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08 Sept 2025
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08 Sept 2025
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Back in 2017, the Japanese Association of Travel Agents (JATA) voted Kilkenny to be the 'Most Beautiful Town in Europe'.
The travel agencies were asked to pick the 30 best towns in Europe, in a bid to promote tourism to smaller urban centres in Europe.
The committee then came up with their top 30, after narrowing it down from the 28 countries nominated, the committee began looking at criteria that included, assessing which places had low media exposure within Japan and no package tours available.
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They wanted to ensure the list had a wide variety of destinations from the whole of Europe and tourist attractions the travel companies thought would appeal to Japanese travelers.
The association chose Kilkenny as number one for "its wide range of heritage on display including Kilkenny Castle, St Canice's Cathedral and its Medieval walls".
Whilst the award refers to towns, the association does note that Kilkenny is a city. They do state that it is the size "of a large town".
Prior to this accolade, Kilkenny was also named as one of the top ten friendliest cities in Europe by Conde Nast Travel Magazine.
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