Making travel plans as a family means more than just checking the price of flights. If you’re travelling with children, you’ll want to know that your destination is safe, what accommodation options are available, and what attractions you can visit to keep little ones entertained.
To find out which destinations do this best, we created the World’s Most Kid-Friendly Cities Index. We analysed the 50 most populated cities around the world, using data from thousands of hotels, traveller reviews, city safety scores and family-friendly attractions to measure how well they cater for families. This gave us an index score for each category as well as an overall kid-friendly index score out of ten.
Key findings
- Tokyo is the world’s most kid-friendly city, with an overall index score of 6.8 out of 10, followed by Dubai (6.5) and Kuala Lumpur (6.4).
- New York City is the least kid-friendly city, with a score of 2.3, followed by Venice (3.1) and Los Angeles (3.3).
- Three of the most kid friendly cities are in Japan, with Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto all in the top 10.
- The U.S. has the most cities in the study that aren’t very kid-friendly, with five: New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami.
- Bangkok is the cheapest city for family accommodation, with an average hotel price of €35/£29 per night, while New York City is the most expensive at €322/£273 per night.
- Six of the ten most expensive cities for accommodation also rank among the least kid-friendly overall.
- Orlando has the highest share of kid-friendly attractions, with 38.5% of its attractions (80 in total) suitable for children.
Best and worst cities for family holidays
The data below shows the overall index scores of the cities analysed in this study, incorporating scores for things like family-friendly accommodation, safety, healthcare accessibility, and child-friendly attractions.
Tokyo is the world’s most kid-friendly city
The overall index ranking reveals that Tokyo, Japan is the most kid-friendly city in the world with a score of 6.8. Tokyo ranks highly in a number of categories including family-friendly hotel availability, safety, and healthcare.
Following Tokyo, Dubai in the UAE comes in second place with an index score of 6.5; Dubai also ranked top in the safety category and was among the top ten for kid-friendly attractions.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia comes third with a score of 6.4, scoring highly for affordable accommodation and kid-friendly activities.
Japan appears three times in the list of most friendly cities (Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto), while Asian cities dominate the list, with 12 of the top cities being in Asia or the Middle East. Orlando and Stockholm are the only cities outside of Asia in the top list, sharing tenth place with three other cities with a score of 5.6.
| Rank | City | Country | Kid-Friendly Index Score |
| 1 | Tokyo | Japan | 6.8 |
| 2 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | 6.5 |
| 3 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | 6.4 |
| 4 | Osaka | Japan | 6.3 |
| =5 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | 6.1 |
| =5 | Seoul | South Korea | 6.1 |
| 7 | Bangkok | Thailand | 6.0 |
| 8 | Singapore | Singapore | 5.8 |
| 9 | Taipei | Taiwan | 5.7 |
| =10 | Shanghai | China | 5.6 |
| =10 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 5.6 |
| =10 | Kyoto | Japan | 5.6 |
| =10 | Orlando | USA | 5.6 |
| =10 | Stockholm | Sweden | 5.6 |
New York City is the least kid-friendly city
Of the cities we analysed, New York City comes bottom of the list with an index score of 2.3, making it the least kid-friendly city to visit. Much of New York’s ranking comes down to its expensive hotels, lack of family-friendly accommodation, and low ranking for kid-friendly attractions.
Venice, Italy comes second with a score of 3.1 (0.8 points higher than New York), also ranking low for its expensive hotels and lack of child-friendly activities. Los Angeles is in third (3.3), ranking low for accommodation affordability, safety and family attractions.
Five U.S. cities appear in the bottom rankings, more than any other country, with San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Miami all featuring in the least kid-friendly cities list.
| Rank | City | Country | Kid-Friendly Index Score |
| 1 | New York City | USA | 2.3 |
| 2 | Venice | Italy | 3.1 |
| 3 | Los Angeles | USA | 3.3 |
| =4 | Nice | France | 3.6 |
| =4 | San Francisco | USA | 3.6 |
| =6 | Las Vegas | USA | 3.8 |
| =6 | Toronto | Canada | 3.8 |
| =8 | Budapest | Hungary | 3.9 |
| =8 | Melbourne | Australia | 3.9 |
| =8 | Shenzhen | China | 3.9 |
| =8 | Miami | USA | 3.9 |
Most and least affordable cities for accommodation
Accommodation is one of the most important things to consider when planning a family trip, and it can also be one of the biggest costs. We’ve used data from thousands of hotels to compare the average cost of a night’s stay in each city to find out which are the most and least expensive.
Not every family will choose to stay in a dedicated family room. We therefore compared the average hotel prices in each city to provide a broader picture of the overall cost of accommodation. This offers a useful indication of how affordable each destination is for families travelling with children.
Bangkok has the cheapest accommodation
The most affordable city for hotel accommodation is Bangkok, Thailand with an average price of €35/£29 per night. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia comes in second at €47/£40 per night, and Dubai, UAE comes third at €53/£45 per night on average.
Asian cities make up eight of the most affordable cities, while Warsaw, Poland (€84/£71 per night) and Frankfurt, Germany (€86/£73) are the only European cities in the top ten.
When looking at the overall number of family-friendly accommodation options, Tokyo, Japan has the most with 1,290, followed by Kuala Lumpur (1145), and Dubai (642). Amsterdam has the fewest accommodation properties described as family friendly with just three.
| Rank | City | Country | Average hotel price per night (€) | Average hotel price per night (£) |
| 1 | Bangkok | Thailand | €35 | £29 |
| 2 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | €47 | £40 |
| 3 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | €53 | £45 |
| 4 | Shanghai | China | €71 | £61 |
| 5 | Osaka | Japan | €72 | £61 |
| 6 | Shenzhen | China | €79 | £67 |
| 7 | Guangzhou | China | €80 | £68 |
| 8 | Warsaw | Poland | €84 | £71 |
| =9 | Tokyo | Japan | €86 | £73 |
| =9 | Frankfurt | Germany | €86 | £73 |
New York is the most expensive city for hotel accommodation
The most expensive city for a hotel stay is New York City, USA where an average night in a hotel costs €322/£273. A night in a hotel in New York costs over nine times as much as a night in the cheapest city, Bangkok (€322/£273 vs €35/£29). Seoul, South Korea is the second most expensive (€319/£270), followed by Venice, Italy (€306/£259).
European cities make up six of the top ten most expensive cities for hotel accommodation, while North American cities (Vancouver and Los Angeles) complete the top ten.
| Rank | City | Country | Average hotel price per night (€) | Average hotel price per night (£) |
| 1 | New York | USA | €322 | £273 |
| 2 | Seoul | South Korea | €319 | £270 |
| 3 | Venice | Italy | €306 | £259 |
| 4 | Dublin | Ireland | €260 | £220 |
| 5 | Rome | Italy | €246 | £208 |
| 6 | Vancouver | Canada | €244 | £206 |
| 7 | Los Angeles | USA | €231 | £196 |
| 8 | Paris | France | €223 | £189 |
| 9 | Madrid | Spain | €209 | £177 |
| 10 | Nice | France | €198 | £168 |
Cities with most kid-friendly activities
As well as reviewing accommodation availability, we also looked at the number of kid-friendly attractions in each city, including museums, zoos, nature parks and amusement parks. These rankings are based on the share of attractions that are kid friendly.
Orlando has the highest share of kid-friendly attractions
Topping the list of cities with kid-friendly activities is Orlando, where 38.5% of attractions and parks are child friendly (80 in total). Orlando is home to a number of hugely popular family attractions including Disney World Resort, Universal Studios and SeaWorld. [1]
Abu Dhabi, UAE comes in second (29.6%) with Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in third (28.7%).
In total, Singapore has the highest number of kid-friendly attractions of the top ten cities at 113, though it places 4th with 24.4% of all of its attractions being suitable for families.
Asian and Middle Eastern cities take six of the ten places, with both UAE cities appearing. Stockholm, Dublin and Zurich are the European entries, and Orlando is the only city from the Americas.
| Rank | City | Country | Total number of kid-friendly attractions | % of attractions that are kid friendly |
| 1 | Orlando | USA | 80 | 38.5% |
| 2 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | 34 | 29.6% |
| 3 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | 35 | 28.7% |
| 4 | Singapore | Singapore | 113 | 24.4% |
| 5 | Stockholm | Sweden | 46 | 22.7% |
| 6 | Dublin | Ireland | 49 | 22.5% |
| 7 | Bangkok | Thailand | 53 | 21.6% |
| 8 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | 86 | 20.2% |
| 9 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 106 | 19.4% |
| 10 | Zurich | Switzerland | 25 | 18.4% |
Cities with the best healthcare access
Accidents and illnesses can happen on holiday, and travelling with children makes it even more important to know you can access good quality healthcare quickly. We ranked the cities in the study using Numbeo’s healthcare index which evaluates cities based on factors like skill and competence of medical staff, convenience of healthcare facility locations, and speed of examination.
Taipei is the best city for healthcare accessibility
With a healthcare index score of 87.2, Taipei, Taiwan ranks top when it comes to healthcare, indicating that residents rate the quality and speed of healthcare highly. Kyoto, Japan comes second (85.8), and Nice, France is in third (85.3).
Three of the top ten cities for healthcare are in Japan (Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo), and Asian cities make up six of the top ten positions, while the other four are in Europe.
| Rank | City | Country | Numbeo healthcare index score |
| 1 | Taipei | Taiwan | 87.2 |
| 2 | Kyoto | Japan | 85.8 |
| 3 | Nice | France | 85.3 |
| 4 | Seoul | South Korea | 83.0 |
| 5 | Osaka | Japan | 82.2 |
| 6 | Vienna | Austria | 79.9 |
| 7 | Madrid | Spain | 79.2 |
| 8 | Tokyo | Japan | 78.3 |
| 9 | Bangkok | Thailand | 77.5 |
| 10 | Munich | Germany | 77.0 |
Source [2]
Safest cities for family travel
Safety is another key concern for families planning trips with children. We used Numbeo’s safety index, which assesses figures on property crime and violent crime, to rank the safety of the cities in the study.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the joint safest cities
The safest cities for families to visit are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with the joint highest Numbeo safety score of 88.7. This score means these cities have the fewest cases of crimes like theft, vandalism and assault.
The third safest city on the list is Kyoto, Japan with a safety score of 85.8, followed by Taipei, Taiwan with a safety score of 83.5. Munich, Germany (78.4) and Zurich, Switzerland (75.7) are the only European cities in the ten safest, and no city in North America or Australia appears.
Before traveling to any country, always check your local travel advice to ensure it’s safe to travel.
| Rank | City | Country | Numbeo safety index score |
| =1 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | 88.7 |
| =1 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | 88.7 |
| 3 | Kyoto | Japan | 85.8 |
| 4 | Taipei | Taiwan | 83.5 |
| 5 | Munich | Germany | 78.4 |
| 6 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 78.3 |
| 7 | Singapore | Singapore | 77.7 |
| =8 | Zurich | Switzerland | 75.7 |
| =8 | Tokyo | Japan | 75.7 |
| 10 | Shenzhen | China | 75.6 |
Source [3]
Methodology
To determine the world’s most kid-friendly cities, we analysed 50 of the most populated cities from around the globe. Each city was assessed on 14 factors across three areas. Cities in Russia and Ukraine were excluded due to the ongoing full-scale invasion.
We used Booking.com to collect data on hotel prices, average rating and number of family-friendly accommodation availability. Numbeo was used for safety and healthcare data, and traveller reviews for kid-friendly activities data.
We gave each city an index score from 1-10 in each category based on which city came highest-lowest, and then combined these scores into an overall kid-friendly index score.
To ensure accuracy:
- All factors were given equal weighting in the final score.
- All prices were converted to euros using exchange rates on 8th October 2026.
- All data was collected in September 2026.
Sources
- Visit Orlando – Theme Parks – https://www.visitorlando.com/things-to-do/theme-parks/
- Numbeo – Healthcare Index by City – https://www.numbeo.com/health-care/rankings.jsp
- Numbeo – Safety Index by City – https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_current.jsp?displayColumn=1
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
