Athens named third most beautiful city in the world to explore by night, in new study

Premier Inn has researched over 250 of the most populated cities in the world on Instagram to reveal the places that are being photographed the most by night.

The number of hashtags for #citybynight were counted and compared for cities in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.

Top 10 most popular night-time cities in Europe

As with the most beautiful cities at night on a global scale, Paris once again takes the top spot as the most popular city in Europe to visit after dark with one million people voting for it on Instagram. London ranked second; Athens got 182,000 votes and Rome with 174,000 also ranked highly, with Eastern European countries Warsaw and Hungary completing the top five cities with the most night-time hashtags.

“Whether you’re travelling on a city break in the UK or further afield; you’re likely to see a different side of the city you’re visiting once the sun goes down,” a spokesperson from Premier Inn commented.

“Landmarks are lit up, city skylines come alive, and you get to experience your destination of choice in a whole new way. Instagram is the perfect place for holiday inspiration and whilst it’s nice to dream about long haul adventures, there is still plenty to enjoy and discover in the UK’s cities at this time of year, from the bright lights of cities such as London and Manchester, to evening views of the seaside in coastal cities such as Bristol and Brighton.”

When looking at the most popular night-time cities across the globe, it’s the city of love that emerges as favourite amongst users of the social media platform, with over 1,000,000 hashtags for pictures of Paris by night. Following Paris is London, followed by Athens, Rome and Warsaw.

Europe proved extremely popular with lovers of night-time exploring, with a whopping 18 of the top 20 cities being located in the continent. In particular, it was France which was the most popular country to explore after dark, with five cities featuring in the top 20 most popular cities: Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Marseille.

Known as the gateway to Morocco, it was Casablanca that ranked as the most beautiful city at night in Africa, with 25,800 hashtags – considerably more hashtags than any other African city analysed, and narrowly missing the top 20 rankings.

Dubai typically sees between 8 to 10 hours of sunshine a day, however the popular tourist destination based in the UAE ranked as the most beautiful city to visit at night in Asia, with 71,500 hashtags. Dubai and Tokyo also made the top 20 global cities with the most night-time hashtags.

Only one city in the USA made the top 20 global cities with the most night-time pictures – with New York ranking in 14th position with over 50,000 hashtags.

A full breakdown of the most Instagrammed night-time cities can be found at: https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/news/2021/instagram-cities-by-night.html