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Olympics travel: The best and worst host cities, ranked

Here are the best and worst Olympics host cities

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Olympics logo on Eiffel Tower
Bo Zhang via Unsplash

The 2024 Paris Olympics celebrate the world’s finest athletes, as the world comes together in the name of sport. Moments like Cole Hocker’s daring victory in the men’s 1,500-meter run or Simone Biles’ gymnastics mastery show us what humans are capable of. Citizens cheer on their country’s athletes in the name of national pride, and when the competition’s over, sportsmanship abounds in the closing ceremony.

If you love travel and sports, attending the Olympic Games is a bucket list experience. If you can’t do that, visiting a host city is the next best thing. But some are better than others. Recently, KÜHL apparel company studied the best and worst venues, so you can decide whether to make the trip.

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KÜHL ranks the best and worst Olympic venues

Colosseum in Rome
The Colosseum, Rome, Italy David Köhler via Unsplash

KÜHL — a mountain apparel brand based in Salt Lake City, Utah — performed a detailed study of Olympics host cities and considered available activities, safety indexes, holiday costs, and time spent in traffic. After compiling the data, the company ranked the best and worst, so you can plan a trip or steer clear.

Rome, Italy, the site of the 1960 Olympic Games, led the way with a score of 7.12. Its holiday cost was $1,350, its safety index was 50.7, there were 6,680 activities available, and there were 26 minutes of traffic time.

Next was Tokyo, Japan — host of the Games in 1964 and 2021 — with a score of 6.37. It’s an affordable and safe city, with plenty to do and low traffic. Its scores reflect those attributes, with a $1,118.84 holiday cost, a 76 safety index, 2,129 activities, and 24 minutes of traffic.

Rounding out the podium was Athens, Greece, where the Olympics originated and took place in 1896 and 2004. Its score of 5.89 resulted from its $1,142.91 holiday cost, 23 minutes of traffic time, 3,475 activities, and 44.1 safety index.

The rest of the study highlighted cities globally, with some surprising findings. Below are the full results.

The 10 best Olympic Games host cities for travelers:

  1. Rome, Italy
  2. Tokyo, Japan
  3. Athens, Greece
  4. Beijing, China
  5. Sydney, Australia
  6. Amsterdam, Netherlands
  7. Munich, Germany
  8. Barcelona, Spain
  9. Helsinki, Finland
  10. Paris, France

The 10 worst Olympic host cities for a trip:

  1. Vancouver, Canada
  2. St. Louis, USA
  3. Atlanta, USA
  4. London, United Kingdom
  5. Milan, Italy
  6. Los Angeles, USA
  7. Turin, Italy
  8. Seoul, South Korea
  9. Montreal, Canada
  10. Mexico City, Mexico
Mark Reif
Mark Reif
Mark Reif is a storyteller focused on the intersection of outdoor culture, travel, and design. From the peaks of Banff to the… Read Full Bio
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