Budapest has been labeled the safest city in the world for solo women travelers, according to a survey conducted by the WayAway flight aggregator.
The travel site compared 200 cities across the globe to determine the top 30 safest cities for women, and Budapest listed third globally, topped only by San Juan in Puerto Rico, and the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.
The results were determined based on interviews with local residents, the latest safety research, and independent city reviews.
Other cities in the top 30 include Tokyo, Prague, and Singapore.
A reported 24 percent of female tourists cancel their trips due to fear for their safety in the chosen city, according to TimeOut magazine. Speaking about the list and women’s travel habits, Janis Dzenis, WayAway’s head of PR and communications, said, “It makes sense not only for moral but also for economic reasons to increase the sense of security of female travelers, who can offer better safety guarantees to female travelers, to increase their popularity with an audience that makes up half the world.”
Hungary and its Budapest in particular often receive critical acclaim as a tourist destination. Last month, the Hungarian parliament, situated on the banks of the Danube River in Budapest, was voted the world’s top tourist destination by the travel blog Stasher.
The country’s prominence as a tourist destination has grown exponentially in the last decade. In 2020, it recorded 32 million tourists and was the second most popular destination in Eastern Europe.