Romanian city, among the best European destinations of 2020

Sibiu, a city in central Romania, was voted among the best European destinations of 2020 in the European Best Destinations (EBD) competition.

Working with the European Commission to promote sustainable tourism, EBD organizes tourism competitions such as Best European Christmas Markets, Best European Beaches, Most Romantic destinations and Best European Ski Resorts.

This year’s edition of the competition registered more than 600,000 of votes (644,414 votes) from 179 countries.

The winner in 2020 is Colmar, in France’s northern region of Alsace, with 179,723 votes.

Sibiu ranked sixth, with 30,178 votes. It is the Romanian destination with the most votes since the creation of this competition. It is also among the favorite destinations of the Germans and Austrians, the organizers of the competition explained.

The Romanian city is noted for being able to offer Bruges or Paris' culture and gastronomy, be as instagrammable as Prague or Santorini, and as romantic as Rome or Venice.

It is presented as one of the most modern and dynamic cities in Europe, with something to offer to every visitor: culture, gastronomy, history or outdoor activities.

After Colmar, the destination that gathered most votes was Athens, followed by Tbilisi, Vienna, and Cascais. Other cities in the top 10 were Namur, Rijeka, Paris, and Bydgoszcz (Poland).

The full list of destinations is available here.

The 15 most voted destinations will be promoted to millions of travelers as the trendiest destinations to visit in 2020. They will feature on European Best Destinations website, which has an audience of more than 6 million travelers. For the first time this year they will also be promoted on the Asian market.

Tourism growth in the promoted destinations is on average of 15%, the organizers of the competition said. For instance, for Bordeaux it was of 13% in 2015; for Porto of 17% in 2017; for Dinant of 27.35% in 2019; and for Zagreb of 41% as “European Best Christmas Market”.

European Best Destinations works in partnership with more than 300 European tourist offices and the EDEN Network, created and funded by the European Commission, and promotes "a better understanding of the wealth, diversity and quality of European destinations."

(Photo:Andrei Stancu |