# What is the best city skyline in the world?

> Height, density and setting rarely peak in the same city, so the tallest skyline here is not automatically the best one.

*By YPB Team · Published August 2, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-city-skyline-in-the-world*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Hong Kong**
   Victoria Harbour framed by one of the densest clusters of towers on earth.
2. **New York City**
   Two separate skylines — Midtown and Lower Manhattan — on one island.
3. **Chicago**
   The city that invented the skyscraper, seen across Lake Michigan.
4. **Shanghai**
   The Pudong towers rising straight out of the Huangpu, built almost entirely since 1990.
5. **Shenzhen**
   More towers above 150 metres than any other city, most of them younger than the people looking at them.
6. **Singapore**
   Marina Bay's engineered skyline, anchored by a hotel with a ship on the roof.
7. **Dubai**
   More supertall buildings than anywhere, and the tallest of them all in the middle.
8. **Tokyo**
   A skyline that goes on past the horizon in every direction, lit up all night.
9. **Kuala Lumpur**
   The Petronas Towers and a downtown that grew around them.
10. **Toronto**
   A wall of condo towers with the CN Tower spiking out of the middle.
11. **Sydney**
   Less about height than about the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the same frame.
12. **Seoul**
   Towers packed against the Han River with mountains standing directly behind them.
13. **London**
   A low historic city interrupted by a cluster of oddly nicknamed towers.
14. **Guangzhou**
   The Canton Tower and Zhujiang New Town facing each other across the Pearl River.
15. **Panama City**
   The most vertical skyline in Latin America, packed onto a strip of Pacific coast.
16. **San Francisco**
   A compact downtown behind hills, bridges and fog.
17. **Doha**
   West Bay's towers rising out of the desert on a single crescent of waterfront.
18. **Melbourne**
   A dense southern-hemisphere downtown wrapped around the Yarra.

Tags: travel, architecture, cities, skylines