Paris

You can’t talk culture without talking Paris. Its cafés and bistros have long been the haunt of writers, artists and intellectuals – and, of course, the French capital boasts the world’s largest and most-visited museum in the Louvre. But what do the locals say? Parisians certainly rate the Louvre, naming it the city’s best cultural venue, but they also gave props to the French capital’s theatre scene, fashion sense and two other art heavyweights: the Centre Pompidou and Palais de Tokyo.

‘Paris stands out for the immense diversity of its culture scene’ says Rémi Morvan, writer at Time Out Paris. ‘I take as much pleasure in going to the Louvre or the Musée d’Orsay for their timeless masterpieces as I do in strolling through the galleries of the Marais and discovering emerging talents. And if I want to immerse myself in the cutting-edge independent music scene, there is only one destination: La Station, a former coal station which now welcomes the cream of the underground.’