World’s best holiday cities revealed and three of them are only two hours from the UK

THREE of the world’s best cities are just a few hours away from the UK, offering sun and beautiful sights.

Florence, Seville and Porto all won big at the Travel + Leisure Awards 2025 – and you can get to all three of them in just over two hours from the UK.

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Travel + Leisure readers voted for their favourite worldwide cities, and Florence came in at number 11 with a reader score of 90.08 out of 100.

Voters praised the capital of Tuscany for its shopping, quality of hotels as well as artistic treasures.

There was an honourable mention of the Ponte Vecchio for its incredible views.

Florence is considered a romantic city, full of beautiful architecture like the Duomo cathedral, which has its own piazza.

It’s the ideal destination for art lovers too as its home to work by Michelangelo, Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci.

Just because it’s a hub of culture, doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily costly.

In fact in Florence you can pick up slices for pizza for €1.50 (£1.30) and pasta dishes from €5 (£4.33).

Florence is 80 miles inland, but you could still be at the beach in an hour and a half. Or even head over to Pisa which is an hour and a half by both car and rail.

One Sun Travel writer travelled to Florence where she tried olive oil tasting, and checked out the famous sites.

You can fly directly from London Gatwick to Florence in two hours 25 minutes.

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Seville came in twelfth place with a reader score of 89.49.

It was described as offering a “window on thousands of years of history” with its best site being Alcázar Palace.

The Spanish city is famous for its Cathedral and Plaza de España. 

It’s also famous for tapas, Seville orange trees and the traditional art of flamenco – if you’re lucky, you’ll catch some dancers in the street.

Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey visited the city earlier this year – and ventured out on a secret food tour in the southern district of Triana.

For anyone wanting to visit Seville Cathedral, Kara discovered 100 free tickets are given out at a certain time of day.

You can fly directly from London Gatwick to Seville in two hours 40 minutes.

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Porto, in the northwest of Portugal, is little but packs a punch.

The colourful city came in 24th place on the list of Top 25 best cities – and was awarded a reader score of 88.24.

Porto is filled with restaurants and bars and, of course, is known for its port wine production.

Readers of Travel + Leisure said they love the city because of it’s “wine-soaked culture”.

Porto is found on the River Douro where visitors can take a boat trip or even head down it on a kayak.

When one writer visited last year, he couldn’t get enough of the custard tarts, or pastel de nata, which he said you can pick up on every street for around €1.

And of course there are vineyards aplenty and an opportunity to do tastings all around the city.

Brits can fly directly to Porto from several UK airports, including London Gatwick, which takes two hours 20 minutes.

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