Every major city in the world is filled with things to skate, whether it be random spots in the streets, or multimillion-dollar skateparks.
With that in mind, even though essentially all cities are going to have things to skate, there as some cities that really stand out as places that are great for skating.
In this post, we’re going to go over the best cities in the world for skateboarding.
Barcelona
No list of the best skate cities in the world would be complete without out mentioning Barcelona.
Ever since teams started making trips there in the late 90’s, Barcelona has been one of the best places to skate, and every skateboarder should try to go there at some point. The architecture of the city was practically build for skateboarding, and this is purely speculation, but it just might have the most skate spots per square mile out of every city in the world.
Barcelona is home to a lot of famous skate spots that have been in videos since the 90’s, and you can still skate most of these spots today. Aside from all of the amazing street spots, there’s also two or three multi million dollar skate parks there as well.
Barcelona has pretty mild weather throughout the year, it’s a relatively affordable place to visit, and there’s loads of museums, beaches, restaurants, and other non skateboarding things to do.
In general there’s a good vibe towards skateboarders, and there’s spots unlike anywhere else in the world, so Barcelona is without a doubt one of the best cities for skateboarding.
Berlin
Berlin has been one of the fastest growing cities in Germany for decades, so naturally with all of the new construction, it’s also one of the best cities for skateboarding.
Luckily for skateboarders, a lot of the new construction is made up of expensive marble and tiles, which is absolutely perfect for skateboarding. With that in mind, there’s also plenty of more crusty, urban street spots too, so you can really skate whatever kind of spot you want.
Berlin is filled with most of the normal types of spots you’d expect a large city to have, but it also as a lot of unique spots that you aren’t going to find anywhere else.
The skate scene in Berlin is pretty chill and laid back, so if you do go, it shouldn’t be too hard to find some locals to help show you around.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is easily one of, if not the best city for skateboarding in the world.
La is where modern skateboarding was born, and it’s also where most of the skate scene still is today. Most of the major skateboarding companies, events, and pros are all based in and around Los Angeles. It seems like it’s every skateboarders dream to visit LA one day, and there plenty of good reasons why.
Los Angeles is filled with countless skate spots, multi million dollars skate parks, and it probably has one of the biggest skate scenes in the world. We could sit here all day and name every famous skatepark and skate spots in Los Angeles, but realistically there’s just too many to count. Actually, go ahead and leave a comment on your favorite spot and let’s see how many different spots people can name.
Aside from just skateboarding, there’s always things to do in the city, and Southern California in general has amazing weather year round, so it’s pretty easy to see why people love it so much.
As the birthplace and home to modern skating, it’s not an exaggeration at all to say that LA is one of the best places for skateboarding.
Guangzhou
Everyone knows that China is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, so it makes sense that as it’s 3rd largest city, Guangzhou is one of the best places for skateboarding.
Some time after the mid 2000’s skate companies finally started making trips to China, and since then the entire country has become known as a skateboarding hot spot.
Guangzhou in particular is one of the most popular skate cities, and it’s home to a lot of well known spots. The entire city is filled with marble plazas, hand rails that are absolutely perfect, and a ton of other unique spots. Also this may just be a rumor, but it’s generally agreed that spots in china are a lot smaller, so you can get clips skating flawless ledges at a street spot that are better than what a lot of skateparks have.
Guangzhou is also close to Hong Kong and a few other major cities, so realistically it wouldn’t be too hard to go to couple of the surrounding cities on a single trip.
Surprisingly, the city is very affordable given it’s size, so if you’re looking to make a trip to one of the best cities for skateboarding, it’s definitely worth considering.
San Francisco
Next on the list of the best skate cities in the world is San Francisco.
The fact that San Francisco is home to Thrasher is by itself enough to justify its spot on this list, but aside from just that, there’s a lot of things going for it that make it one of the best places for skateboarding.
First and foremost, San Fransisco might just be the best city in the world for skating hills. This gives it it’s own unique style of skate spots that are unlike most other cities out there. All of the hills make it a great place for filming lines and going fast, and the types of spots the city has basically spawned it’s own style of skateboarding.
As with most cities out there, San Francisco is also home to not only a few famous skate spots, but also some famous skateparks as well.
Considering all of the unique skate spots in San Francisco, along with the history that skateboarding has there, it’s for sure one of the best skate cities out there.
Melbourne
Melbourne is not only one of the biggest cities in Australia, but it’s also one of the best places for skateboarding.
Some people may say Sydney or Brisbane is better, but Melbourne has 20 skateparks within a 10 mile radius, which is kind of hard to beat.Melbourne is also a go-to city for skate teams on tour, and it even has a few iconic spots that end up in a lot of full-length videos.
As one of Australia’s biggest cities, naturally, Melbourne also has one of the biggest skate scenes. There’s an abundance of street spots, there are more than enough skateparks, and the weather is great year-round, which makes it a pretty solid place for a skate trip.
New York City
New York City is one of the go-to places for east coast skateboarding, and it should be on every skateboarders list of cities to visit.
New York is essentially a concrete jungle filled with never-ending skate spots, and an abundance of million-dollar skate parks. Honestly, you could probably live in New York your entire life and still only manage to skate a fraction of the spots there.
I mean seriously, the city is 500 square miles and has 9 million people. There are only a handful of cities in the world that compare to that.
There is basically an unlimited amount of things to skate, and the city is always changing, so there’s a constant variety of spots popping up. It has everything from beautiful parks that are perfect for skating, to dirty crusty spots that are probably older than you are.
New York has a rich skate history, an absolutely massive skate scene, plenty of different things to skate, and even $1 slices of pizza, so it’s for sure one of the best cities for skateboarding.
London
If you can get past the bad weather, London is actually one of the best places for skating.
Sure it’s rainy and cold for a lot of the year, but during the spring and summer months it’s usually really nice, and it’s great for a skate trip. There are also loads of great pubs and fish and chips shops, which definitely isn’t a bad thing.
London has a long history with skateboarding, and people have been making skate trips there for decades. It even has what’s claimed to be the oldest skatepark in Europe, which was made back in 1978, and was recently the first skatepark to be given the status of a heritage site because of its cultural significance.
Other than 50-year-old skateparks, there are also a ton of modern skateparks and well-known skate spots spread throughout the city, and most of them are pretty easy to find.
Not all of the skate spots in London are going to be skater friendly, but a lot of them are in public areas like parks so getting kicked out isn’t as bad as other cities. Also, if you do find yourself getting kicked out, you can always head to South Bank, which is basically the go-to skate spot in London.
Paris
Paris has been a melting pot of writers, artists, and other creatives for centuries, and considering how creative skateboarding is, it makes sense that Paris is one of the best places for skating.
The architects who built a lot of the now famous skate spots in Paris probably couldn’t have made them better for skateboarding if they tried, and the city essentially has its own unique style of spots. This has lead a lot of skaters from Paris and even France in general to come up with a new style of skating that you really aren’t seeing anywhere else right now.
There’s a handful of plazas and parks that are really well known in Paris, but it’s also one of those cities where you can easily cruise around and find new stuff to skate.
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is mostly known as the eco-friendly capital of Denmark, but it’s also a great city for skateboarding.
Even though Denmark is a pretty small country, Copenhagen makes up around 10% of its population, so it’s a decent-sized city.
In the world of skateboarding, Copenhagen is mostly known for the annual Copenhagen Open, which is one of the biggest skateboarding contest in Europe. Aside from just that though, it’s also one of the most pedestrian-friendly cities in the world, which means it’s perfect for cruising around.
Even though it’s not the biggest city, and it’s even somewhat lowkey compared to some of the other cities on this list, Copenhagen is still one of the best places you can go for skateboarding.
What is the best city in the world for skateboarding?
Basically, every city nowadays has several multi-million dollar skate parks, unique street spots you won’t find anywhere else, and of course a thriving skate scene.
It’s really hard to say what the best skate cities in the world are, because there are just so many great cities out there.