The top 10 happiest cities in the world

With Bris­bane res­i­dents report­ing a 93% qual­i­ty-of-life rat­ing, it’s no sur­prise that this glo­ri­ous city is num­ber 10 in the list – with many argu­ing that the stun­ning weath­er is a big com­po­nent. Boast­ing an aver­age of 8 hours of sun­shine every day, Brisbane’s sub­trop­i­cal cli­mate makes it the ide­al place to vis­it for an Aus­tralian home swap at any time of the year. So what are the best things to see and do in Bris­bane? Trav­el blog­ger Miss Tourist says chill­ing on the South Bank should be top of everyone’s list – and with 17 hectares of park­land in which to relax, mul­ti­ple free swim­ming pools, cycling and walk­ing routes, it’s hard to argue with her sen­ti­ment. The Col­lec­tive Mar­kets are a great way to enjoy some street food, while you’re bound to feel hap­py (and maybe a bit ter­ri­fied) if you climb the Sto­ry Bridge. In need of an instant dose of the feel-goods? Then hand-feed a koala at Lone Pine Koala Sanc­tu­ary, or admire the CBD from the water with a riv­er cruise.

Stock­holm has been described as the loveli­est city in Scan­di­navia, so it’s no won­der that it’s a huge­ly pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion with trav­ellers. First of all, it’s unde­ni­ably on the pricey side to stay in Stock­holm, so make your pen­nies go fur­ther with a gor­geous home exchange. As soon as you arrive, take a free guid­ed walk­ing tour, then head for Gam­la Stan – the old town, and one of the pret­ti­est places imag­in­able. Pose up a storm by the colour­ful hous­es – then share your pics with us via Insta­gram using the hash­tag #welove­home­swap! Next up, swing by Abba The Muse­um, Fotografiska (pho­tog­ra­phy exhi­bi­tion), the impres­sive Vasa Muse­um or the Mod­eer­na Museet to feast your eyes on works of art by Dali and Picas­so. Ready for one final dose of cul­ture? Then hop on the Metro to explore incred­i­ble street art in the sta­tions. Hand Lug­gage Only’s guide to the 8 best metro sta­tions in Stock­holm is real­ly use­ful if you want to find the high­lights. After all that sight­see­ing you’ll be hun­gry, so browse The Blonde Abroad’s guide to where to eat in Stock­holm for loads of tasty inspiration.

The vibrant city of Tel Aviv sim­ply hums with ener­gy. This is a unique loca­tion in which you can hit the beach, explore the old town of Jaf­fa, indulge in a seri­ous culi­nary treat at Carmel Mar­ket and let loose with a 24-hour dose of nightlife. Amidst all this glo­ri­ous chaos, make sure you find some time to take a step back, absorb the joys of the city and sim­ply breathe. So where can you find those moments of calm? Accord­ing to The Cul­ture Trip’s round-up of Tel Aviv’s hap­pi­est spots, Park HaYarkon is ​‘the Cen­tral Park of Tel Aviv’, and is a favourite hang­out with the locals. Hire a bike and cycle around the Rock Gar­den and Trop­i­cal Gar­den, before drop­ping in at the huge water park. Alter­na­tive­ly, head to the beach and take a dip in the Mediter­ranean – with over 14km of coast­line, the beach lure in this city is unde­ni­able. Bograshov Beach is reg­u­lar­ly list­ed as one of the best beach­es in Tel Aviv. For more ideas on the best things to do in Tel Aviv, then trav­el blog­ger Pom­mie Trav­els has some great sug­ges­tions – and don’t for­get to arrange a home swap!

Nor­way con­sis­tent­ly ranks as one of the hap­pi­est coun­tries in the world, so it’s no sur­prise that two of the country’s cities have made the top 10. Many Nor­we­gians say that their incred­i­ble nat­ur­al sur­round­ings are cen­tral to their sense of well­be­ing – and with cross-coun­try ski­ing, hik­ing, fish­ing, kayak­ing and cycling being pop­u­lar across the coun­try, they’ve got plen­ty to enjoy. Oslo is cen­tral to this, as it’s ide­al­ly locat­ed to com­bine the best of urban liv­ing with out­door pur­suits (as it’s sur­round­ed by the Oslofjord and dense forests). The Oslo Opera House (pic­tured above) is a gor­geous loca­tion – locals sun­bathe here in the sum­mer, and it’s mag­i­cal in the win­ter. Take a float­ing sauna at Kok (fol­lowed by an icy dip if you’re brave!), and treat your­self to some amaz­ing local del­i­ca­cies at one of the places men­tioned in Scan­di­navia Standard’s help­ful list of the best places to eat and drink in Oslo. For lots more ideas on how to fill your days, then Hand Lug­gage Only’s arti­cle on the best things to do in Oslo is essen­tial reading.

If you’ve made it to Nor­way to check out Oslo (which is the 7^th hap­pi­est place on earth), then it would be a shame to not vis­it num­ber 6 on the list – the gor­geous city of Bergen! To get here, you might want to hop on the train which runs on the Bergens­ba­nen (or Bergen Line). Boast­ing stun­ning scenery, it’s hard­ly sur­pris­ing that Time Out ques­tioned whether it might be Europe’s best train jour­ney. Once you’ve arrived, con­sid­er stay­ing some­where like this stun­ning home swap on the tiny island of Bjorøy which is just a 20-minute dri­ve to Bergen. Con­nect­ed to the main­land by a sub­sea road tun­nel – and with a bridge to the equal­ly tiny island of Tyssøy – the home enjoys unfor­get­table views, with the chance to dip into the sea if you’re feel­ing brave! Hik­ing options in this region are also spec­tac­u­lar, though cen­tral Bergen is the real lure. Head to Bryggen (which fea­tures on UNESCO’s World Her­itage List), and explore a mul­ti­tude of hid­den pas­sages, bou­tiques, gal­leries and artist stu­dios. For incred­i­ble views of the city, hop on the Floiba­nen Funic­u­lar to the top of Mount Fløyen, and don’t for­get to dine in Bergen’s old­est restau­rant where you should try the spec­tac­u­lar fish soup and rein­deer with veni­son sauce.

With a har­bour that is clean enough for swim­ming, a pas­sion for cycling as a quick and eco-friend­ly way to get around the city and a dynam­ic food scene, it’s no won­der that this fam­i­ly-friend­ly city is one of the hap­pi­est places in the world! Most tourists head straight for Nhyavn to admire the icon­ic pas­tel-coloured hous­es, or Jægers­borggade for bou­tiques and a great cof­fee scene. If you’re trav­el­ling with chil­dren (or you’re just a big kid at heart!) then Tivoli Gar­dens and amuse­ment park is great fun, while the Rosen­borg Cas­tle will offer a fan­tas­tic dol­lop of cul­ture. Described by Time Out as ​‘Copenhagen’s buzzi­est neigh­bour­hood’, Ref­shaleøen should also be top of your to-do list – par­tic­u­lar­ly if you want to explore the Copen­hagen Con­tem­po­rary (an impres­sive art gallery) – before enjoy­ing street food at Ref­fen. Final­ly, book a per­for­mance at the Roy­al Dan­ish Opera House – or see it from the water on a GoB­oat – then head home to a love­ly home swap.

For many trav­el-lovers, a city break only begins when you find the old town. Zurich’s beau­ti­ful Alt­stadt, with pret­ty cob­bled streets is no excep­tion. Explore the mul­ti­ple water foun­tains, and make sure you walk up to the Lin­den­hof city park for excep­tion­al views over the city. Got a sweet tooth? Then head to Lindt’s Home of Choco­late fac­to­ry for a Willy Won­ka-esque tour, or head to fam­i­ly-run Café Hon­old for an indul­gent treat, then relax with a spot of sight­see­ing on Limmat’s riv­er cruise. It should take just under an hour – leav­ing you with plen­ty of time to explore the impres­sive Zurich Zoo. Make sure you vis­it the under­wa­ter view­ing area at the ele­phant park to spot the ele­phants tak­ing a dip (guar­an­teed to bring a smile to even the grump­i­est face!), then head back to your home swap.

New Zealan­ders are quite right­ly proud of this glo­ri­ous city, and with plen­ty to see and do, there’s some­thing for every taste. Speak­ing of taste, locals are proud to say that Welling­ton is the craft beer cap­i­tal of New Zealand, and the food scene is impres­sive too – head to the Boul­cott Street Bistro for an ele­gant din­ing expe­ri­ence. A vis­it to the city wouldn’t be com­plete until you’ve vis­it­ed The Muse­um of New Zealand Te Papa Ton­gare­wa (which is both a muse­um and an art gallery), and the Welling­ton Botan­ic Gar­dens are love­ly. Hop on the cable car for stun­ning views of the city, and you’ll quick­ly see why this is one of the hap­pi­est places on earth. If you’re feel­ing ener­getic, then Cul­ture Trip’s round-up of the best hik­ing trails in Welling­ton is jam-packed with routes for every lev­el of abil­i­ty – then retreat home to a gor­geous home swap! If you’re look­ing for a real­ly great over­sight of the top things to do in Welling­ton, then check out blog­gers Two Wan­der­ing Soles. They’ve also got lots of tips on explor­ing New Zealand on a budget.

You might not have heard of Aarhus, but it’s one of those cities that you real­ly don’t want oth­er tourists to find! Arguably one of Europe’s best undis­cov­ered gems, this per­fect loca­tion com­bines city, beach and forests – mak­ing it the ide­al spot for a relaxed break. Exchange homes with one of our com­mu­ni­ty (some­where like this recent­ly ren­o­vat­ed prop­er­ty would be ide­al), then head into the city to explore its many charms. You’d strug­gle to not feel hap­py while walk­ing the glass rain­bow view­ing deck and walk­way that sits on top of the Aarhus Art Muse­um (which also hap­pens to be the most vis­it­ed art muse­um in Scan­di­navia). Next, take a stroll through the Latin Quar­ter and explore the bou­tiques and fan­tas­tic café scene, then walk laps of the gor­geous wood­en cir­cu­lar Infi­nite Bridge and get a 360 degree view of Aarhus and the sea (just don’t expect it to be there in the win­ter when it’s tak­en down). For loads more ideas, take a look at The Crazy Tourist’s blog on the best things to do in Aarhus.

And in our top spot, is Helsin­ki – which is locat­ed in Fin­land, the hap­pi­est coun­try in the world. So first things first, book your­self some­where stun­ning to stay – hap­pi­ly our mem­bers have loads of great home swaps in Helsin­ki. Next, draw up an itin­er­ary – if you want a cheat’s guide to the best expe­ri­ences in Helsin­ki, then trav­el blog­ger Where’s Mol­lie? has some great ideas. Hop on a canal sight­see­ing tour, and make time for a sauna at Loy­ly before tak­ing a dip in the sea or an ice hole (depend­ing on what time of year you’re vis­it­ing). Fan­cy a dose of cul­ture? Then vis­it Helsin­ki Cathe­dral or expe­ri­ence the Suomen­lin­na Sea Fortress for an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence. If you’re short on time but you want to pack in all of the top sights, then the tram is a great way to see the city, or hire a bike and pick one of these great cycling routes. Last­ly, enjoy a fan­tas­tic eat­ing and drink­ing expe­ri­ence. From cosy wine bars that the locals love, through to drinks with a view at the Sky­room Helsin­ki, this is an effort­less­ly cool city that both trav­ellers and locals adore.

Let’s not for­get that the top 10 list changes all the time – and what you deem to be a hap­py city is entire­ly down to taste! Love Home Swap’s head office is in Lon­don – and we’d argue that we should def­i­nite­ly be list­ed as one of the hap­pi­est places on earth (though appar­ent­ly, we only scraped in at 36^th place!) And when we first cov­ered this sub­ject back in 2013 (which you can see in the info­graph­ic below), the top spot was held by Rio de Janeiro, close­ly fol­lowed by Syd­ney, Barcelona, Ams­ter­dam, Mel­bourne, Madrid, San Fran­cis­co, Rome, Paris and Buenos Aires. So tell us Love Home Swap­pers – what’s your per­son­al hap­pi­est city? Share your thoughts in our Face­book groups and on our social media chan­nels using #welove­home­swap.

From then to now, this was the top 10 in 2013: