Highlights

• Winning with a cultural victory in Civilization 6 requires strategy, diplomacy, and focus on boosting tourism.
• Players pursuing a cultural victory must prioritize diplomacy, adjacency bonuses, and collecting Great Works.
• Building essential structures like National Parks and Seaside Resorts is key to maximizing tourism and winning culturally.

Despite not being the most straightforward way to win in Civilization 6, winning by a cultural victory in the game provides its own kind of satisfaction and challenge. Cultural Victories have a lot of stipulations to be made for them to work, and they rely a lot on a player's ability to do diplomacy well with the other nations in the game.

This is why it is important to know every little tip and trick that is out there so that any fan deciding to play the game with the goal of a cultural victory in mind is ready for anything!

Updated March 10, 2024 by Rhenn Taguiam: While a traditional conquest can seem a fun way to spend a new Civ 6 playthrough, players may want a challenge and aim for a Cultural Victory instead.

This tourism-slanted victory condition can seem easy to achieve at first until players realize it's just as easy to secure wins from other peaceful victory conditions, adding quite a bit of an unexpected challenge for Cultural Victory challenge runs. Thankfully, some advice when it comes to pursuing Cultural Victories that players can apply to their strategies include focusing on boosts to adjacent cities, collecting Great Works, and even becoming more diplomatic.

1 Avoid Warmongering

Be As Peaceful As Possible

Considering how Tourism forms a crucial part of a Cultural Victory in the gameplay of this grand strategy title, players should avoid raising tensions between their civ and other factions to maximize the influx of tourists into their regions. Warmongering penalties can force setbacks on players that can get rivals ahead in the Cultural Victory race, making aggressive plays less than ideal.

Instead, consider building as many Wonders as possible and settling as many cities. After this, the focus is to prioritize Diplomatic Service for Spies and Resident Embassies. That way, players can establish embassies in other civs to slowly get them to open borders, further improving Tourism. It's important to keep diplomatic relations open to trade their Great Works and artifacts, which can further boost the player civ's tourist potential.

2 Pivot From Religion

Start Focusing On Religion And Going For A Cultural Victory Afterwards

One of the most challenging things encountered when pursuing a victory condition in Civilization 6 is the tendency for players to win through a different method even before they meet their desired win-con. This is especially applicable to a Cultural Victory if players focus on their Religion first. Players should ideally find a Religion not only based on their location but also benefits that are geared towards Production and Culture. An example of this would be going for God of the Open Sky which gives +1 Culture from Pastures in an area with a lot of cattle, horses, and sheep.

From here, beliefs should focus on boosting Tourism outright (Reliquaries) or those that provide Culture based on structures (Choral Music, Jesuit Education). It's ideal to be able to secure Relics, as they can work towards Religious Tourism. In this regard, relevant structures to focus on include Mont St. Michel and Mahabodhi Temple, so Apostles could be sent to locations with religious combat units, left there to die for the free Relics, and potentially even convert that city.

3 Adjacency Bonuses Can Boost Overall Tourism Quickly

Build Districts, Wonders Strategically

Now that Civilization 6 introduced new mechanics such as City Districts and Policy Cards into the mix, players of the grand strategy title may experience more complex plays, especially when elements of city tiles can provide bonuses to other tiles directly beside them. Players pursuing a Cultural Victory can use these adjacency bonuses to their advantage, especially by the time they’re able to secure more iconic buildings for their civ.

For instance, building the Eiffel Tower close to the Seaside Resort and National Park can stack together to boost the appeal to all adjacent tiles. This in turn can also stack with pre-existing Tourism benefits that Cristo Redentor extends. Moreover, Mont St. Michel and St. Basil's Cathedral also provide Relic bonuses based on a player's Culture.

4 Go For The Art Philanthropist Trope

Collect Great Works To Boost Tourism

In real life, people go to other countries and destinations in the world whenever they want to see beautiful scenery as well as historic sites. However, some people also prefer traveling to see works of art in those locations. The principle applies in Civilization 6 gameplay, particularly in the pursuit of a Cultural Victory. At its core, whenever players gather Great Works to be put in a museum, they should always be thematic.

For instance, a museum's choice of artworks could be under religious sculptures from different artists. That way, players can easily filter museums according to subcategories that focus on a particular item. These include museums for separate Religious Works, Sculpture Works, and the like. On top of Relics, these Great Works can add valuable Tourism and Culture bonuses.

5 It's A Race

Focus On Culture Early On So Rivals Can't Build Momentum

Unlike other victory setups in Civilization 6 where players can bounce back from a disadvantage in the middle of the playthrough, the winning a Cultural Victory begins as early as the first turn. It’s ideal that players fill up both their Science and Civic Trees as soon as possible and skip any upgrade that doesn’t improve Tourism. This means targeting improvements such as Writing (for double Tourism) and opting for unique monuments such as the Chateaux (in France) and the Great Wall (in China).

Additionally, it’s ideal that the player civilization also has a Trade Route for all other civilizations and having open borders with each of them as they offer a 25% bonus on both trading and diplomatic arrangements. On top of securing eventual Artifacts, Great Works, and Relics, starting good relations with other civs on top of securing Trees can fast-track the players for a Cultural Victory.

6 Focus On Essentials

Understand The Difference Between Culture And Tourism Stats

Before players get to the specifics of securing their Cultural Victory, they need to understand what they’re aiming for in their Civilization 6 gameplay. At its core, when translating Cultural Victory into “combat,” the Culture stat is for “defense” and Tourism is for “offense.” To “win” against another civilization, players need to attract more Tourists versus the opposing civ’s Culture stat. In a real-world analogy, the strength of a location’s cultural offerings won’t be as impactful if its citizens are tourists in another location.

Without dwelling on unnecessary statistics, “winning” in culture wars against another Civ 6 faction means having to attract more tourists from a civ than what that location can offer. Unlike usual victory routes that involve making successful Civ 6 businesses, understanding a Cultural Victory’s focus on travel can at least give players an idea of the progress of other civs in this department depending on the progress they’ve made with their own Culture/Tourism slant.

7 Unlock As Many Civic Tree Inspirations As Possible

Civic Tree Bonuses Can Help Boost Momentum For Culture

Building upon the Civ 6 gameplay approach of boosting Culture to obtain a Cultural Victory, players can do this process much easier through Civic Tree progresses that boost Inspiration. For instance, it’s ideal to get the Drama and Poetry Civics that unlock Theater Squares and Amphitheaters, which could then attract tourists early on in the match. In fact, Theater Square districts give +2 Culture for each assigned citizen, whereas each Amphitheater gives +2 to Culture output.

In addition, acquiring Civil Service can unlock the Meritocracy Economy Policy Card, which then gives another +1 Culture bonus to districts. On the other hand, Humanism opens access to archaeological and art museums in Theater Square districts that add +2 Culture on top of an extra citizen slot. Another target around the Atomic Era should be the Cultural Heritage Civic, which doubles general Tourism in the museums of Theater Squares via the Heritage Tourism Economic Policy.

8 9 Is The Magic Number

Try To Manage 9 Cities To Optimize Production

Similar to other victory conditions in Civilization 6 gameplay, there are recommended “base” setups that enable the victory to push through with room for hyper-optimization. In the case of Cultural Victories, it’s always ideal to focus on developing both Culture and Tourism around up to 9 cities, beginning with the raising of three “major” cities. Placement-wise, these cities should have easy access to food and production with a farming slant to ensure prolonged survival.

The reason for having 9 cities is that players may want to set up cathedrals in different religions for each of these cities, and then make 3 temples for every cathedral present. Players can make 3 cathedrals of one religion in 9 cities and around 2 with 6 cities. On top of the Religion slant, players should take their time developing these 3 cities as their “main” Tourism and Culture provider, with only focusing on acquiring the next set of cities should the AI of the other civs seem to move much faster as well.

9 Pick The Right Civilization

If a player wants to achieve a Cultural Victory, choose a civilization and leader with the proper bonuses and unique buildings and units that can provide the player with easier paths to winning the game. This way, players are incentivized to focus on securing cities, territories, policies, and even technology that gives rise to better Tourism and Culture generation throughout the playthrough.

Certain civilizations have abilities and units that will aid in a Cultural Victory. For example, China and Sweden give bonuses through unique buildings that produce bonus Culture and Tourism. These bonuses make them ideal for strong Cultural Victory starts - which can help them in the endgame once they start ramping up more Wonders and Great Works.

10 Build Up Culture Early

Early Culture Focus Can Build Momentum

This one might sound obvious, but it is crucial. Starting a city off with a focus on Culture will go a long way toward helping with cultural victories. The more culture a civilization produces, the more Civic Tree Inspirations boosts they will gain.

This grants the civilization with more options when putting together their policy trees. This means that a player can add certain policies that will aid in either a further production of Culture or Tourism later in the game.

11 Focus On Tourism

The More Travel-Worthy The Civ, The Better

Tourism becomes very important to win a Cultural Victory due to the stat's direct correlation to Culture generation. This means that a player needs to create as many Tourist Attractions as possible and manage Tourism Modifiers to earn as much Tourism-per-turn as possible.

Doing this will earn the player the Foreign Tourists that are needed for victory. Despite the importance of Domestic Tourism, it is also important to maximize the amount of Foreign Tourists that visit a civilization.

12 Build A Seaside Resort

Seaside Resorts Provide Tourism Boosts To Adjacent Tiles

There are plenty of different ways to amass Tourism. One of these is to build a Seaside Resort that provides Tourism bonuses to adjacent tiles. Much like in real life, it's best to put a Seaside Resort near the most tourist attractions in the surrounding area.

Therefore, players should plan ahead and ensure that they gather their best Wonders around where they plan to place their Seaside Resort. They should also ensure that less appealing structures like Nuclear Power Plants are kept far away. Building a Seaside Resort can be tricky, as they can only be placed on tiles with a Breathtaking Appeal rating.

13 Build A National Park

National Parks Provide Tourism Based On Appeal

Similar to Seaside Resorts, building National Parks is easier said than done. They require tiles with an Appeal rating of at least Charming. Doing so is well worth the effort though, as National Parks provide Tourism equal to the Appeal of every tile within it.

To build a National Park, players first need to recruit a Naturalist. Naturalists are purchased with Faith and will form a National Park for players once they find a suitable location.

14 Train Archaeologists

Get More Artifacts And Great Works With Archaeologists

Archaeologists are another great unit to train when trying to generate culture and tourism. Once an Archeological Museum has been built and Natural History has been researched, players can train an Archaeologist who can dig for Artifacts.

Uncovered artifacts are placed in Archaeological Museums under the banner of Great Works. If players can put three artifacts from different civilizations but from the same era into a single Museum, they will earn extra Tourism.

15 Research Computers

Boost Tourism And Espionage With Computers

Thankfully, not all of the tips on this list are as convoluted as the previous three. Researching Computers is a relatively simple task with a relatively simple reward.

After researching Computers via the Technology Tree, players will increase their Tourism yield by a whopping 100% and can recruit an additional Spy. Unfortunately, the benefit of Computers takes a significant hit in the Gathering Storm expansion, as players will only increase their Tourism yield by 25%. Still, the venture is certainly worth the minimal effort.

16 Build And Improve Walls

The Classic Renaissance Wall Can Generate Tourism

Building the best wall available is another simple but effective way of generating Tourism, while simultaneously defending the city from enemy attacks.

First, players need Conservation. Then, they will earn 1 Tourism for having Ancient Walls, 2 Tourism for having Medieval Walls, and 3 Tourism for having Renaissance Walls. The Conservation Civic is also beneficial as it unlocks the ability to recruit a Nationalist, necessary for building a National Park as mentioned before.

17 Open Up The Borders

Encourage Tourism For Faster Culture Growth

To make Tourism successful, players will have to do some work on the diplomatic end. A player who wants to win the game via a Cultural Victory will need to work with other nations on a diplomatic level to encourage more tourism.

The simplest way to do this is to have an open borders agreement with every civilization the player meets. This will give +25% Tourism-per-turn from each nation that the player has an agreement with.

18 Acquire As Many Great Works As Possible

Great Works Generate Culture Per Turn

Great Works are great in so many different ways. Not only do they provide a civilization with a nice bargaining chip to help with diplomacy, but they also provide the civilization that possesses them with culture.

Each Great Work owned provides a certain amount of Culture per turn, depending on what kind of Great Work that it is. Great Works of Music and Great Works of Writing provide 4 Culture per turn and Great Works of Art provides 3 Culture per turn.

19 Pick The Right Government

Focus On International Relations

The choice of government that players make doesn't really affect the game too drastically most of the time. However, it can have a massive effect on players who want to win through a Cultural Victory.

Picking the wrong form of government can drastically reduce the amount of Culture per turn and Tourism per turn that a civilization generates. This is why it is important to avoid choosing the racially-driven option of government, especially if other nations have chosen Communism. Try to choose government types that allow and emphasize Tourism and Diplomacy to maximize inter-civ relationships.

20 Pick The Right Policies

Choose Policies That Provide Maximum Tourism Boosts

As mentioned earlier, picking the right policies drastically helps in one's efforts to win a Cultural Victory. The right policies can drastically affect one's tourism modifiers and therefore affect the Tourism per turn of civilization.

Certain policies like meritocracy help aid in the production of Culture, providing +1 Culture per turn for every specialty District that a city has. Other ones like Trade Confederacy provide culture per turn for international trade routes.