By The best foodie cities Europe study, conducted by casino review site Bonusetu, gathered data for all 44 European capital cities to create their Foodie Index Score. This score took into account the total number of standard and Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile, the affordability of a three-course meal for two, the number of different cuisines on offer, and the percentage of restaurants that offer a vegan option in each city.
Valletta ranks as the best European capital city for foodies, with a Foodie Index Score of 78.36 out of 100. There were found to be 254 restaurants in total throughout the tiny Maltese capital, which has an area spanning just 0.24 square miles. Comparatively, this works out to 1,058 restaurants per square mile, far greater than any other European capital city.
It also has a high number of Michelin Guide restaurants relative to its size, as its 10 Michelin Guide restaurants work out to 41.67 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile. Meals are relatively affordable, with the cost of a three-course meal for two people averaging €75.
Valletta also has the highest percentage of vegan food options, with 31.1% of its restaurants catering to vegans.
Paris ranks second on the best foodie cities Europe list with a Foodie Index Score of 71.65 out of 100. The ‘City of Light’ has an average of 386 restaurants per square mile, and meals are relatively affordable, the average cost of a three-course meal for two is €60.
The French capital offers much more variety than Valletta, with 198 different cuisines available in the city, however, only 9.44% of restaurants in Paris offered vegan options. While there are 449 Michelin Guide restaurants in Paris, the most out of any European capital, it works out to an average of 11.03 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile.
The Greek capital, Athens, ranks third with a Foodie Index Score of 64.25 out of 100. There are 150 different cuisines on offer in Athens across its 2,596 restaurants, and the coastal city has an average of 1.80 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile. 19.03% of its restaurants offer vegan options, and the average cost of a three-course meal for two people is €50.
The fourth most foodie-friendly European capital is Brussels, with a Foodie Index Score of 61.21 out of 100. Visitors to the Belgium capital can expect to pay a bit more on average for a three-course meal for two at €70, and the city offers 2.97 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile.
Of the 3,458 restaurants in Brussels, there are 155 different cuisines on offer and 9.89% of them were found to offer vegan options.
Lisbon ranks fifth among best foodie cities Europe, with a Foodie Index Score of 60.89 out of 100. The Portuguese capital has 127 restaurants per square mile, 12% of which offer vegan options. Lisbon has 1.06 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile and provides more variety of cuisine than Brussels and Athens, with 164 cuisines available across its 4,922 restaurants.
London ranks sixth, with a Foodie Index Score of 58.74 out of 100. London has the most variety of cuisine on the list, with 204 different cuisines on offer, and visitors to England’s capital can expect to spend €78.05 on average for a three-course meal for two.
On average, there are 30 restaurants per square mile, 21.8% of which offer vegan options. London has 373 Michelin Guide restaurants in total, second only to Paris, however due to London’s sheer size this works out at just 0.61 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile.
Seventh on the best foodie cities Europe list is Amsterdam, ranking right behind London with a Foodie Index Score of 58.14 out of 100. Foodies visiting the capital of the Netherlands can expect to spend an average of €67.50 for a three-course meal for two. There are 47 restaurants per square mile, 20.05% of which offer vegan options, and the city has 0.84 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile.
The Spanish capital of Madrid ranks eighth, with a Foodie Index Score of 57.26 out of 100. Madrid has 45 restaurants per square mile and 0.56 Michelin Guide restaurants per square mile. Those visiting the city can expect to spend €50 on average for a three-course meal for two, with 11% of its restaurants offering vegan options.
Monaco is the ninth-best European capital city for foodies, with a Foodie Index Score of 55.93 out of 100. While it has the highest average cost on the list for a three-course meal for two people at €100, foodies visiting Monaco will be spoilt for choice, as its 13 Michelin Guide restaurants work out to 16.67 restaurants per square mile, the second highest number of Michelin Guide restaurants relative to its size in any European capital.
Monaco’s 286 restaurants also work out to 367 restaurants per square mile, the third highest number of restaurants per square mile, after Valletta and Paris.
Tenth on the list is Dublin with a Foodie Index Score of 54.99 out of 100. The Irish capital has an average of 51.47 restaurants per square mile, 22.03% of which offer vegan options. It also has 0.79 Michelin stars per square mile and 148 cuisines on offer. Foodies visiting Dublin can expect to spend an average of €80 for a three-course meal for two people.
Best European capital cities for foodies 10-20:
Berlin
Stockholm
Prague
Rome
Copenhagen
Luxembourg
Belgrade
Warsaw
Methodology
The study took all 44 European capital cities into account. The Holy See was excluded due to its small population size.
The number of Michelin Guide restaurants in each city was obtained directly from the Michelin website, and the number of restaurants in each city was obtained via a TripAdvisor scrape. Both figures were divided by the square mile area of each city, to account for the city size. The number of different cuisines offered by each city was taken from TripAdvisor. The average cost of a three-course meal for two was obtained from cost of living site, Numbeo.
The aforementioned four factors were all weighted equally, and the percentage of vegan restaurants was weighted as half as important as the other factors when calculating the Foodie Index Score for each city.
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