Tae Kwon Do is a great martial arts to learn. It takes about 3 years. The classes are about 45 minutes long. It is a huge workout. There is a lot of running sometimes, and you spare a lot. The forms are confusing sometimes, and testing is about every two months.
for formed and stretched techniques kung fu. an forms some are tight but still keep discipline and trainign to ones technique. Judo as it helps people understand teh physics to fighting, same with akido. and Muay thai kickboxning although limiting it helps you endurance train. There is no best martial arts they all have there strong points nad weaknesses so does every opponent
I am not going to make a list simply because all styles have their focuses and limitations. This is because the development of different kind of martial arts were affected by the people who developed and practiced them, as well as the cultural geographical background of the places where those arts being developed. Such as, Wing Chun (or Ving Tsung) is focusing on short range fighting because the old time practicer were mainly living in town with very narrow streets and small hosuing; Ju-Jitsu and Akiko are focusing on grabbing, submission and throwing because the developers of this martial arts had relatively smaller body size, which made them more difficult to fight using just punches and kicks, but grabbing, submission and throwing techniques would allow them to fight as well as strikers.
So, there is really no "Best Martial Arts", but there are definitly good martial artists. What makes a martial art good is depend on the person who uses it. A karate practicer can beat a taekwondo practicer does not means he can beat all the taekwondo practicers. Each and every martial arts has their strengths and weaknesses. Knowing how to apply the strengths of your art to overcome the weaknesses of your opponent's art is the key of a good martial artists, but still won't make your martial art any better than other martial arts.
Mixed Martial Arts for the simple reason of being a well rounded fighter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts. I am currently going for
Muay Thai: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_thai
Gracie Jiu Jitsu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracie_Jiu-Jitsu
is really all you need in my personal preference. This way they mesh together well because in brazilian Jiu Jitsu you use your fists elbows and simple ground and pound hits with submission moves and Muay Thai one of the best striking or stand up arts in the world. The Karate and tae kwon do kung fu whatever else i missed people will not let a thai boxer in their tournaments. Its all about being able to take the fight well on the ground and standing up. The grappling or ground game in most martial arts is hiiiihgly neglected which can lead to your demise.
The best martial art is the one that works best for you & that you enjoy so that you practice it everyday. There is no single "BEST" martial art, it is the person who practices the art that makes it work well, or not.