Study ranks the European cities with the most beautiful hotels, according to visitors

Travellers often want quick clues about where they will find the most beautiful hotels in Europe. This study focuses on how often visitors describe a city’s hotels as beautiful, giving you a clearer sense of where design, atmosphere and setting stand out.

Luxury France Tours analysed the 30 most visited European cities and reviewed millions of hotel comments. The study measured how often the word beautiful appeared in those reviews. Cities with a higher share of beauty-related mentions ranked higher, showing how guests actually talk about the look and feel of the hotels they stay in.

Austria’s Salzburg takes the number one spot by a clear margin, with 23.1% of hotel reviews describing properties as beautiful. Visitors frequently praise the city’s elegant architecture, historic buildings and scenic alpine backdrop, which often carry through into the design of its hotels.

Venice follows in second place at 14.8%, where guests highlight romantic canalside settings, ornate interiors and classic Italian charm. Close behind is Krakow (14.6%), a city that surprises many travellers with its mix of medieval architecture and stylish boutique hotels.

Italy makes a strong showing overall. Florence ranks fourth (14.5%), with visitors regularly commenting on beautifully restored historic hotels and artistic interiors, while Rome also appears in the top half of the table despite its vast size and range of accommodation options.

Amsterdam rounds out the top five at 13%, reflecting the popularity of design-led hotels set inside converted canal houses and heritage buildings.

Beyond the usual Mediterranean favourites, the results highlight strong performances from northern cities too. Helsinki (10.6%) and Dublin (10.3%) both place in the top ten, suggesting that thoughtful design and atmosphere matter just as much as sunshine and scenery.

Barcelona (10.0%) and Lisbon (9.8%) also rank highly, with visitors often referencing stylish interiors, rooftop views and characterful neighbourhood settings when describing their hotel stays.

Interestingly, some of Europe’s biggest and most famous capitals rank much lower. Paris appears near the bottom with just 4.0% of reviews mentioning beauty, while Berlin sits last at 1.6%. This doesn’t mean these cities lack attractive hotels, but rather that visitors are less likely to single out visual appeal when reviewing them, possibly due to higher expectations or a wider mix of accommodation quality.

Rank	City	Country	Percentage of reviews mentioning ‘beautiful’
1	Salzburg	Austria	23.1
2	Venice	Italy	14.8
3	Krakow	Poland	14.6
4	Florence	Italy	14.5
5	Amsterdam	Netherlands	13.0
6	Helsinki	Finland	10.6
7	Dublin	Ireland	10.3
8	Barcelona	Spain	10.0
9	Lisbon	Portugal	9.8
10	Budapest	Hungary	9.5
11	Athens	Greece	9.3
12	Rome	Italy	8.8
13	Edinburgh	United Kingdom	8.6
14	Prague	Czech Republic	8.2
15	Istanbul	Turkey	7.9
16	London	United Kingdom	6.9
17	Copenhagen	Denmark	6.2
18	Vienna	Austria	5.4
19	Madrid	Spain	5.4
20	Reykjavik	Iceland	5.0
21	Stockholm	Sweden	4.9
22	Nice	France	4.6
23	Zurich	Switzerland	4.1
24	Paris	France	4.0
25	Brussels	Belgium	3.8
26	Munich	Germany	3.8
27	Oslo	Norway	3.8
28	Berlin	Germany	1.6

Debbie Wambergue from Luxury France Tours says that visitors don’t always opt for luxury alone. The atmosphere and setting also shape travellers’ impressions.

Methodology

This study examined the 30 most visited European cities. For each city, the team analysed the total number of hotel reviews and calculated the share that included the word beautiful. This allowed them to rank the cities where visitors most often describe the hotels as beautiful.

Source: TripAdvisor

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