I came across a list of Most Visited Tourist Attractions in Europe from Travel + Leisure which was written in July 2012. I’d guess that some of the sites have changed in popularity over the past year but I still found it pretty interesting to read about.
T+L listed the Top 25 in a slide show. From the 25, I’ve been to 18 of them. I was a bit surprised at which site came in as the most visited for all of Europe. It’s a site that Kim and I weren’t even big fans of.
I listed the Top 10 below (11 are listed due to ties) and highlighted in bold the sites that I’ve visited.
- Grand Bazaar- Istanbul
- Notre Dame Cathedral- Paris
- Disneyland Park- Marne-la-Vallee, France
- Sacre Coeur Basilica- Paris
- Musee de Louvre- Paris
- St Peter’s Basilica- Vatican City
- Colosseum- Rome
- Eiffel Tower- Paris
- Cologne Cathedral- Cologne, Germany
- Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes- Lourdes, France
- Shrine of Padre Pio- San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
There were a couple of ties in the top 10: #s 3 & 4 and #s 9, 10 & 11.
What do you think of the list of most visited tourist attractions in Europe? Do you feel that there are any surprises? I was a bit surprised to see that the Cologne Cathedral was visited so frequently.
Check out Travel + Leisure’s full slide show HERE.
Ed- I’m not really getting your point. If you’ve been to all of these places so many times, why don’t you go to some new places? This list is talking about most visited sites in Europe not beaten path cities… Europe has many cities worth visiting, not just the 3 you mentioned…
Claire- Funny! This is indeed a list for Europe. If not for the political unrest, I wouldn’t call Giza a tough place to visit. When we went to Egypt, we much preferred the Step, Red & Bent Pyramids. I agree also that some of the iconic S.American sites are harder to get to and possibly more impressive but in very different ways.
Ah – just noticed it is EUROPE’s most visited. I take back my comment!
I assume the list is not weighted by degree of difficulty so I’m not surprised that some iconic sites are excluded. Paris and Rome, which dominate the list, are easier trips for the average traveler than, say, Giza (esp. in its current political climate) or Agra or even certain iconic sites in South America.
Been in all those places so many times, that it makes me nauseous. I’d put: London, St.-Petersburg, Munchen as the cities worth visiting, rathen than beaten path abovementioned cities.
Grant- it is surprising that a London site didn’t make the top 10. Some of them did place, just not at the top.
Rick B- I disagree.
I’m surprised there is nothing in London, what about Big Ben or the London Eye?
That’s a list of where the average tourist goes. They’re a herd of a idiots who all do the same thing, so don’t model yourself on them.