Yorkshire Spa Town Named In Top 10 Most Welcoming Cities For 2026

The popular Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate is the only UK destination named in Booking.com’s Top 10 Most Welcoming Cities for 2026. It’s a great place to visit for the day or the weekend, home to amazing architecture, stunning gardens, and more than a handful of pubs and bars.

Despite not being a city, it’s the only UK spot on the list, and that’s saying something. The recognition comes from Booking.com’s Traveller Review Awards, which are gathered from 370 million verified traveller reviews on the website’s Traveller Review Awards. The awards aim to celebrate destinations where travellers genuinely feel welcome, valued and cared for. And, Yorkshire’s top spa town must have made an impact for it to land in the top 10.

Harrogate also featured in the world’s top 10 friendliest destinations – so it’s a good start to the year for Harrogate, being the only British ‘city’ to make the global list this year. It was a record-breaking year for the awards, which recognised 1.81 million travel partners across 221 countries for their outstanding hospitality.

Harrogate was described as an ‘elegant English spa town full of historic charm’ with its cafes and independent shops on offer praised. It also highligted theValley Gardens that “burst with colour, while the Montpellier Quarter delights with independent shops and lively wine bars tucked between historic terraces.

Obviously, Harrogate can’t be discussed without talking about its spas, and the site said they its “Turkish Baths, offering a quintessential spa experience that reflects the town’s long-standing wellness heritage.”