Named Ireland’s top 10 overseas city breaks – the winner is ‘magnificent Italy at its best’

City breaks are back.

During the pandemic it may have seemed like we’d never visit crowded places again, but judging by your comments at our Reader Travel Awards, those days are behind us.

“Food, history, weather” was one of the three reasons why you should visit the overseas city you named your favorite city: Rome.

“Great Italy at its best,” they said. “A great cultural holiday”, this is a city with “superb monuments and atmosphere”, without lack of romance and of course food, lovely food.

“Watch a Six Nations game, immerse yourself in the culture and a year’s supply of carbs in pizza and pasta,” you typed.

“Just walking around, one is constantly amazed by the beautiful buildings,” you said. “And the food is wow!”

Ireland’s top 10 city breaks abroad 2023

1. Rome
2. Paris
3. London
4. Lisbon
5. Barcelona
6. new York
7. Amsterdam
8. Edinburgh
9. Prague
10. Budapest

The reasons you love Rome kept coming.

Think “the hum of the Spanish Steps”, “St is Italy after all).

They used words like ‘magical’, ‘romantic’ and ‘mystical’ to describe Rome, but practical travel purposes also played a part.

This city includes “a manageable flight”, is “small enough to walk around”, can be visited at many prices, and has something for everyone – “food, fun, history, culture, weather, everything!”

“I love that the town is small enough to walk and explore the back streets, and there’s history around every corner!” as one reader put it.

From “piazza to pizza,” Rome is a destination that “always delivers,” you told us. It feels both “modern and ancient”, an electrifying 21st-century city and “an open-air museum”.

“You will find fascinating buildings, art and history around every corner. It’s also small enough to feel like home.”

“Because… Rome!”