The world’s best cities for 2026, according to Time Out
By Maureen O’Hare, CNN
(CNN) — In our travel news roundup this week: the 200th anniversary of a revolutionary suspension bridge, Time Out’s best cities for 2026, plus what the Iran war means for your travel plans.
The world’s ‘best cities’
British media group Time Out has named its “best cities for 2026,” and half of the top 10 are in Asia-Pacific.
Its annual survey this year drew responses from 24,000 people across 150 cities worldwide, and the Australian metropolis of Melbourne came out as No. 1.
At CNN Travel, we love Australia’s second city as a global food and drink powerhouse where nature is close by and urban delights are readily available.
Time Out’s No. 2 is Shanghai: Visiting this financial hub of 25 million is an exhilarating experience, but we treasure it also for its access to China’s huge network of high-speed railways. The calming countryside with centuries-old villages is never far away.
At No. 3 we have Edinburgh, the Scottish capital overlooked by an extinct volcano. Few cities are as bursting with history, from the medieval streets of its Old Town to the spacious boulevards of its 18th-century New Town.
The rest of the top 10 is rounded out by: London at No. 4, New York at No. 5, Cape Town at No. 6, Mexico City at No. 7, Bangkok at No. 8, Seoul at No. 9 and Tokyo at No. 10.
War in Iran
The US-Israeli conflict with Iran has triggered the biggest disruption to air travel across the Gulf region since the Covid-19 pandemic, with commercial airline operations thrown into turmoil by airspace closures.
Super-rich travelers are using private jets to escape the war, with those who can afford it paying astronomical prices to leave the region.
The ongoing crisis has raised questions for many people with existing travel plans or looking ahead to summer vacations, business trips or essential journeys.
CNN Travel has put together a guide on what to know before you travel, from safety considerations, to fuel shortages, to when to book flights.
Grand designs
Here are three stories about ambitious design projects from three different centuries.
The Menai Strait Bridge in Wales was the world’s longest suspension bridge when it opened in 1826. It’s still going strong today, thanks to the revolutionary engineering behind it.
Instead of planning a regular viaduct-style bridge, with columns buried in the seabed, civil engineering pioneer Thomas Telford planned a structure that floated above the strait, tethered to the land on each side.
It was a bold move, but two centuries later, it’s proved to be the right one.
In the 1970s, poet-architect Nail Çakırhan preserved Akyaka, a village in Turkey’s southwestern Anatolia, by reviving traditional architecture and pushing back on the concrete development reshaping much of the region.
His work earned him the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1983 – despite having no formal training – and influential local people commissioned their houses built in the same style as his home.
In an ambitious plan from the present day, the abandoned Downsview Airport in Toronto is being transformed into a $30 billion sustainable city.
The development is named “YZD” – a nod to the airport’s code – and aims to house more than 50,000 residents. The 1.2 mile-long-runway is being turned into a park, as the site’s centerpiece.
Richard Quest’s top five aircraft
CNN’s top aviation expert, Richard Quest, has ranked the aircraft he considers the best passenger airplanes of all time. From childhood memories on the BAC 1-11 to the glamor of the superjumbo era, he guides us on a personal journey from his list. Read the full story here.
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