Alex Trelinski
MARBELLA has been chosen as the best place to visit in Europe by readers of an online travel website.
The Costa del Sol resort came top of the poll conducted by the European Best Destinations portal, picking up 149,192 votes.
It’s the highest vote for any location since the website started the annual survey in 2009.
84% of people who chose Marbella as the best European destination were voters from outside Spain.
The city came top of the list for UK and American travellers.
Monaco and Malta were the second and third most valued in a short-list of 20 European locations including Geneva, Batumi, Georgia, Madeira, Florence, and London.
The final list was whittled down from 500 destinations with over a million votes cast from 172 countries.
The European Best Destinations CEO, Maximilien Lejeune, highlighted the ‘unique cultural, event, sensory and gastronomic offer’ of Marbella.
“It’s a destination where you can enjoy experiences like nowhere else as Marbella is one of Europe’s strongest tourism brands,” Lejeune said.
“It is a leader in tourism excellence in Europe- sunny, five stars, natural, sporty, and gastronomic with everything to please the most demanding travellers.”
Lejeune also enthused about Marbella’s ability to please ‘all travellers, from three to 103 years old, from sports and shopping lovers to gourmets’.
Marbella City Council paid €30,000 to European Best Destinations in 2022 to use its official logo.
This, according to the authority, allowed it to be positioned as a ‘preferred’ destination and to increase tourist-related business.
