There are many reasons that we travel, some of us go for relaxation, some for the food and nightlife and others for the culture and history. SkyParkSecure has recently uncovered the best city breaks for history enthusiasts, whether you love to stroll through art galleries and museums, explore and learn with tour guides or even spend some of your holiday budget on antiques.
The research looked at the following factors and gave a total score out of 100;
- Number of history museums
- Number of art museums and galleries
- Number of speciality museums
- Number of military museums
- Number of history tours
- Number of architecture tours
- Number of archaeology tours
- Number of landmarks
- Number of libraries
- Number of antique stores
The top 15 locations worldwide for history lovers
| Ranking | Location | No. History Museums | No. of History Tours | No. of Historical Landmarks | Final Score /100 |
| 1. | Rome, Italy | 71 | 3248 | 1648 | 77.0 |
| 2. | Tokyo, Japan | 85 | 420 | 4989 | 52.8 |
| 3. | Paris, France | 18 | 1685 | 2512 | 45.0 |
| 4. | London, UK | 61 | 1402 | 1279 | 43.4 |
| 5. | Berlin, Germany | 50 | 391 | 620 | 31.1 |
| 6. | New York, USA | 37 | 575 | 605 | 30.3 |
| 7. | Istanbul, Turkey | 26 | 1,000 | 742 | 28.2 |
| 8. | Beijing, China | 31 | 1,000 | 775 | 28.0 |
| 9. | Seoul, South Korea | 56 | 272 | 328 | 24.5 |
| 10. | Madrid, Spain | 21 | 549 | 867 | 23.9 |
| 11. | Lisbon, Portugal | 23 | 1376 | 522 | 23.1 |
| 12. | Barcelona, Spain | 15 | 564 | 828 | 21.0 |
| 13. | Mexico City, Mexico | 20 | 541 | 254 | 18.5 |
| 14. | Los Angeles, USA | 28 | 142 | 364 | 17.4 |
| 15. | Philadelphia, USA | 30 | 99 | 236 | 16.5 |
Rome is the best city break in 2024 for history buffs
Rome was revealed as the best city for history lovers, which is no surprise as over 3,000 historical tours are on offer, along with over 1,600 landmarks. Rome is known for being home to iconic landmarks such as the Colosseum and Vatican City, but also sites such as the Capuchin Bone Chapel and the Catacombs of Rome.
Tokyo followed, with a score of 52.8 out of 100, scoring highly when it came to museums, landmarks, and antique stores. Best known for the likes of Mori art museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Paris found itself in third place, with a score of 45, scoring highly due to its vast number of historical tours, as well as landmarks, libraries, and museums. Paris is host to several historical sites, including Saint-Chapelle, the catacombs, and Père Lachaise cemetery.
New York City is revealed as the best city for art lovers
The city that never sleeps was revealed to be the best city to visit if you like to spend your trips strolling through art galleries, with 703 art museums and galleries – the highest of all 50 locations looked at. It was also revealed to be one of the best spots if you enjoy architecture and antiquing. Other locations that scored well for art galleries were Istanbul, Chicago, and Seoul.
Beijing is one of the best spots of speciality museums
Tokyo had not only the highest number of history museums, but also speciality museums. However, Beijing followed very closely, with 197 speciality museums, which include the likes of Paleozoological Museum of China and the National Museum of China.
For more information on the locations, you can find the full post here: https://www.skyparksecure.com/blog/best-city-breaks-for-history-lovers/
Methodology
They used Time Out’s ‘Best Cities In 2024’ list for a seed list; https://www.timeout.com/things-to-do/best-cities-in-the-world. All factors were then collected from TripAdvisor, which was ranked using a normalisation formula.
