhood in the mid-1700s. The fusion of cultures is still very much alive today: Santurce’s architecture combines colonial-era homes with funky, pastel art deco buildings from the ’40s and modern beach houses. And those who live and work in the neighbourhood are also diverse: college students, families who’ve been here for several generations, emigrants from other Caribbean islands, and now people from the mainland USA (largely due to contested tax breaks for foreigners). Walk along Calle Loíza for your pick of restaurants, bars, and shops; head north to the Condado and Ocean Park areas of Santurce for beach time; and hit La Placita for nightlife.

27/04/2023

Pagrati
Athens, Greece
Pagrati’s rise to super-hip status has been swift. Despite its proximity to central Athens and the Panathenaic Stadium – home to the first modern Olympic Games – the neighbourhood has always flown under the tourist radar. But where once it was considered bland, today it’s a magnet for creative types who flock to its hip bars, blasting everything from rock and blues to hip hop, and to the artisanal restaurants that have swept in over recent years. Do yourself a favour and wind your way through the narrow alleyways and diverse streets: a curious mix of neoclassical and modern architecture lined with bohemian cafés, with occasional views of the mountains that surround the city. No matter which corner you turn, you’re likely to end up at one of the many squares: central meeting points for locals and welcome respites from the traffic-filled streets.

27/04/2023

Sea Point
Cape Town, South Africa
Sea Point is Cape Town’s cool beachfront face: an oceanside ’burb heaving with quirky local businesses, and with enviable transport links to nearby beaches like Clifton and Camps Bay. Home to a mix of long-term families, young professionals, creative types and immigrant communities, Sea Point is known throughout Cape Town for the spine-tingling sunset views on its seven-mile Beach Road promenade, and for Regent Street: the neighbourhood’s main road and a hub of hot hotels and lip-smackingly diverse food options.

27/04/2023

Ximending
Taipei, Taiwan
Loud, proud and unpretentious, Ximending (or ‘Ximen’, for short) remains the preferred hangout of Taipei’s cool cats. This vibrant corner of the city is famous for its LGBTQ+-friendly district of cocktail bars, cheap street eats, budget stores selling souvenirs, s*x toys and trinkets and quirky alleys of graffiti. There’s also a row of cinemas, plentiful ’70s shopping malls to explore, and historical buildings well worth a gander such as The Red House octagonal theatre and the always-elegant Zhongshan Hall. Ximen really comes alive at night, when the neon buzzes on and the music starts thumping – and after a lull over the past two-and-a-half years, the area is currently springing back to life with new clubs, pubs and restaurants.

27/04/2023

Dogpatch
San Francisco, USA
Despite its waterfront location and Bay Bridge views, the Dogpatch was, for a long time, a gritty and desolate place filled with shipyards and factories. Now it’s one of San Francisco’s most rapidly developing neighbourhoods and a haven for creatives taking advantage of the (slightly) more affordable studio and housing options. The Dogpatch skyline is a mix of industrial buildings and modern apartment buildings, alongside a recent boom of independent shops, buzzworthy restaurants, and urban wineries. Bonus: the area is easily walkable, so grab your comfiest kicks and head out to explore.

27/04/2023

Kelham Island
Sheffield, UK
Once home to derelict warehouses and a few old-school pubs, Kelham Island has undergone a hefty transformation. Those old boozers (thankfully) remain but Kelham’s once-empty spaces are now filled by a glut of independent bars, restaurants, shops, cafés and breweries. A manmade island formed in the 1100s when a stream was diverted to power a nearby mill, Kelham Island is now a unique bit of Sheffield thanks to the beautiful waterway that runs through it. Walkable from the city centre, it has all the hallmarks of a hip neighbourhood – including street food markets, microbreweries, Michelin-guide grub and a vegan bar run by screamo frontman Oli Sykes – without being insufferably so. It’s still a functioning working area, so in between the serene waterside beer gardens, killer tacos, amazing ale, flea markets and food halls, you’ll get a sense of Sheffield’s rich industrial history.

27/04/2023

Chacarita
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chacarita (which translates as ‘little farm’) might easily have once been confused with neighbouring Buenos Aires barrios Palermo Hollywood and Villa Crespo thanks to its low-rise architecture, cobbled streets and independent restaurants. Its only distinguishing feature used to be housing South America’s largest necropolis. But it’s now turning heads as BA’s foodie central, famed for its two trendy main drags: Avenidas Dorrego and Jorge Newbery. The latter combines a recently-opened bike lane with local hotspots like legit Mexican Ulúa, Cuervo roaster and café and vegan fungi specialist Donnet, while other notables include Apu Nena’s southeast Asian tapas and Anchoita – both of which are currently two of the most in-demand tables in town. There’s also a wine scene pioneered by Naranjo bar, Dua Lipa’s choice of watering hole on her recent South America tour, and backed by Anchoita Cava and Lardito. Culture-wise, take in a play at Teatro El Regio, bop about to Hot Chip at C Complejo or catch live music at the Movistar Arena.

27/04/2023

Marrickville
Sydney, Australia
Marrickville has a complex identity. The traditional land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, it’s a formerly industrial swathe of land in the Cook’s River basin that’s since become a desirable postcode for families – but there’s still a lot of manufacturing and business rubbing shoulders with those beautiful federation homes and terraces. Waves of Greek and Vietnamese residents have also left their mark, and it’s got a healthy dose of creative colour on top thanks to a new influx of arts communities that’ve moved out of central Sydney. Marrickville has been called both ‘the new Newtown’ and ‘the new Paddington’, but it’s very much its own suburb with its own distinct identity: a proper melting pot that’s as much a destination for dining as it is for auto repair and wholesale provisions.

27/04/2023

Noord
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Just five minutes’ (free) ferry across the River IJ from the city’s tourist-packed centre, Noord feels like a different world. It’s that rare thing: a neighbourhood that has retained its gritty, post-industrial charm despite becoming an epicentre of all things cool. A former wasteland once known for squatters and petty crime, the area hasn’t so much been transformed as upcycled: the brick warehouses, metal prefabs, and old shipping containers are still here, but now they house vegan restaurants, pop-up breweries and cutting-edge art. Endeavours here – and the people behind them – have a deeply ingrained social justice and sustainability theme too. Wander around NSDM wharf, marvelling at the street art and the sense of creativity and ingenuity, and see how urban regeneration – which continues apace – should be done.

27/04/2023

Letná
Prague, Czech Republic
Although it’s just across the River Vltava from Prague’s densely packed Old Town, vibrant Letná offers great contrast – notably thanks to its abundance of open space. In 1989, hundreds of thousands of Praguers huddled together at Letná Park in sub-zero temperatures to finish off communism. Today, on summer evenings, they play sport, have picnics, or head to the Letná beer garden for a drink with fabulous views of the Old Town below. The wider neighbourhood (along with neighbouring Holešovice) is part of Art District 7, and the Trade Fair Palace showcases modern art and merits a visit for the functionalist architecture alone. Of all Prague’s districts, Letná has notably bounced back since 2020, and the numerous eateries and independent shops are evidence of its strong local spirit.

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