Two Australian neighbourhoods amongst coolest in the world
Sydney's inner west Burwood and North Melbourne rated among Time Out's coolest places to live.
TIME Out’s annual list of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods has the inner western Sydney suburb of Burwood at Number 16.
Surprising (or as one account has it, “shocking”) as that might seem to those in trendy Paddington or Newtown, that makes Burwood Australia’s coolest neighbourhood.
The only other Australian suburb to make the list was North Melbourne, which came in at Number 24.
Time Out based its ratings on the opinions of its writers and editors, who considered culture, community, liveability, nightlife, food and drink, street life and “nowness.”
Burwood, 12km west of the CBD was already officially Australia’s most diverse community.
The majority of residents are of Chinese ancestry, plus a good representation of Italians and Lebanese.
As might be expected, Burwood has some of Sydney’s best Chinese food.
One local told Australian Conveyancer it’s not just “Chinese” but restaurants serving every possible regional variation from Sichuan to Fujian.
There are Malaysian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish, Greek and Italian to choose from, too.
The biggest demographic is the 20 to 24 years age group, and they are keen to have fun.
Burwood is a designated Special Entertainment Precinct, with relaxed late-night trading and reduced red tape for venues.
It also features Night Markets every Thursday to Sunday (5pm to 11pm).
According to realestate.com.au, Burwood’s popularity has boomed over the past five years.
The standard house in Burwood would have set you back $1.75m five years ago and now costs almost $3m. The median unit price is $892,000.
It’s a similar story in North Melbourne, home to the Queen Vic Market. Half of all locals were born overseas, and most are aged 20 to 29.
The median house price is more than $1.2m, a unit $480,000.
And Time Out’s coolest suburb in the whole wide world? That’s Jimbōchō in Tokyo, a university enclave with 130 second hand bookstores.
These are Time Out’s 39 coolest neighbourhoods in the world for 2025
- Jimbōchō, Tokyo
- Borgerhout, Antwerp
- Barra Funda, São Paulo
- Camberwell, London
- Avondale, Chicago
- Mullae-dong, Seoul
- Ménilmontant, Paris
- Nakatsu, Osaka
- Vallila, Helsinki
- Labone, Accra
- Nguyen Thai Binh, Ho Chi Minh
- Anjos, Lisbon
- Digbeth, Birmingham
- Red Hook, New York
- Perpetuo Socorro, Medellín
- Burwood, Sydney
- Linden, Johannesburg
- Former French Concession, Shanghai
- Quartieri Spagnoli, Naples
- Bencoolen, Singapore
- Endoume, Marseille
- Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montréal
- The Liberties, Dublin
- North Melbourne, Melbourne
- Portales, Mexico City
- Davenport, Toronto
- Little River, Miami
- Kemang, Jakarta
- Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro
- Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
- Barranco, Lima
- Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur
- Clarksville, Austin
- Margit-negyed, Budapest
- Glen Park, San Francisco
- MiZa, Abu Dhabi
- Villa Devoto, Buenos Aires
- Mehrauli, Delhi
- Poblacion, Metro Manila
