City Hall<\/a>, Craiova secured 142,687 validated votes from more than 140 countries, finishing over 56,000 votes ahead of the second-place destination. Roughly 55% of all votes cast for the Romanian destination came from outside the country, with the strongest support arriving from the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, and Spain.<\/p>\n\u201cCraiova\u00a0has just achieved something remarkable: travellers from around the world have voted it\u00a0Best Christmas Market in Europe, placing this Romanian city ahead of icons like Strasbourg, Vienna, and Dresden. It\u2019s an extraordinary rise for a destination that now hosts\u00a0the largest Christmas event in Europe\u00a0in surface area – more than 280,000 square meters transformed into a luminous, festive world,\u201d European Best Destinations said in its official release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, the city brings\u00a0The Nutcracker\u00a0to life with\u00a0giant ornaments, oversized sweets, toy sculptures, and millions of sparkling lights that turn the centre into a dazzling open-air stage. The atmosphere feels both grand and warm, crafted with a level of detail that surprises even seasoned Christmas-market travellers.\u00a0Craiova\u2019s attractions add to the magic: Eastern\u00a0Europe\u2019s highest-flying Santa sleigh, a glittering\u00a0ice rink, a panoramic\u00a0Ferris wheel, and charming hand-painted chalets that give the whole experience a handcrafted, fairy-tale touch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Zurich\u00a0Christmas Markets rank second in the European Best Destinations list, followed by Riga, Wonderland Lisboa, Debrecen, Govone & Asti, Valkenburg, Vienna, Montbeliard, and Paris.<\/p>\n
The Craiova Christmas Market opened on November 14 and will welcome visitors until January 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
irina.marica@romania-insider.com<\/p>\n
(Photo source: Facebook\/European Best Destinations<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Romania\u2019s Craiova has been named the best Christmas market in Europe 2026 after securing a record number of votes in the annual competition run by European Best Destinations. The results were announced on Thursday evening, November 27, following a week of online voting. This year, 803,258\u00a0travellers from 179 countries\u00a0have voted and shared their passion on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}