My Ultimate Eurovision Trilogy: Ranking the Fan Experience 🌍✨

Three incredible years, three legendary host cities, and countless unforgettable moments. Having traveled to Malmö, Basel, and Vienna for the world's biggest musical party, I’ve been looking back at how these cities stack up against each other across the entire fan experience.

From the front-row energy of the arena floors to the late-night viewing parties, here is my definitive breakdown of how they rank!

🏟️ The Arena Battles: Malmö Takes the Crown

When it comes to where the actual magic happens, Malmö Arena absolutely dominated for me. From smooth queue systems to venue amenities, Malmö offered the absolute best all-around venue experience. But what about the view from the floor?

If you are a fan who lives for the energy of the standing pit, the rankings shift a bit:

Venue & Amenities Experience

1. Malmö (Unbeatable flow, top-tier fan comfort)

2. Vienna (Stadthalle brings the history, but showing its age)

3. Basel (A bit of a struggle on the logistical side)

Best Standing Room Pit Energy

1. Malmö

2. Basel

3. Vienna

Malmo - Our standing room was to the right of the stage

Malmo - Our view of Nemo

Basel - Stage and floor standing areas (we were to the very left)

Basel - standing room area

Basel - Our standing room was right below there on the floor, and almost as good as Malmo

🎨 Visuals & Music Quality: Vienna Wins the Artistry

If Malmö won on pure venue logistics, Vienna and Basel clawed it back when it came to the actual art on stage. The stage setup and lighting in Malmö live inside the stadium looked staggeringly futuristic, but when evaluating the entire package—including the overall musical quality of the lineup—the results get interesting.

Best Stage Setup & Visuals (Live Inside the Stadium)

1. Malmö (That cross-stage and overhead cube lighting was a masterpiece)

2. Basel

3. Vienna

Best Overall Live Performance Show (Song Quality)

1. Vienna (An absolute zero-skip grand final line-up!)

2. Basel

3. Malmö

Vienna - view not great from the floor but great lineup of songs!

Vienna - We snuck up to the seats and the view was better, but still not the best (green room behind us)

🏙️ City Vibes, Villages & Viewing Parties

Eurovision is so much bigger than just the arena shows—it's about how the host city transforms.

Basel and Vienna turned into literal fairy tales for Eurofans. Basel brought an incredible community vibe to the streets, and both cities tied for the absolute best Eurovision Village setups (Messe Basel and Vienna's stunning Rathausplatz). Malmö was a blast, but we actually found ourselves slipping across the bridge to Copenhagen to get the ultimate final viewing party experience!

Category	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place
Eurovision Village Setup	🏆 Basel & Vienna (Tie)	Malmö	—
City Vibe around Town	🏆 Basel	Vienna	Malmö
Tourism & General Exploring	🏆 Vienna & Basel (Tie)	Malmö	—
Final Viewing Party City	🏆 Basel & Vienna (Tie)	Malmö (Copenhagen)	—

Vienna - viewing party was epic at the Rathaus! (1of2)

Vienna - viewing party Rathaus! (2of2)

Basel - equally as epic viewing party at St. Jakob Park Stadium

Basel - Eurovision Village was great in multiple venues (1of2)

Basel - Eurovision Village (2of2)

🎶 The Ultimate Soundtracks: My Top Winner's Songs

A Eurovision experience is defined by the song that cuts through the noise and takes the trophy. While Nemo's historic win for Switzerland in Malmö was mesmerizing, my personal favorite winner's track belongs to Austria's own JJ in Basel with that unforgettable performance, closely followed by Bulgaria's epic victory in Vienna!

1. 🇦🇹 Basel – JJ (Austria)

2. 🇨🇭 Malmö – Nemo (Switzerland)

3. 🇧🇬 Vienna – DARA (Bulgaria)

The Verdict: Every city brought something unique. Malmö gave us the ultimate technical and arena spectacle, Basel gave us the best street vibe and local love, and Vienna gave us the peak musical lineup and grand tourism. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat! 💖🎉

Which of these three Eurovision eras was your favorite? Let me know in the comments! 👇