The 17 strangest ‘capitals’ of the world

While the origins of Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve, aren’t exactly clear – some believe the holiday comes from the Gaelic celebration of Samhain to mark the end of the harvest season, while others believe it started independently in the Christian church – one city claims to be the Halloween capital of the world: Anoka in Minnesota. While Halloween celebrations were imported from Scottish and Irish immigrants to the USA, this city claims to be the first to host a costume parade and block party for the occasion back in 1920.

Kids were recruited to take part as the idea was to host an event to stop them from organising Halloween pranks, and after taking part in the parade, they would given bags of candy and other treats.

All we know is that we’re happy to have another excuse to stuff our face with chocolate outside of Easter and Christmas.

A new heavy metal capital of the world was declared in 2018 after bands were asked to add their location to a map of Finland as part of a competition from Capital of Metal. Dethroning Helsinki, the town of Lemi (population 3,076) had 13 recognised bands – a ratio of 422.6 bands per 100,000 inhabitants.

Slightly at odds with being crowned the ‘happiest country on earth’ seven years in a row by the World Happiness Report, Finland as a whole is seen as the heavy metal mecca for fans of the genre. But why, exactly? Speaking ahead of the competition Toni-Matti Karjalainen, a researcher and lecturer who started the Modern Heavy Metal Conference in 2015, told the Finland Promotion Board that there are a multitude of factors,  including that Finnish tonally fits in well with the music, as it is a consonant-driven language. He also noted that while there are many genres of heavy metal, those with melancholy chords tend to come from musicians who grew up in places ‘where winter is marked by long nights and severe weather’.

All this is to say that you shouldn’t be surprised if you bump in members of Purtenance, Demilich, Abhorrence and Necropsy buying groceries in the local Alepa.

The thunderstorm complex that hovers around the town of Catatumbo in Venezuela lights up the sky for 10 hours a day for around 140 to 160 nights a year. During that time, lightning doesn’t strike twice – it strikes up to 280 times per hour.

The cause of all these electrifying activity is believed to be the result of the cooler air descending from the mountains of Serranía del Perijá and Cordillera de Mérida colliding with the moist, warm air above Lake Maracaibo.

Selfie capital of the world – Makati City, Philippines

Back in 2013, ‘selfie’ was named the Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year, and we can see why. New social media platforms were springing up (Snapchat in 2011, then Vine in 2012), while others seemed like they were hitting their peak, with Facebook acquiring Instagram in 2012 and Tumblr being bought by Yahoo! for US$1.1 billion. Selfies were everywhere – and to find the ‘selfie capital of the world’, TIME Magazine analysed 400,000 Instagram photos using the hashtag #selfie, analysing where they were posted from.

The result? Makati City came out on top. While it may be the financial centre of the Philippines, it seems workers here like to take a few moments out between brokering deals to take a selfie, with an average of 258 selfies per 100,000 people are taken each day. No further attempts have been made to find the current selfie capital of the world, so it seems like Makati City will hold the title in perpetuity.

In case you were wondering, Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year 2024 was ‘brain rot’. Perhaps a result of more than a decade of taking selfies all the time…

World capital of jeans – Xintang, China, or Amsterdam, The Netherlands

There are two potential contenders for the title of world capital of jeans: Xintang in China, or Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

For the former, the city of Xintang in China reportedly produces over 800,000 pairs of jeans a day, while the latter is home to the European headquarters of many of the world’s most famous denim brands, including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger as well as homegrown brands like G-Star RAW and MUD Jeans, and you can embark on a three-year course at the House of Denim, the first and only of its kind in the world.

World capital of zippers – Kurobe City, Japan

Xintang may make the jeans, but the zippers are all Japanese. Kurobe City, Japan is home to YYK, the world’s largest manufacturer of zippers. Have a look at your zip now and you’ll see those three letters. Actually, best leave it until you get home.

If your jeans have buttons, you’ll need to head to China’s Qiaotou for the button capital, producing around 60% of the world’s buttons.

World capital of nose jobs – Tehran, Iran

The city with the highest number of nose jobs per person isn’t where you think it is. Unless you guessed Tehran in Iran, that is.

The Iranian capital reportedly sees more of the procedure per person than anywhere else, and the country overall is among the top 15 in the world for the number of cosmetic surgeries per year, with more than 400,000 procedures in 2023 – the most common surgical procedure being rhinoplasty, at 17.1% of the total, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS).

Curing the infirm since 1862, Lourdes is still the go-to destination to rid yourself of all that ails you. Each miracle is thoroughly researched by the Lourdes International Medical Committee before being declared official. The last one – the 70th – was announced in 2018 after a decade-long investigation.

World capital of accordions – Castelfidardo, Italy

The population of this small, hilltop town may be just 18,000, but it is home to around half of the accordion factories in Italy. Musicians travel from all over the world to buy a high-quality, bespoke accordion here, while others visit to pick up a reed with a particular sound from one of the specialised parts companies that have sprung up here, too.

If you choose to visit yourself, you can swing by the Accordion Museum, which has more than 100 instruments on display, and see the world’s largest functioning accordion. Some of the factories offer tours, but you’ll need to book well in advance.

World capital of… underwear – Gurao, China

One-product towns are common all over China, with one of the most famous examples being Yiwu, which has more than 600 factories dedicated to producing Christmas decorations.

When it comes to underwear, though, you should be heading to Gurao. Making more than 350 million bras and 430 million underpants per year across 1,000 factories, there’s a good chance the pair you’re wearing right now originated there.

World capital of bathtub racing – Nanaimo, Canada

Apparently, making small powered watercraft out of old bathtubs is ‘a thing’ in the town of Nanaimo, Canada. First taking place in 1967 as part of centenary celebrations for the country (no, we don’t know what old bathtubs have to do with the British North America Act 1867 either), there have been 44 races since then, with hundreds of ‘tubbers’ taking part each year. The route covers 36 miles and is no joke – in some of the choppier years, as few as six tubs have crossed the finish line.

Now a full weekend event, there are concerts, parades and fireworks, with the next bathtub weekend held 25-27 July this year.

Unsurprisingly, nowhere else has attempted to claim the title of bathtub racing capital of the world.

World capital of lost luggage ­– Scottsboro, Alabama, USA

After making every reasonable attempt to find the owner of a piece of cargo, US airlines sell it to the Scottsboro’s Unclaimed Baggage Center, a huge warehouse on the edge of town. A treasure trove of lost gems, the store sells everything they find in a reasonable condition, from clothes and shoes to electronics and jewellery.

Visitors IRL can visit the Unclaimed Baggage Museum, where you’ll find the strangest items they’ve found since opening in 1970. These include Hoggle, David Bowie’s dwarf-goblin minion from the 1986 movie Labyrinth, ancient Egyptian artefacts (which were sold through Christie’s Auction House, but you can see replicas in the museum), and a rattlesnake. Which was still alive. Thankfully, the real thing was released in a forest, but there’s a taxidermy model on display.

Looking to pick up a bargain for yourself without travelling to Scottsboro? The Unclaimed Baggage store is also browsable online.

Southern Finland’s Tampere was bestowed the title of Sauna Capital of the World by the International Sauna Association and the Finnish Sauna Society in 2018. The country as a whole is known for its sauna rituals, and in Tampere, you’ll find the most public saunas, with 70 across the city. It’s also home to Finland’s oldest still-operating public sauna, Rajaportin Sauna, which was built in 1906.

World capital of toilet paper – Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

The Northern Paper Mills of Green Bay were the first toilet paper manufacturer to make a splinter-free variety. For that, we are all eternally grateful.

There’s no better way to prepare for a day of exploring the sights than a stroll along the beach at sunrise. And should you find yourself in Fort Myers’ Sanibel Island, you’ll likely spend more time looking down at the beach than enjoying the sky turn a multitude of colours as it is known for being the seashell capital of the world. The island’s unique east-west orientation allows thousands of shells to wash up daily (and mostly intact ones, too), leading to locals to nickname the posture of beachcombers bending down to pick up a shell the ‘Sanibel stoop’.

Barbed wire capital of the world – La Crosse, Kansas, USA

History buffs (and barbed wire enthusiasts, if those exists) should head to La Crosse in Kansas, the barbed wire capital of the world. There you’ll find the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, which contains more than 2,000 different forms of the wire and its history.

Doughnut capital of the world – Lake James, North Carolina, USA

Now let’s end on a sweeter note. Back in 2022, the Lake James location of Tom’s Donuts said a Guinness World Record for the number of freshly baked doughnuts sold in eight hours, selling a whopping 8,558 of the sweet treat.