There are cities that leave you needing a vacation from your vacation. Vancouver, apparently, is not one of them.
The city has just been ranked the fourth most relaxing city in the world for 2026, finishing behind only Copenhagen, Barcelona and Vienna in a new global study highlighted by Condé Nast Traveller. Vancouver earned an overall score of 66.6, putting it just 0.2 points behind third-place Vienna and making it the only Canadian city in the top 10.
And really, have you looked outside lately? This is a city where you can start the morning walking beneath enormous trees, eat lunch overlooking the water, hit the beach after work and spend the evening staring at mountains. It’s the full chillaxing smorgasbord.
Photograph: Shutterstock / minganeVancouver
Vancouver keeps finding new ways to be Vancouver
The city’s easygoing appeal isn’t only about nature, either. Time Out Market Vancouver, which opened at Oakridge Park this spring, has added a new way to experience a huge chunk of the city without racing all over it. The 51,000-square-foot food and cultural hub brings together 20 kitchens, three bars, event spaces and a pet-friendly patio overlooking a public park, with a lineup built around some of Vancouver’s standout chefs, restaurants and emerging culinary talent. In other words, deciding between excellent Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish food or something completely different no longer requires coordinating four separate reservations and a cross-town odyssey.
It’s part of what feels particularly good about Vancouver right now. Oakridge Park itself has been filling its calendar with free live music, dancing, fitness sessions and outdoor movies, adding another social and cultural hub to a city already unusually good at mixing urban life with opportunities to decompress.
Photograph: Shutterstock / Geoffrey PriorVancouver
So how do you scientifically measure chilling out?
The ranking comes from travel eSIM company Holafly, whose researchers looked at factors including population density, access to nature and parks, the number of spas and wellness centres, air quality, hours of sunshine, traffic and happiness scores. Copenhagen took the crown with 70 points, followed by Barcelona at 69.6 and Vienna at 66.8. Vancouver’s 66.6 put it comfortably ahead of Oslo, Miami, Munich, Singapore, Rome and Amsterdam.
Some of those criteria play directly into Vancouver’s greatest hits. There’s Stanley Park and its seawall, beaches dotted around the city, ocean on multiple sides and mountains close enough that heading into actual wilderness can be an afternoon activity rather than a major expedition.
Then there’s the very Vancouver luxury of being able to build a day around doing almost nothing. Grab coffee and wander the seawall. Stretch out at Kits Beach. Take the SeaBus simply because the view is excellent. Disappear into Pacific Spirit Regional Park. Spend three hours over lunch. Book a spa. Sit beside the water and watch seaplanes do their thing.
Very few places make switching off look quite this good.
Apparently the rest of the world is noticing.