This is because urban chic has always started on the street, where people from all kinds of classes and backgrounds can mingle with each other on their way to work, school, home and entertainment venues. This year, Time Out — the media and hospitality brand that publishes local guides to some of the world’s most interesting cities — released its second annual collection of the world’s most beautiful streets. More than a neighborhood, a single street can define a city’s culture. “Across most of the world, pre-pandemic life has returned with a bang. With people excitedly making plans and heading out again to their own cities and on city breaks,” said James Manning, Time’s travel editor. Out, in a statement. “Our list of the coolest streets in the world includes the key streets that locals – including our expert editors and partners – recommend you take a stroll right now.” This year’s list has 33 streets, three more than the inaugural collection in 2021. It also includes several new cities, including Taipei, Mumbai, Athens and Accra.
North America
MacDougal Street in New York’s Greenwich Village is 29th on the list. Massimo Borchi/Atlantide Photo/The Image Bank Unreleased/Getty Images This year’s top spot is Rue Wellington, in Montreal’s Verdun district. Time Out Canada editor Laura Osborne says the street has “killer cocktail bars, cool brunch spots, some of the best sandwiches in town and even a sandy urban beach,” and that it will be pedestrian-only in 2023, which will undoubtedly add more cool spots. “We’ve known that this main street, also known as Promenade Wellington, has been redefined in original and creative ways for many years, and it’s really exciting to see how Verdun continues to shine,” said Yves Lalumière, President and CEO of Tourisme Montreal . , he told CNN Travel. While the United States didn’t come out on top, America can rest easy knowing it owns the most streets on the list — Miami’s Calle Ocho, New York’s MacDougal Street (home of perennial favorite cocktail bar Dante) and Chicago’s Wentworth Avenue makes the cut. Mexico’s representative on the list is Avenida Ámsterdam in Mexico City’s trendy Condesa neighborhood.
Asia and the Pacific
Karangahape Road — which locals call “K-Road” — in Auckland was ranked sixth. Fiona Goodall/Getty Images Five of the top 10 roads are in this region. Melbourne, Australia topped the 2021 list with Smith Street, but has dropped to second place this year. The city’s Gertrude Street made the list, with Eliza Campbell of Time Out Australia describing it as “beautiful, unassuming and without the rampant nightlife of its comparatively rowdy siblings”. In seventh place is Tai Ping Shan, a neighborhood-within-a-neighborhood on Hong Kong’s main island. CNN digital producer Rhea Mogul, who lives on the street, says the best things about living there are the dog-friendly cafes and the “great mix of old and new.” Tai Ping means “peace and stability” in Cantonese, while Shan means “hill”. A high-profile debut for 2022 is Taipei’s Yongkang Street, home to beloved craft beer makers Zhang Men Brewing. “We have incorporated various resources to promote this neighborhood to international tourists, and we are very happy that it is on the list,” Huang Shih-fang, director of the Taiwan Tourism Board’s international affairs department, tells CNN. “We hope to bring tourists back to the area once the borders open.”
Europe
Time Out, based in London, seemed very close to home for some of its picks this year. The most beautiful street in the British capital in 2022 is Deptford High Street, a mix of stalls, markets, shops, bars and more, which Time Out editor Chris Waywell says is not just the most beautiful street in London, but and the “most alive”. Further north, Glasgow’s Great Western Road is the UK’s highest entry, at number three. And the Danish metropolis of Copenhagen — which CNN Travel crowned last year as “Europe’s new chill capital” — lands in fifth place. The street of Værnedamsvej has been called ‘mini Paris’ by the editors of Time Out, due to its wine and cheese shops and abundant fresh flowers. That must hurt for Paris, which didn’t actually make the list. Other European streets that have voices on the 2022 list are Kolokotroni in Athens, Calle Echegaray in Madrid and Capel Street in Dublin. Of the last of those three, Dublin-based travel writer Nicola Brady says Capel — which rhymes with “maple” — “feels like a proper slice of old Dublin.” He adds that the street, which was pedestrianized earlier this year, has “small niche shops and pubs that have been around for decades along with great Korean and Vietnamese restaurants that are newer to the scene.”
The complete list
- Rue Wellington, Montreal
- Gertrude Street, Melbourne
- Great Western Road, Glasgow
- Yongkang Street, Taipei
- Værnedamsvej, Copenhagen
- Karangahape Street, Auckland
- Tai Ping Shan Street, Hong Kong
- Yaowarat Road, Bangkok
- Oranienstrasse, Berlin
- Hayes Street, San Francisco
- Avenue Amsterdam, Mexico City
- Kolokotroni, Athens
- Virgil Avenue, Los Angeles
- Ossington Avenue, Toronto
- Via Provenza, Medellin
- Eighth Street, Miami
- Deptford High Street, London
- Praça das Flores, Lisbon
- Oxford Street, Accra
- Wentworth Avenue, Chicago
- Cutting Room Square, Manchester
- Capel Street, Dublin
- Jumeirah Beach Road, Dubai
- Enmore Road, Sydney
- Kagurazaka, Tokyo
- Kloof Street, Cape Town
- Süleyman Seba Street, Istanbul
- Echegaray Street, Madrid
- MacDougal Street, New York
- Carrer del Comte Borrell, Barcelona
- Newbury Street, Boston
- Colaba Causeway, Mumbai
- Everton Road, Singapore Top photo of Yaowarat Street, Bangkok via Getty Images.
