Cities, measured on foot
People are choosing streets over screens again: walking more, playing together, looking for places with something to tell. The City Stories Index measures which cities reward that choice. And it is walked, not opined: every score comes from real routes, places with a story, player photos and reviews, turned into one citable number out of 100.
1M+
players on foot
1,000+
cities Questo runs in
80
made this ranking
19
countries
More than a million people have played a Questo route across 1,000+ cities. Of those, 80 hold enough story to be ranked and compared honestly.
Where a walk pays off most
One number out of 100: how much a city gives back when you explore it on foot. A high score means streets that keep telling you things. A story around the corner, a name you had never heard, a reason to stop walking and look up.
How the score works›
Each city is measured on eight things and scored against fixed goalposts rather than against whichever city happens to lead, so a city's score is the same number here, on its country's page and on its own; only its rank changes with the company it keeps. Most cities are scored on all eight measures, a few cannot be scored on every one, and each city's page says which. Full definitions and limitations are on the methodology page.
1London
United Kingdom · The city of kings and crowds
75/100
2New York City
United States · The island of arrivals
69/100
3Bucharest
Romania · The 20th-century capital
66/100
LisbonPortugal · The city of seven hills63/1005
RomeItaly · The city of popes and squares62/1006
SibiuRomania · The arts citadel60/1007
MilanItaly · The city of art and empire60/1008
PortoPortugal · The port that outranks the capital59/1009
AmsterdamNetherlands · The canal-ring capital58/10010
SydneyAustralia · The harbour city58/10011
MadridSpain · The city of kings and canvases58/10012
BudapestHungary · The Danube's royal capital57/10013
BarcelonaSpain · The city the modernistas built57/10014
BrasovRomania · The gothic stronghold56/10015
ParisFrance · The capital of revolutions56/100What the 2026 edition found
Read straight off this year's data. Every sentence links to the page that proves it.
The best streets talk
In Sibiu, you pass a place with a story every 156 metres.
Walk Sibiu →
Played together
Nowhere is play more social than Houston: 32 of every 100 games there bring a group of three or more.
See Houston →
Small towns punch up
Pisa, population 89,002, outscores 48 of the index's big cities.
Meet Pisa →
Depth
London holds 594 places with a story, the largest collection measured anywhere.
Explore London →
Country editions
Pick a country and see which of its cities hold the most story, and which quiet places outwalk the famous ones. A country joins the index once enough of its cities have been measured to compare them fairly.
United States
2026 editionNew York City leads 69/100
39 cities measured · #2 worldwide
Spain
2026 editionMadrid leads 58/100
19 cities measured · #11 worldwide
United Kingdom
2026 editionLondon leads 75/100
15 cities measured · #1 worldwide
Italy
2026 editionRome leads 62/100
13 cities measured · #5 worldwide
France
2026 editionParis leads 56/100
10 cities measured · #15 worldwide
Romania
2026 editionBucharest leads 66/100
10 cities measured · #3 worldwide
Canada
2026 editionMontreal leads 45/100
8 cities measured · #53 worldwide
Germany
2026 editionFrankfurt leads 50/100
8 cities measured · #32 worldwide
Australia
2026 editionSydney leads 58/100
5 cities measured · #10 worldwide
Netherlands
2026 editionAmsterdam leads 58/100
5 cities measured · #9 worldwide
Austria
2026 editionVienna leads 51/100
3 cities measured · #31 worldwide
Poland
2026 editionKraków leads 46/100
3 cities measured · #49 worldwide
Belgium
2026 editionBrussels leads 55/100
2 cities measured · #19 worldwide
Portugal
2026 editionLisbon leads 63/100
2 cities measured · #4 worldwide
Switzerland
2026 editionGeneva leads 50/100
2 cities measured · #36 worldwide
Denmark
2026 editionCopenhagen leads 50/100
1 city measured · #37 worldwide
Hungary
2026 editionBudapest leads 57/100
1 city measured · #12 worldwide
Mexico
2026 editionMexico City leads 45/100
1 city measured · #54 worldwide
Sweden
2026 editionStockholm leads 52/100
1 city measured · #28 worldwide
More countries join as their cities are measured. Editions are published once enough of a country's cities clear the sample floors to be compared fairly.
Fair questions
Why is a famous city ranked lower than I expected?
Because fame is not the thing being measured. The index measures what a city gives you when you walk it: how much story its streets hold, how often you pass one, and how people actually play there. A quiet city with dense, well-told streets will outrank a celebrated one whose streets keep to themselves. That is not a verdict on greatness; it is a map of where walking pays off.
Doesn't the index favour cities where Questo built more?
Coverage matters, and we say so rather than hide it: the index measures the stories that exist on the ground today, told through walked routes. Three guards keep that honest. A city without enough coverage is published unranked instead of scored low. Count measures are scored logarithmically, so doubling a huge catalogue barely moves a score. And most measures are rates and medians, which coverage alone cannot buy.
Why isn't my city ranked?
Questo routes cross 1,000+ cities, but a rank has to be defensible: a city enters the index at 10 places with a story and is scored from 30 (20 for a small town), with floors on reviews and ratings. If your city is missing or unranked, it does not have the story coverage yet. The fastest way to change that is to build a route in it.
Can a city improve its score?
Yes, and only one way: more of its streets telling stories. Scores are frozen per annual edition and recomputed for the next one, so new routes, new storied places and new play all count toward the 2027 edition. Cities, tourism boards and local storytellers can start with a creator account or write to explore@questoapp.com.
Every number traces to a query we can re-run, and scores are frozen per annual edition, so they are safe to cite. Definitions, floors and limitations live on the methodology page.