The Japanese tourist board has recently made a list of what they think are the 30 prettiest small villages and towns in Europe! The agents were presented with the challenge to pick the 30 best by the Japanese Association of Travel Agents (JATA), which wants to promote travel to attractive little places in Europe. JATA’s member companies – a mix of tourism offices for Europe, tour operators and airlines – first acted as judges by whittling down a list of towns and villages to 41, from 28 countries. A selection committee then came up with a top 30 after looking at criteria that included assessing which places had low media exposure in Japan and no package tours available; wanting to ensure a wide variety of destinations from the whole of Europe and tourist attractions the travel companies thought would appeal to Japanese travellers. Kilkenny, Ireland On the banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, Kilkenny is often referred to as a city though it is the size of a large town. Its heritage is on display in the form of Kilkenny Castle, St Canice’s Cathedral and its medieval walls. Berat, Albania Mangalem, the city of Berat’s old town, sits on the banks of the river Osum and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. In medieval times it was a frontier town of the Byzantine Empire, to which its citadel testifies. Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy With a permanent population of fewer than 10 – but 600,000 annual tourists – the hilltop village has become a focal point of central Italian holidays. It is, however, at risk from the steady erosion of its volcanic perch. Procida, Italy Procida is enchanting, like an imaginary Italian island come true. The architecture, with houses apparently blending into each other or separated by intertwining passages in a riot of pastel colours, is like something from a film set. Conwy, Wales It has a wonderful approach, not just during the day but at night, too. It is one of the Europe’s finest medieval towns. Lech, Austria A fashionable Austrian ski resort whose charm is often amplified by a covering of snow, Lech is an old farming village set high in a valley that spends large parts of winter cut off from the outside world, until the Flexen Pass can be cleared. Hindeloopen, Netherlands You will perhaps have heard of this town in northern Netherlands thanks to the winter ice skating on the frozen Ijsselmeer inland sea nearby. The old city itself has its own language, a mixture of West Frisian, English, Danish and Norwegian. Lefkara, Cyprus Famed for its lace, Lefkara is a village in south Cyprus. According to legend, Leonardo da Vinci visited in 1481, and purchased a lace cloth for the main altar of the Duomo di Milano. Rovinj, Croatia The car-free old town is made up of Venetian-era pastel coloured houses built around a pretty fishing harbour and overlooked by a hilltop church. The food is pretty good too, with local cuisine influenced by the region’s affinity with Italy. Soglio, Switzerland Austrian painter Giovanni Segantini described Soglio as “the gateway to paradise”. High in the Swiss Alps, the village of 300 is also famous for its flowers – when not coated in snow. Visby, Sweden On the Swedish island of Gotland, Visby is a popular summer holiday destination for Scandinavians. It also thought to be the home of one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Scandinavia, and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain Famed for its dwellings built into the rock, Setenil de las Bodegas, 100 miles north east of Cadiz, has also gained a reputation for its chorizo sausages from pigs bred in the surrounding hills. Piran, Slovenia On the Adriatic coast, the Venetian-style town of Piran is a fishing port with exquisite piazzas, churches and labyrinthine streets and fabulous waterfront fish restaurants. Vlkolinec, Slovakia Another Unesco World Heritage Site, this small hamlet is “a remarkably intact settlement of 45 buildings with the traditional features of a central European village,” says Unesco. “It is the region’s most complete group of these kinds of traditional log houses.” Marianske-Lazne, Czech Republic A famous Eastern European spa town where famous composers, exhausted intellectuals and jaded aristocrats came to enjoy the restorative treatments and social whirl. Quedlinburg, Germany British writer Simon Winder described Quedlinburg as a “daft little Harz Mountain town” and said that its sheer beauty was never far from his mind. He misses its “rambling street pattern, the beauty of the countless, red-roofed half-timbered houses and, of course, the ‘pocket Schloss’ perched on its hill with a beautiful Romanesque abbey.” Bernkastel-Kues, Germany A “health resort” recognised by the state, Bernkastle-Kues is also, paradoxically, in the heart of a well-known wine-growing region. Its medieval marketplace is a popular draw, border by gabled timber-frame, 17th century houses. Golyazi, Turkey Golyazi, an ancient Greek trading city, is on one of the few islands dotted about the waters of Lake Uluabat. Reine, Norway Reine is set on the coast of one of the Lofoten Islands and is called the soul of Northern Norway, a region of pretty villages, blue-watered bays, flower-covered meadows, dramatic cliffs, towering mountains and a silken Arctic light. Sopron, Hungary The site of a diplomatic picnic that helped end communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, Sopron is also home to more than 300 dentists. Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria It was here that the struggle for independence from the Turkish occupation kicked off in 1876, and today Bulgarians recognise its significant place in their history. This picturesque town of half-timbered buildings, guarding the Sredna Gora Mountains and divided by the meandering River Topolnitsa, hosts important music and folklore festivals. Porvoo, Finland The second oldest town in Finland, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, dating back to the early 14th century. Its old district is made up of a pattern of dense, medieval streets and wooden houses. Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France A medieval town with 13 listed historic buildings perched on a cliff 300 feet above […]