Portugal is the best country destination in the world for a second year in a row

The readers of the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler have also placed three other EU countries in the top ten for 2022

It’s 2022 and the Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Award goes to Portugal as the best country to travel to this year. The Iberian country gathered 91.22 and inched over Japan (91.17) to take the top spot. This is the second year in a row that Portugal receives the prestigious accolade, affirming its brand as a premier holiday destination for seasoned travellers.

Portugal has it all to offer

It seems that the small country is Europe’s new holiday gem that has been gaining a lot of popularity and is quickly shedding its off-beaten track status by holidaymakers eager to discover new locations away from oversaturated markets and “usual suspects” like France, Spain and Italy.

Earlier this month, Portugal was also honoured as the 'Best Destination in Europe' in the regional edition of the World Travel Awards. And now it has returned to the top of Condé Nast Traveler's Readers’ Choice Awards, repeating the feat of 2021.

That the lustre of neighbouring Mediterranean destinations has diminished somewhat is also visible from the fact that Portugal was the only European country in the top 5. The following four countries (in order of ranking and points) are all located in Asia: Japan (91.17), Thailand (90.46), Singapore (90.09) and India (90.01).

Europe at least dominates the lower half of the top 10 with Greece (89.79), Denmark (89.62), United Kingdom (89.12) and Italy (89.12) following suit, and New Zealand rounding it off with 89.01 points.

For readers to carry out the online voting of the best countries to travel to, they have to evaluate a series of categories such as hotels, resorts, spas or airports.