Seoul Named the Coziest City in Asia

You know the feeling of curling up in an oversized chair with a hot cup of tea in hand, just as the sun is going down, with a book you’ve been dying to crack open? It turns out, there are entire towns that feel just like that.

In late 2024, All Clear, a travel insurance company, released its study showcasing the coziest cities in the world. To figure out which places offer this warm and inviting feeling best, it first had to define what “cozy” really means.

To define “cozy,” the team focused on places that evoke comfort, warmth, and relaxation—measuring the number of cafes, bookstores, cinemas, theaters, and museums per square mile. They also considered historical architecture (via UNESCO sites) and social media mentions using the hashtag #cozy. Another variable was each spot’s annual precipitation, noting that few things feel cozier than staying inside with a view while it rains outside. It combined all these metrics to give each destination a “cozy” score.

And after all that data searching, it named Seoul, South Korea, the coziest city in all of Asia and the No. 19 coziest city overall.

The city ranked highly on the list thanks to its three UNESCO World Heritage sitesJongmyo Shrine, Changdeokgung Palace Complex, and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, along with its astonishing number of coffee shops, with more than 75,000 across the entire nation of South Korea and more than 10,000 in Seoul alone. (Though, some estimates say Seoul has nearly 25,000 coffee shops.) And let’s not forget the rain: Seoul experiences roughly 80 rainy days a year with June, July, and August being the rainiest months.

However, there are places even cozier than Seoul. At the top of the list is Brusselsa place that “plays host to beautiful architecture and great food,” the findings noted. “Better experienced in the colder seasons than the summer months, its medieval buildings paired with its comforting food (chocolate and Belgian waffles, anyone?) make this a great choice for a cozy break.”

The rest of the top five include Paris in second, followed by Geneva, Copenhagen, and Lisbon. See the full cozy list and start planning your warm and fuzzy getaway at allcleartravel.co.uk.