London is the best rated major destination in Europe for shopping and nightlife, the results of the second annual Cities Survey by TripAdvisor have revealed.

However, London fared less well when assessed on the helpfulness of its locals – ranking a lowly 32 out of the 37 tourist destinations featured.

The Cities Survey, which ranks each of the major tourist destinations in the world according to how well they scored across a number of different categories, is based on more than 54,000 responses from those who have recently written TripAdvisor reviews for those cities around the world.

London scores very highly for nightlife (ranked 2^nd in the world, after New York City), shopping (3^rd in the world) and attractions (ranked 4^th in the world), but less well on value for money (34^th out of 37) and the helpfulness of the local population (32^nd of 37).

In fact, it seems most Londoners could learn a thing or two from the city’s cabbies – with London’s taxi drivers ranked among the top ten most friendly, and in the top six for overall service.

The city ranking first for the best overall experience was Tokyo, which also claimed top spots for helpfulness of locals, taxi service, local public transportation, and cleanliness of streets.  Tokyo received high marks across the board, as it ranked among the top ten in 13 of 16 categories in the survey.

New York City was top of the heap for best restaurants and nightlife. It also came in second for best overall experience, shopping and attractions/things to do. 

Other high ranking cities were Singapore which was number one for comfort traveling alone, and second for taxi service, cleanliness of streets, ease of getting around and family-friendliness; Rome, which topped the list of attractions/things to do and culture; and Dubai, first for shopping and hotels.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the top performers by category:

Overall Top Performers:

Overall Low Rankers:

“London has always had a lot to offer tourists, so it is no surprise to see the capital ranking high for nightlife, shopping and attractions. But it seems we Londoners can still learn a lot from the friendly residents of Tokyo when it comes to making visitors to the city feel at ease,” commented James Kay, TripAdvisor spokesperson.

Note to Editors: The survey was sent to those that have written a review on either a hotel, restaurant or attraction in the featured cities during 2013.  To be included in the results a city was required to have a minimum of 300 completed responses, with the ranking based on average scores for each question.  All analysis was conducted by Brainbox Research.  The selection of featured cities is based on the key cities from countries which receive the largest number of international visitor arrivals (data compiled by the UNWTO 2012).