NEW YORK, Sept 22 — For an authentic taste of Paris life, bypass the Champs-Elysées and head over to the colorful Kurdish and Indian community of Strasbourg-Saint-Denis. While in Seoul, gloss over Gangnam and instead add the Euljiro neighborhood to your itinerary. Because those are among some of the places that make Time Out’s top 50 list of coolest neighborhoods in the world right now.
It’s a list for tourists who hate being tourists. The ranking zooms in on neighborhoods within some of the biggest cities in the world, highlighting the spots where locals go to eat, mingle, shop and create.
Topping the list is Embajadores, Madrid, which is hailed for its exciting nightlife, food, street art and high culture.
“This is where people from near and far live side by side, cooking up a bustling cultural life,” says Time Out.
By day, the Plaza Tirso de Molina is home to florists. By night, the square is filled with revellers headed to the city’s hottest club of the moment, Medias Puri.
Locals also head to the area for cheap but “divine” Moroccan lamb tagine, Indian food or to sip on cocktails at the Sala Equis, a former adult cinema turned watering hole.
In second spot is Seoul’s Euljiro, an industrial area lined with printing presses and warehouses, alongside hidden bars, restaurants and cafés. While the presses hum to life printing out the next day’s news, the city’s beautiful young people check into warehouses-turned bars like the Seendosi.
Rounding out the podium is Medellin’s Nueva Villa de Aburra in Colombia, home to the city’s rockers, punks and metalheads; a rotating list of spectacles like dinosaur amusement parks and gladiatorial contests; and festivals that celebrate everything from hot sauce to electronic music.
To compile the ranking, the city guide polled 15,000 people around the world about the best—and most overrated—neighborhoods in their city and tapped their network of local Time Out editors and writers around the world.
Respondents were asked about areas that were seeing an onslaught of cool new openings in lesser known parts of the city, beyond the tourist traps. Editors also considered the affordability of the area; whether it would be of interest to visitors; and the level of local activity.
Here are the top 10 coolest neighborhoods, according to Time Out:
1. Embajadores, Madrid
2. Euljiro, Seoul
3. Nueva Villa de Aburrá, Medellín
4. Metaxourgeio, Athens
5. Princípe Real, Lisbon
6. Strasbourg-Saint-Denis, Paris
7. Neukölln, Berlin
8. Yanaka, Tokyo
9. Highland Park, Los Angeles
10. Fitzroy, Melbourne
Visit Time Out for the full list. — AFP-Relaxnews
