For the third year in a row, the West Flemish town of Ieper topped the Belgian ranking for the most welcoming destination in the country. The international travel booking website Booking.com compiled a Belgian top 10 based on guest reviews made during the past 3 years. ‘This is a big reward for hotel and holiday accommodation operators in the city of Ieper,’ says alderman for tourism Diego Desmadryl.
Ieper judged Belgium's ‘most welcoming place to stay’ by Booking.com guests
Colin Clapson
Published:
Booking.com recently presented its 2025 Traveller Review Awards identifying the most welcoming places to stay. In Belgium, Ieper, famous for its Great War tourism and 3-yearly Cats' Parade, once again landed the highest score, based on reviews made between 1 December 2021 and 30 November 2024. The West Flemish city was also recognised in 2021 and 2022. ‘This ensures that we are flagged up as a tourist destination, time and time again’ said the alderman.
‘It is a token of appreciation for our hotel and holiday accommodation operators, who do their best, day in, day out to make people feel welcome in Ieper.’
Despite the many tourists that visit the major Flemish cities, it is once again a smaller town that wins big. ‘The big cities are sometimes overrun by tourists. Here, the match between tourism and locals is something that works well.’
Three West Flanders municipalities in Top 10
West Flanders occurs thrice in the Belgian top 10. Besides Ieper, 2 other West Flemish destinations feature on the list. Bruges is ranked 6th and the seaside resort of Koksijde occurs in 9th position. Also in this respect West Flanders outperforms all other Belgian provinces!