Move over, Niagara-on-the-Lake. Time Out has named downtown St. Catharines one of the ten coolest neighbourhoods on the planet for 2026, slotting the Ontario city in at number nine alongside heavyweights like Seoul, Tokyo and Rome. It's the highest-placed Canadian entry on the list by a mile — the only other Canadian neighbourhood to make the cut, Vancouver's Mount Pleasant, landed way down at number 34.

About 100 kilometres from Toronto and the largest city in the Niagara Region, St. Catharines has long carried the nickname "Garden City" thanks to its parks, gardens and trail network. But Time Out's judges were drawn to the downtown core itself: a local art scene, vintage and record shops, a strong restaurant line-up and a deep sense of community history.

That history is no footnote. St. Catharines played a significant role in the Underground Railroad, and this year's Emancipation Day celebrations mark 175 years since Harriet Tubman arrived in the city in 1851 — she lived there for nearly a decade. The legacy of the Black communities who shaped the city is still visible in the downtown core today.

Architecture fans get a bonus: more than 100 heritage buildings line the neighbourhood, some dating to the early 19th century. And Montebello Park is one of the few Canadian landscapes designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the man behind New York's Central Park.

With a population around 145,000, St. Catharines isn't a village punching above its weight — it's a proper city that Time Out describes as "emerging as one of Canada's coolest city escapes." It's also produced its share of famous faces, from supermodel Linda Evangelista to singer Dallas Green and actress Malin Akerman.

For travellers, the appeal is obvious. Niagara-on-the-Lake has cornered the wine-country-and-cute-boutiques market for years, but St. Catharines offers a grittier, more local counterpoint in the same region: thrift-store digging and records in the afternoon, a solid dinner, then a short drive to the falls or the wineries the next day. Time Out clearly thinks it's challenging NOTL for the region's cultural spotlight — and at a fraction of the tourist crush, it's worth finding out for yourself before everyone else does.

Time Out's full 2026 ranking is led by Jongno 3-ga in Seoul, with L'Ocean District in Rabat, Neos Kosmos in Athens, LA's Chinatown, Govanhill in Glasgow, Kitakagaya in Osaka, Chapinero Alto in Bogotá, Koenji in Tokyo and Rome's Esquilino rounding out the top ten.

Credit: Curiocity