Were you shocked to learn that, after surveying 18,500 people on their cities’ cultural offerings, the gleaming French capital was named as the best place in the world for culture? No, neither were we (and you can read more about why here).
But our freshly updated roundup of the best cities in the world for culture includes 19 other brilliant hubs that are top-tier places for an art and culture fix right now – and two of them are in Africa.
The first of these was Cape Town, where 89 percent of the locals we spoke to positively rated the city’s cultural offering, citing events such as ArtsCape, Cape Town Jazz Fest, Kaapse Klopse and First Thursdays. The city sits in tenth place on the culture ranking, but came first as the world’s best city overall.
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‘Cape Town’s culture scene has seen an explosion of talent over the last few years,’ says South Africa content director Andrew Hallett. ‘Take Dweba Art & Cafe, a new resident of Longmarket Street, where artists fearlessly confront contemporary issues through diverse visual languages over a cup of coffee. We’ve seen an impressive run of stage shows, including Dear Evan Hansen, which local actor Stuart Brown shone in.’
Intrigued? Read more about the best things to do in Cape Town here.
The next city to be included was Marrakech, which sits in seventeenth place and had a positive review of its cultural scene from 68 percent of locals.
More specifically, local expert Paula Hardy writes: ‘Contemporary art gallery MACAAL has recently been revamped and showcases thought-provoking exhibitions, as does Comptoir des Mines Galerie. Riads, too, contribute to the cultural conversation, hosting conversational salons, artist residencies and artist-led experiences. The best can be found at Dar Al Dall, Jnane Rumi and Riad Jardin Secret, who are behind soon-to-open gallery Rigotang.’
Here’s our list of all the best things to do in Marrakech.
Check out ’s brand-new list of the 20 best cities for culture in the world for 2025.
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