Prague is the most cultured city in Europe

The best European cities for a cultural getaway, revealed in a study

Home to cultural keystones like the The Vatican, The Globe and The Louvre, Europe has always been renowned for its deep artistic roots. But with an abundance of attractions and limited time, culture lovers will inevitably have to make some tough choices when deciding which locations to prioritise.

Uswitch.com/mortgages created an index based on the total number of theatres, museums, landmarks and cultural tours across each city in Europe to calculate a cultural score. The study then considered additional factors such as reviews and population size, to determine the most cultural cities in Europe.

With a cultural score of 9.85 out of a possible 10, Prague is the most cultured city in Europe. Home to cultural landmarks like Prague Castle, The Golden City has 14.46 landmarks for every 100,000 residents, the most monuments of any city in Europe, and 129% more than Vienna’s 6.29 per 100,000. Prague also benefits from having the most theatres (1.89 per 100,000), 28.6% more than the number of theatres in London (1.47 per 100,000), and enough to crown the Czechian city as Europe’s cultural cornerstone.

With cultural hotspots such as the Rijkmuseum, Amsterdam (9.81/10) has the most museums per 100,000 people in Europe (7.66), and is the second most cultured city in the continent. The city has 4.8% more museums per 100,000 residents than Prague (7.31), and 142.4% more than Brussels (3.16 per 100,000). The Netherlands’ capital also consistently places highly for every factor, coming second for cultural tours (3.39 per 100,000), and third for theatres (1.16 per 100,000) and landmarks (9.31 per 100,000).

Dublin is the third most cultural city in Europe, with a score of 9.48/10. With 2.17 cultural tours per 100,000 residents, Ireland’s capital has half the tours on offer in Rome (5.87 per 100,000). Dublin also ranks fifth for landmarks (8.50 per 100,000), 41.2% fewer than Prague in first (14.46). However, culture in Dublin is assured by sites like The Irish Emigration Museum and The Irish Whiskey Museum, contributing to 4.72 museums per 100,000 people. This is the third highest in Europe, and 31.5% more than those in Oslo (3.59 per 100,000), placing fourth in this factor. 

The Most Cultural Cities in Europe

Methodology:

1. Uswitch.com/mortgages conducted this research with the aim of identifying Europe’s most cultured cities. This study evaluates the number of cultural tours, museums, landmarks and theatres of 27 cities across the continent. 

2. For each of the towns/cities analysed, the evaluation metric was based on the number of culture tours, museums, landmarks and theatres per 100,000 population. 

3. To generate the seed list, the Natural Earth Populated Places dataset was used to gather a list of the top European cities by their estimated population.

4. For each city, listings for cultural tours, museums, landmarks and theatres were collected along with the number of reviews for each. The point of interest data was collected from a reputable business directory.

5. Following the data collection phase, the sample was aggregated by the city to calculate the total number of cultural tours, museums, landmarks and theatres. A threshold of 25 reviews was implemented to omit attractions of lower significance.

6. The data was finalised by taking the average percent rank of theatres, cultural tours, museums and landmarks per 100,000 population within each city. The index was subsequently sorted in descending order by score.

7. Data was collected between 15/02/2022 – 16/02/2022 and is accurate as of then.