Craiova/Romania, November 27, 2025 – RBJ – After a week of online voting, the European tourism promotion platform announced, on Thursday evening, the results of the ranking for the European Best Christmas Market 2026.
With 803,258 votes collected from 179 countries around the world during the 8 days of voting, the competition brought together 20 European cities at the start, some of which have a long tradition in organizing Christmas markets, such as Paris, Vienna, Bruges, Prague, Zurich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Riga or Asti-Govone.
After two consecutive years in which it ranked second, the Craiova Christmas Market receives this year the title of “Best European Christmas Market 2026” (Best Christmas Market in Europe) and becomes a magical destination for tourists from all over the world. In fact, recently, the story of the Craiova Christmas Market has been presented as the most beautiful winter destination in the most important European publications, such as Bild and Focus (Germany), Express (UK), Forbes International, Paris Secret (France), El Economista (Spain), Euronews (Italy), etc.
With an absolute record in the history of European Best Destinations, Craiova obtained 142,687 votes from over 140 countries, with an advance of over 56,000 votes compared to the second place. Of these, 55% came from outside Romania, mainly from the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany and Spain.
According to the official press release of the European Best Destinations organization, Craiova is the most voted Christmas destination since the creation of this competition, considering that the voting page was shared over 600,000 times on social media networks this year.
“What happened in Craiova this year is absolutely remarkable. Craiova delivered a historic performance, with a result never seen before in two decades of competition. The Romanian city achieved a dominant position, supported by exceptional international involvement, and the number of votes obtained by Craiova is an absolute record.
Since Craiova’s first participation in this competition, there have been many voices asking whether Craiova has its place among the top Christmas destinations in Europe. Today, emblematic cities such as Montreux, Vienna, Graz and Budapest look to Craiova as an example – a destination that has reinvented Christmas, created a complete and captivating universe and transformed the entire city, instead of being limited to a few chalets on a single street.
You have placed Craiova exactly where it belongs: in the spotlight and firmly on the map of top cities in Europe. It is an undeniable victory for Craiova, which is becoming Europe’s new Christmas revelation in 2026,” the press release from European Best Destinations states.
The countries where Craiova has seen the biggest increases this year — excluding Romania — based on fully validated votes, after IP filtering, unique session verification and anti-fraud checks, are: United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands
“In each of these countries, Craiova ranks among the most popular Christmas markets this year. Depending on the country, it appears either as the number one option or in the top three most voted markets — an extremely strong signal.
It is also important to highlight that the proportion of votes coming from Romania is significantly lower than the combined total of votes coming from these major international markets.
This confirms a rare phenomenon: a Christmas market in Romania generating more international interest than local, demonstrating global visibility, organic appeal and a reserved level of cross-border attention, of usually, the most famous holiday destinations in Europe”, it is also mentioned in the press release sent by the organizers of the European Best Christmas Market 2026 – European Best Destinations competition.
Organized by European Best Destinations (www.europeanbestdestinations.com), the main travel website on the continent and partner of the European Commission for tourism, with over 8 million visitors per year, the competition attracted 803,258 votes, between November 20 and 27, 2025.
Hoteliers, travel agencies and all companies or institutions working in the field of tourism in Craiova have the right to use, starting today, officially the “European Best Christmas Market – Craiova 2026” logo on all communications, websites, photos or images broadcast/distributed.
