Is your world's culture a reflection of our world's culture or are you creating something new?

I'm not sure if this is a question for this sub but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. I'm currently writing a story in the high fantasy genre and I'm trying to write a culture that is more or less a mirror of our world's culture. But I'm starting to feel like it's a bit too similar. For example, I have a group of people who live in a mountain range that are similar to the people who live in the Swiss Alps. I have a coastal city that's similar to San Francisco, a desert city similar to Dubai, etc. So my question is, do you create your culture from scratch or do you take inspiration from the culture we live in today?