Two South American cities have made it onto the 2025 list of the best cities in the world. Compiled by Time Out, the rankings feature Medellín, Colombia, in 20th place, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a few spots down in 26th. 

Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s best-known city worldwide, although it is only its second-biggest, after São Paulo. 

Recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site for its Urban Cultural Landscape, the city is also famous for its beaches, including Copacabana and Ipanema as well as the lesser-known Leme, Leblon and Arpoador. 

The Tijuca National Park, the largest urban forest in the world, comprises spectacular views, lush green trees, mountainous terrain, and creeks and waterfalls. 

Another symbol of Rio is its Christ the Redeemer statue, which sits at the peak of Tijuca’s Corcovado mountain, 700 metres high. The statue itself is 30 metres high with arms that stretch 28 metres and it was constructed between 1922 and 1931. 

Visitors can enjoy trail-walking, diving, cycling, football and sand volleyball as well as paragliding or hand-gliding, which takes off from Pedra da Gavea. 

Then there is the famous Carnival which is held every year before Lent and is considered the biggest Carnival celebration in the world. First held in Rio in 1723, the annual event sees two million people on the streets each day as they come to watch the floats, costumes and dancing. 

The city has the “perfect mix of history and modernity, with a buzzing culture scene all year around,” according to the editor of Time Out Rio de Janeiro, Renata Magalhães.

Medellín, the other South American city on the list, is the second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá and the capital of the Antioquia department. 

The city is bursting with culture from its Catedral Metropolitana which dates back to 1931, to the 18th-century Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria. Visitors can head to the modern art museum or Casa de la Memoria which reflects on the drug violence and conflict in the country’s recent past.

Fashion fans can enjoy Medellín’s textiles for which it is well known – leather goods are a speciality of the region. 

For nature lovers there is the Feria de las Flores, a yearly festival held every August which showcases the region’s floral industry. Or, you could head to the Jardin Botanico Joaquín Antonio Uribe, where more than 600 plant species live in gardens around a lake. 

“There are the hilltop vistas: Tres Cruces for a day hike, San Félix for paragliding and El Picacho ecopark, for a thrilling ride to the top on a newly-opened line of the Medellín metrocable,” Time Out’s local expert, Maggie Clark, said. “Northeast of Medellín, the sprawling Parque Arví offers the full national park experience, but stay inside the city limits and you’ll find lush botanical gardens, an exploration park, and a planetarium.”