These are the world’s most welcoming cities, according to Booking.com

Cities have personality, just like people, and while each one is unique and brilliant, landing in a new place and being embraced with open arms is a pretty dreamy feeling when you’re travelling. 

Time Out conducted its own research into the planet’s most diverse and inclusive hubs, which spot-lit London, Brighton, Melbourne and New York as the top places for feeling welcome, but Booking.com’s fourteenth Annual Traveller Review Awards have just provided us with some fresh insight into the world’s friendliest places. 

The ranking is based on more than 370 million verified online reviews, and claiming the top spot as the world’s most welcoming place of all was Montepulciano, a medieval hilltop town in southern Tuscany. 

This place has a small population of just 14,000 people, but tourism has been integral to its economic prosperity over the last 60 years, so it’s understandable that visitors continue to be greeted warmly. It’s also pedestrian-friendly with lots of car-free streets, boasts quintessentially rustic Renaissance architecture and shares its name with a delicious red wine – it’d be an excellent contender for a road trip visiting Italy’s ever-growing list of beautiful towns and villages. 

Magong in Taiwan claims second place, and San Martín de los Andes in Argentina claims third, but scroll for the top 10 of lesser-known but ridiculously welcoming places that are well worth travelling to. 

These are the world’s 10 most welcoming cities, according to Booking.com

1. Montepulciano, Italy
2. Magong, Taiwan
3. San Martín de los Andes, Argentina
4. Harrogate, UK
5. Fredericksburg, Texas, USA
6. Pirenópolis, Brazil
7. Swakopmund, Namibia
8. Takayama, Japan
9. Noosa Heads, Australia
10. Klaipeda, Lithuania

Did you see that Japan has cancelled its famous cherry blossom festival over concerns about unruly tourism?

Plus: This European city is opening a photography museum in a former coffee warehouse. 

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