CAPE TOWN – A study from hotel chain Premier Inn has revealed the most beautiful cities to explore by night in countries around the world, with Cape Town ranking in the top five most popular cities in Africa.
Premier Inn researched over 250 of the most popular cities in the world on Instagram to reveal the places that are being photographed the most by night.
The number of hashtags for #citybynight were counted and compared for cities in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.
Casablanca in Morocco by far ranks as Africa’s most popular city to explore by night, with 25 800 hashtags.
In second place, Cairo in Egypt proved another favourite option for evening snaps, featuring night time shots of al-Muizz Street and the Cairo Tower, with 4 100 hashtags.
Rabat, also in Morocco. had 3 100 hashtags, Algiers in Algeria had 2 500 and Cape Town rounded out the top five with 2 400 hashtags.
“Whether you’re travelling on a city break in the UK or further afield, you’re likely to see a different side of the city you’re visiting once the sun goes down. Landmarks are lit up, city skylines come alive, and you get to experience your destination of choice in a whole new way,” Premier Inn said.
When looking at the most popular night-time cities across the globe, the city of love emerged as favourite among users of the social media platform, with over 1 000 000 hashtags for pictures of Paris by night. After Paris is London, followed by Athens, Rome and Warsaw.
Europe proved extremely popular with lovers of night-time exploring, with a whopping 18 of the top 20 cities being located there.
France was the most popular country to explore after dark, with five cities featuring in the top 20 most popular cities: Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Marseille.
Dubai typically sees between eight and 10 hours of sunshine a day, however the popular tourist destination in the UAE ranked as the most beautiful city to visit at night in Asia, with 71 500 hashtags. Dubai and Tokyo also made the top 20 global cities with the most night-time hashtags.
Only one city in the USA made the top 20 global cities with the most night-time pictures – New York ranked in 14th position with over 50 000 hashtags.
