A new study conducted by The Perfect Rug analyzed over 25 tourist capitals to rank the cities with the most cafes and restaurants per square-kilometer. Study collected information from TripAdvisor and Google Maps, including the number of cafes and restaurants in each city and average prices. The additional data about cafe- and restaurant-related hashtags on Instagram is provided for deeper context about food popularity in each city.
Here are the findings summarized.
| Cities | Area km² | Restaurants and Cafes | Restaurants and Cafes by km² | Price of 3 course meal for 2 | Most instagrammable cafe | Number of hashtags |
| Paris | 105 | 17,000 | 161.90 | $75.60 | Café de Flore | 450,000 |
| Lisbon | 100 | 8,167 | 81.67 | $54.00 | Hello, Kristof | 30,000 |
| Brussels | 162 | 6,012 | 37.11 | $86.40 | Maison Dandoy | 15,000 |
| New York City | 783.8 | 26,000 | 33.17 | $130.00 | Bluestone Lane | 150,000 |
| Amsterdam | 219.4 | 6,746 | 30.75 | $91.80 | Pluk Amsterdam | 200,000 |
| Madrid | 604.3 | 15,000 | 24.82 | $64.80 | Café Federal | 50,000 |
| Los Angeles | 1,210 | 29000 | 23.97 | $120.00 | Alfred Coffee | 300,000 |
| Stockholm | 188 | 4,039 | 21.48 | $84.69 | Café Pascal | 30,000 |
| Bern | 51.62 | 925 | 17.92 | $90.93 | Adriano’s Bar & Café | 5,000 |
| Singapore | 734.3 | 12,700 | 17.30 | $70.13 | PS.Cafe | 120,000 |
The city with the most cafes and restaurants is Paris with over 160 places per square-kilometer. Paris visitors can choose from over 17,000 places. The average bill for a 3 course meal for two is a little over $75. Paris’ cafes also have the biggest online presence with over 450K hashtags on Instagram.
Lisbon takes the second place in the ranking of the cities with the most cafes and restaurants per km2. There are over 8,000 eating places in Lisbon and they offer the cheapest meals on average of only $54 for a 3 meal course for two people.
In third place is Brussels with 37 cafes and restaurants per square-kilometer, over 2 times less than in Lisbon. There are still over 6,000 places to choose from and the average price comes to $86.4, more expensive than in Lisbon or Paris.
New York City follows closely with the fourth place and 33 cafes and restaurants per square-kilometer. The second biggest city on the list, it has over 26K places to eat. New York cafes and restaurants are also very popular online with over 150K Instagram places but they are also the most expensive in the ranking with the average bill of $130 for two people.
Amsterdam holds the fifth place in the ranking of the cities most densely populated by cafes and restaurants. People can choose from over 6.7K places to eat and they surpass New York in online popularity, gathering 200K hashtags.
Madrid takes the sixth place with 24.8 cafes and restaurants per square-kilometer. The capital of Spain has 15K food places, only 2,000 less than in Paris but the prices are more affordable with $64.8 on average.
Los Angeles follows Madrid closely with 23.9 food places per square-kilometer, gaining the seventh place. Los Angeles’ cafes and restaurants are the second most popular, right after Paris, but have high prices. On average clients have to pay $120 for a 3 course meal for two people.
Stockholm takes the eighth place with 21.4 cafes and restaurants for a square-kilometer. There are over 4,000 places to choose from and the prices are similar to Brussels.
Bern is ninth in the ranking of the cities most densely populated by cafes and restaurants. It is the smallest city in the ranking but there are still over 900 food places. The prices in Bern are also a little bit higher than in Stockholm or Paris.
Singapore closes the ranking of the cities with most cafes and restaurants per square-kilometer. The city closely follows Bern with 17.3 cafes per square-kilometer but Singapore is 14 times bigger with a larger choice of places to eat. The online popularity is comparable with New York City but Singapore offers more affordable prices with $70 on average.
Experts from The Perfect Rug commented on the study: “Food plays a huge cultural importance in each country and it is also one of the main tourist attractions. People look for affordable options but often they will choose places with local cuisine or restaurants that provide a variety of options.”
Methodology: The study calculated the number of cafes and restaurants per square-kilometer by analyzing the size of each city as well as the number of cafes and restaurants. The data for these calculations was taken from Google Maps and TripAdvisor as well as average prices for each city. Afterwards, the data about Internet popularity was added, based on Instagram hashtags.
