Photography: José Guerra
Ericeira ranked 8th at the contest that elected the best holiday destination among the villages and small towns with a maximum population of 100 thousand inhabitants of the European continent. On the voting, among 52 small and scenic settlements, Portugal was represented by Ericeira and Obidos, which was ranked on the 2nd place with 200 votes less than the winner: Ribe, on Denmark.
The contest “Europe’s Best Big-Time Small Destinations”, held by GlobalGrasshoper, an international portal for “independent travelers”, and the hotel reservations website Hotel.info took place this month and the voting closed on the 14th of February. According to the organizers, there were a total of over 22 thousand votes.
The choice of the finalists was made based on the favourite european destinations of the users of the websites in charge of the contest, accounting as well for the rating made by each portal to the destinations themselves on several categories, from the number of hotels to the presence of images in the internet, the number of “fans” of each place on Facebook, Instagram or Foursquare mentions or the distance of the places to the nearest airport. The contest took place with several knockout rounds, in which two destinations were matched against each other, with the users electing their favorites up until the finals, where there was a “duel” between the chosen destinations in each website. It should be mentioned that even if the users picked Ribe as the winner, the judge’s panel highlighted Ronda, in Malaga, Spain, who got a near perfect score in every category.
Ericeira, who “dueled” Narva in Estonia, was highlighted by its beaches and waves, its location and gastronomy. The contest’s organization labeled it as a “paradise to surfers”, with “beautiful sights” and the “best seafood in the area.”
Top 10 – Europe’s Best Big-Time Small Destinations 2014
1 – Ribe, Denmark
2 – Óbidos, Portugal
3 – Sigulda, Latvia
4 – Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina
5 – Ohrid, Macedonia
6 – Bled, Slovenia
7 – Positano, Italy
8 – Ericeira, Portugal
9 – Ronda, Spain
10 – Hallstatt, Austria
You may consult the full ranking here.
Esta publicação também está disponível em | This article is also available in: Portuguese (Portugal)
