On the second occasion, the city of Braga was voted the Best European Destination to visit in 2021. The long awaited prize received more than 109,000 votes from Internet users worldwide, 72% of which were from outside Portugal.
A cousin awarded by European Best Destinations, an organization based in Brussels, which aims to promote culture and tourism in Europe, started awarding these awards in 2010.
In 2019, Braga had already been in second Best European Destination, but this year it won the first place, with more than 31 thousand votes from the city of Rome, in Italy, which this year was in second place.
An application that had the support of the President of the Portuguese Republic, Dr. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as well as the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rita Marques, from the Regional Tourism Entity of Porto and North of Portugal and from the Porto Tourism Association and North (ATP), among others.
Braga was widely supported by travelers from the United Kingdom, Brazil and was one of the main choices of travelers from the United States of America and France.
Being perhaps the most Catholic city in Portugal, it received the vote of the Vatican as it happens almost every year, in an extremely beautiful city with a vast cultural and artistic heritage, one of its ex-libris being the Bom Jesus do Monte Sanctuary, Heritage UNESCO World Cup, with its fantastic staircase and certainly the best view over Braga.
With more than 2000 years old, “Bracara Augusta” and founded by Augusto, considered one of the main Roman roads in the Iberian Peninsula, being the administrative seat of the Roman Empire. The Diocese of Braga, the Roman province of Galecia, today Galicia, is the oldest in Portugal and the oldest in the Middle Ages, so much so that it even rivaled Santiago de Compostela in power and importance. Santiago, also known as the “City of Archbishops”.
Braga was also the European Capital of Youth in 2012 and the Ibero-American Capital of Youth in 2016, curiously the municipality of Braga remains one of the youngest towns in the country and in Europe, with more than 85 thousand with fixed residence, very by the famous University of Minho.
All of these awards come from the different advantages of Braga, as well as being known as the Portuguese Roma, its Baroque edifice of its heritage and of course its gastronomy of excellence, from caldo verde to Bacalhau à Braga, the traditional Papas de Sarrabulho and the secular Pudding Priscos De Abade.
