The Christmas market held in front of Budapest’s downtown St Stephen Basilica has won the title of Europe’s Best Christmas Market in the online poll of the European Best Destination travel portal. The success is unprecedented in the history of European Christmas markets, with no location winning the prestigious award four times.
Budapest has now been ranked first in Europe for Christmas four times, ahead of London, Vienna and Prague, among others.
The Basilica of the Advent, which is the name of Budapest’s Christmas market, has been awarded the title continuously since 2021, after already winning first place in 2019.
The competition, which started on Nov. 30 and ran until Dec. 7, featured festive markets in 20 European cities, including Budapest, London, Vienna, Brussels, Prague, Dresden, Madeira, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Poznan, and other cities.
The 2023 edition saw a record turnout, surpassing the already highly popular 2022 edition, with 168 travelers from 168 countries casting 592,992 votes for their favorite and more than 335,000 votes shared on social media during the seven days of the competition.
The Basilica of the Advent received 68,029 likes, the most votes ever, to take the top spot in the European field. The 2023 result is also extraordinary because the Budapest event received 16 776 more votes than in 2022.
With this year’s first place, the Basilica of the Advent has won the title of Europe’s Best Christmas Market for the fourth time after 2019, 2021 and 2022, a feat that no other market in Europe has achieved before.
The market in Craiova, south-central Romania, came in second and the third podium finish went to Metz in France.