Istanbul also ranks as Europe’s second-best city, right behind Paris, while new prestigious awards have gone to Turkish Airlines and to Türkiye’s Minister of Culture and Tourism
Spread across both shores of the Bosphorus and linking Europe and Asia, the city was the capital of great empires, from Byzantium to the Ottomans, for more than 1,500 years. Its historic core, with landmarks such as Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace and the Blue Mosque, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985.
This autumn, Istanbul’s appeal to travellers from around the world was confirmed by readers of the British edition of Condé Nast Traveller, who voted it the third-best city in the world. In the 39th edition of the Readers’ Choice Awards, published in early October, only Bangkok and Paris ranked ahead of it, while it left behind destinations such as Rome and Tokyo.
On the separate list of European cities, Istanbul takes second place, right behind Paris and ahead of Valletta, Amsterdam and Stockholm. The awards are decided by readers’ votes, based on their own experiences of visiting and staying in these cities.
The world’s best airport and Europe’s best airline
The same readers once again named Istanbul Airport (iGA Istanbul Airport) the best airport in the world. With 94.29 points, it finished ahead of Singapore’s Changi Airport (93.92). This year the airport also set a European record: on 16 August, 290,287 passengers passed through it on 1,739 flights, the highest number of passengers ever handled in a single day at any airport in Türkiye or Europe.
Istanbul Airport is the main hub of Turkish Airlines, which won two major awards within just one month. In mid-October, at the World Travel Awards ceremony in the Bay of Kotor, it was named Europe’s Leading Airline 2026, with the global winners to be announced on 12 December in Tanzania. Just a month earlier, at the Skytrax World Airline Awards in London, Turkish Airlines was named Best Airline in Europe for the eleventh time.
Recognition for the Minister
The Global Champion Award of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) was presented to Türkiye’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, for outstanding results in tourism development. He received the award at the 26th WTTC Global Summit, held in early October in Valletta, Malta.
Official figures confirm that the recognition is well deserved: Türkiye ended last year with a record 64 million visitors and USD 65.2 billion in tourism revenue.
