Venice has been named the most romantic city in the world, according to a new ranking by travel booking company Mozio.
The company said it analyzed several factors associated with romance, including the number of romantic restaurants and hotels listed on Tripadvisor, attractions aimed at couples and Google searches related to weddings, in order to rank the 10 most romantic cities.
The Italian canal city received a score of 9.65 out of 10, beating familiar contenders such as Paris and Rome.
The main reason for Venice’s high score was its large number of romantic places to stay and dine. The city has 148.8 restaurants classified as romantic and 152.7 romantic hotels per 100,000 residents, the highest rate among all cities included in the ranking.
Venice also appears in more than 63,000 wedding-related Google searches each year, twice the average rate. That may be partly because Venice has hosted several high-profile weddings in recent years, including that of George and Amal Clooney, as well as Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez.
The city also offers a wide range of attractions for couples, foremost among them gondola rides.
Another advantage is that Venice’s city center is car-free, allowing visitors to spend hours walking, crossing bridges, wandering through narrow alleys and even getting lost, much like a scene from a romantic film. In general, the slow pace and absence of cars add to the romantic atmosphere. Still, travelers should take into account that the city suffers from overtourism and has begun charging an entry fee.
Florence, also in Italy, ranked second, thanks to its combination of fine food, historic architecture and romantic hotels. In third place was the first city outside Italy: Marrakesh, Morocco, which offers a very different atmosphere of markets and cultures.
Rome ranked fourth, tied with Udaipur, India, which earned its high placement mainly because of the large number of wedding-related searches connected to the city.
Edinburgh, Scotland, ranked sixth, followed by London in seventh and San Francisco in eighth. Paris, widely considered by many to be the world’s most romantic city, had to settle for ninth place.
Vienna and Barcelona rounded out the top 10.