Florence was named the best city in Europe in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards 2026, the annual ranking based on reader votes.
The capital of Tuscany edged out Prague, which finished second, and Salzburg, which placed third. In the overall global ranking, however, Florence landed at No. 13, behind San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and several Asian cities including Kyoto and Chiang Mai.
For Florence, this is nothing new.
The city has earned a place in the World’s Best Awards Hall of Fame, a category reserved for destinations that earn top scores year after year.
According to Travel + Leisure, readers singled out the city’s blend of art, history, and food, along with a compact scale that lets visitors explore nearly all of it on foot.
A City on a Renaissance Scale
With a population of just 700,000, Florence holds a wealth of artistic heritage that few cities its size can match.
The Duomo—formally the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore—is the city’s most recognizable landmark, defined by the dome that Filippo Brunelleschi designed in the 15th century. It is considered one of the greatest feats of Renaissance engineering, built without a wooden centering frame, a solution that went beyond the building techniques of its era.
A short walk away, the Galleria degli Uffizi holds one of the world’s most significant painting collections, with works by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo.
The Ponte Vecchio, the medieval bridge spanning the Arno River and lined with traditional jewelry shops built directly onto its structure, rounds out the classic itinerary alongside the Piazza della Signoria—an open-air museum anchored by the Palazzo Vecchio and dotted with Renaissance sculptures.
Beyond the Usual Route
Behind the Palazzo Pitti, the former home of the Medici family, the Boboli Gardens preserve the formal design of the Italian Renaissance garden, with fountains, grottoes, and statues arranged across a series of terraces.
The same admission ticket grants access to the Bardini Villa Gardens, which offer panoramic views of the city—framed in spring by pergolas heavy with wisteria.
The Mercato Centrale, in the San Lorenzo neighborhood, operates on two levels: the ground floor retains its original function as a fresh-produce market, with stalls selling meat, fish, and cheese, while the upper floor has been transformed into a food hall.
Nearby, the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio serves as a daily gathering place for residents and visitors alike, with an additional flea market spilling out into Largo Annigoni.
Mary Gray, editorial director of Italy Magazine and a longtime Florence resident, told Travel + Leisure that while the city’s artistic heritage draws first-time visitors, it is the human scale and the quality of everyday life that keep many of them coming back—or make them want to stay for good.
A Craft That Endures
Florence has preserved an artisan tradition that spans generations.
Historic workshops dedicated to leatherwork, jewelry, handmade paper, and other techniques passed from master to apprentice over centuries continue to operate throughout the city.
Many are concentrated in the Oltrarno neighborhood, on the far side of the Arno, where the Piazzale Michelangelo offers one of the city’s highest vantage points.
It is this combination—a compact historic center, an artistic legacy few comparably sized cities can rival, and a daily life still rooted in traditional craftsmanship—that led Travel + Leisure readers to place Florence above the other 49 European cities in the 2026 ranking.
