Everyone knows that Paris is great. It’s no secret that Prague is worth visiting or that you’ll have a great time in Berlin. But according to Condé Nast Traveller (CNT), the best city to visit in Europe is actually quite a bit smaller, and one that you might not have considered before.
Every year, CNT invites its readers to vote on the best places they’ve been, collating the responses and calculating an overall satisfaction score, which is essentially just the percentage of respondents who had a good time in a given destination. The magazine reaches a whopping 500,000 people with its surveys, meaning that for a place to get a high score, a lot of people had to really like it.
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In first place, with the approval of a staggering 97.3 percent of travellers, was Valletta in Malta. Best known for its gorgeous golden architecture and warm weather, the city offers a good, underrated alternative to other Mediterranean destinations such as southern Italy or the Canary Islands.
Condé Nast described the Maltese capital as ‘small but undoubtedly mighty’. It highlighted the scenery, saying: ‘narrow undulating lanes extend across the centre, with turquoise sea peeking through at either side’, noting that ‘eagle-eyed viewers may recognise these remarkable terrains in scenes from Gladiator or Game of Thrones’.
Oslo came second, missing out by only a few points with a score of 94.4. This is the first year that Oslo has even featured as an option on the survey, so it’s made a pretty memorable debut. CNT called the Norwegian capital a city of two halves: the ‘experimental design’ starkly juxtaposed by ‘dense forests and shimmering fjord waters’. This duality only adds to its charm, as CNT points out: ‘Whether natural, man-made, or a lovely mix of both, Oslo’s curiosities evoke profound astonishment and boundless inspiration’.
Closing out the top three was Vienna. It also took the bronze last year, but that’s no surprise for such an iconic city. According to CNT, Vienna ‘radiates a gorgeous allure which is both powerfully hypnotic and impossible to pinpoint’, so its 93.7 percent satisfaction rate makes perfect sense.
The best cities to visit in Europe, according to Condé Nast Traveller
Here are the top 20 cities to visit in Europe according to the Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards.
- Valletta, Malta
- Oslo, Norway
- Vienna, Austria
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Madrid, Spain
- Munich, Germany
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Stockholm, Sweden
- San Sebastian, Spain
- Palma, Spain
- Florence, Italy
- Athens, Greece
- Rome, Italy
- Paris, France
- Marseille, France
- Reykjavik, Iceland
- Porto, Portugal
- Venice, Italy
- Budapest, Hungary
- Prague, Czech Republic
You can read the full list on Condé Nast Traveller’s website now.
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